“Get the footage while you can,” a Phoenix police officer shouts. First Fridays, he says, may be headed toward strict city code enforcement in the coming years.
Downtown Phoenix's signature artistic event hosts an abundance of diverse paintings and pieces of pottery. Currently, vendors of all ages come to the art walk to sell a variety of items: T-shirts, jewelry, lamps, picture frames, hats, scarves, and dolls to name a few.
Many more people come to express themselves artistically. Over the years, the ambiance has changed from attracting a meager thousand people, to luring 10,000 downtown today.
Current city codes state that you must have a vendor’s license to sell food or other items on public streets or sidewalks. The officer said that the open policy for street vendors at the art walk may change in the near future.
The enforcement of the rule would require people wishing to sell any items at the art walk to pay a $120 application fee and a $30 annual licensing fee.
“I just don’t see how they can do that,” says Zach Winn, an Arizona State University senior. “I mean, that is not what First Fridays is all about.”
First Fridays was developed in order to make “(hundreds) of arts venues
open free to the public each month,” according to the ArtLink Web site.
“I think it would limit the number of people that participate in the event,” Winn said.
However, some disagree and believe the art walk will still remain as popular as it is today.
“Personally, I don’t think that people go to First Fridays looking to make a profit,” says Nicholas Salgado, a International Financial Management senior at ASU. “They are looking to get their name and their art out on the scene and gain an audience.”
Still, many patrons have never heard of the city ordinance and its regulations.
“Really? I didn’t know that,” said Adrienne Good, a senior at ASU West. “A few of my friends and I go down there every month to promote their band and we have never heard of this requirement to have a vendor’s license. That sucks.”
Even with the ordinance policies, different shapes and sizes and mediums of paintings, pottery, and crafts fill parts of the downtown landscape every month.
Campaigns target event’s popularity
These days, campaign cries fill the air at First Fridays as volunteers plug their favorite presidential hopeful. Barack Obama’s camp made the most out of the event. They held signs urging drivers passing by to “Honk for Obama” and “Honk for Change.”
Recently, the upcoming presidential race has morphed the creative atmosphere of First Fridays from a bohemian marketplace of thoughts to a much more organized political arena.
View points came to life in the form of signs, sidewalk writing, rally buttons and pamphlets. This eclectic atmosphere drew Matthew VanGelder, 19, of Phoenix.
“There are a lot of opportunities for a person to express themselves, which I think is really cool, and I like to be a part of that,” VanGelder says.
Although artwork is considered the main attraction, people are taking notice of the many political party tables.
“I saw the Barack Obama sidewalk display, and to be honest I thought it was very compelling. I enjoyed it,” VanGelder says.
Camps from all sides turned out for the event.
From Barack Obama and Ron Paul to older parties such as The Green Party and The Communist Party USA attended the event.
Strategically located at an intersection corner, Obama ’08 volunteers used clever word play such as “Barack the Vote” and take home vote reminders in the form of “Ba-rocks.” These hand-painted rocks have become a staple of the campaign.
“Many people come out specifically for the rocks; they are quite the collector’s item,” says Amber Ehrlich, an Obama ’08 campaign volunteer.
First Fridays regularly attracts over 10,000 people, and this volume is what initially brought the Obama campaign to the event.
“We’ve been out here consistently since May because it is one of the biggest happenings in Arizona every month,” Ehrlich says. “It’s a great venue to come to and get his name out.”
The Green Party hoped to use First Fridays as a springboard to get the party on the ballot for the 2008 election.
