Updated: Next First Fridays Art Walk Cancelled

Members of Curated Culture, the group of individuals, businesses and galleries that hosts First Fridays Art Walk has elected to cancel the Labor Day weekend Art Walk.

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The ten-year Art Walk that has helped to revitalize a section of Broad St. has faced its biggest obstacles this year–crowd management–and as a result the next First Fridays event might be canceled.

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Although the number of young adults frequenting the Art Walk has steadily grown over the past year, there has been an escalation of teens and bouts of rowdiness at the June, July and August events.

Five arrests were made at Friday’s event. Police spokesman Gene Lepley said four of the suspects were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct. One of the four also was charged with underage possession of alcohol and another with resisting arrest, Lepley said.

The fifth suspect faces three different charges involving possession of a concealed firearm, and a marijuana possession charge with intent to distribute.

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An estimated 2,000 teens were in attendance at the most recent First Fridays Art Walk.

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Despite City efforts, the teens still flooded the sidewalks of Broad St. in the heart of the Art Walk.

People commented that they had never seen anything like it, with a non-stop wave of kids flooding the sidewalks, medians and streets.

Comfort restaurant, situated in the middle of the Art Walk, at 200 W. Broad St., closed about three hours early because of the mayhem happening around the building.

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“The people who were in our restaurant were staying there on purpose, waiting for it to die down outside,” [business owner Chris] Chandler added.

Chandler said teens were banging on the glass of the restaurant and rudely opening the front door and yelling inside–some tried to enter the back door also. He said there was some concern that the maybe the front door should be locked.

“I can’t say for certain if it was dangerous outside, but there was a feeling of apprehension,” he said.

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“My opinion is that it’s cancelled itself, because each time there is an escalation,” Chandler said. “I can’t imagine people are coming down for this next month.”

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“The real benefit was bringing life to this area and people coming downtown at night and walking on the sidewalk–and it felt like a real city,” he said. “It was good publicity because even if you didn’t dine here that night, people came back another night.”

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“It’s a street festival now; it’s not suited for dining and buying art,” Chandler said.

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