First Friday

So I learned that on the first Friday of every month, nearly 100 art galleries in downtown Phoenix are open in the evenings and the sidewalks are lined with arts and crafts made by local artists. It's a huge deal, and there are free shuttles that take you to all of these locations. I asked one of the event coordinators which way he recommended I go, and he asked if I'd prefer to walk or take a shuttle. After 4 years of living in NYC, 10 blocks seemed like 'around the corner' so of course, I opted to walk. There was so much to see, I only saw one section of the galleries and did not even go into all of them. It was really fun, each of the galleries were small and could only fit a handful of people at a time, but you can ask the artists questions about their work. I talked to this one lady and I probably sounded idiotic since I know nothing about art, but she was nice :) The street vendors were selling jewelry, t-shirts, ceramics, handmade purses, paintings, vases, etc. There was also live music along the street - from violinist to bagpipe to live DJ. It was quite lively. After buying 3 pieces of jewelry I decided it was time to go home before I spend all my money, haha! I saw one painting that I liked and the girl said I can name my price. I had no idea how much paintings like that go for, and didn't want to offend her by naming too low of a price so I said I wasn't looking to buy anything that day. It was only 7:30 by the time I left, so I'm sure it gets more crowded as the evening gets later. But I didn't want to miss the weekly ping pong game at the neighbor's house :) It was worth it, we played doubles at the end, SO much fun and a great workout!