First Friday, the nation’s largest self-guided art walk on Roosevelt Row, has been postponed due to COVID-19 and local businesses in the area are being negatively impacted.
Local businesses and artists on Roosevelt Row benefit greatly from the influx of new people brought in by the event but are currently being hit by the loss of First Friday.
First Friday gives both artists and businesses the opportunity to showcase their goods to a large group of people. The event has been a staple in the downtown area since 1994.
According to Artlink’s website, First Friday, they report that the event attracts between 14 and 20,000 people monthly and reportedly grows more each year. Artlink organizes First Friday. Local businesses are being forced to cope with this unexpected loss and find alternative solutions to attract customers and to support the local art community on Roosevelt Row.
Staci Fedyski, manager at Trapp Haus BBQ, said that Trapp Haus has seen a decrease in sales since losing First Friday and that it has been hurting the local community.
“We haven’t seen as much business since First Friday stopped, since it used to be a fun party night, where everyone is walking around downtown and Roosevelt Row and having a good time, but that hasn’t been happening since COVID,” Fedyski said.
Trapp Haus BBQ is currently doing their own take on First Friday, while complying with COVID-19 restrictions.
Fedyski said that Trapp Haus has been hosting DJ nights where they play live music to help attract local passersby downtown.
“We try and promote our own First Fridays, even on Instagram. We try to get the music going again,” Fedskyi said.
In an effort to try and help local businesses, Roosevelt Row has introduced a program called “Row-Wards”.
The program runs throughout November with certain local businesses participating. On certain days during the month customers can go to the business that is being featured for that day and collect a receipt. Once the customer has collected 10 receipts from participating businesses they are eligible to receive a gift from Roosevelt Row.
Trapp Haus BBQ and Lacuna Kava Bar are some of the many businesses participating in the Row-Wards program.
Lacuna Kava Bar is one of the local businesses in the area that has been making an effort to support the local community on Roosevelt Row by working with local artists to display their work and promote it.
Desiree Book, manager at Lacuna Kava Bar, said, “We have local artists come in every month and showcase their work and publicize it through social media. We also have photographers come and take pictures of their work.”
Book added that Lacuna also invites local musicians to come in and they record them to post to their youtube channel to help promote them.
“We have three different tiers of visibility, so one is when you drive by with your car and see something pretty on the outside. Two, you come closer, like walking by, and have a different outlet to either take photos in front of or to at least see different types of artwork, or three, you can come in and donate to our local in-house artists,” Book said.
Taco Chelo manager, Stephanie Delgato, said that even though the restaurant has seen a decrease in sales, she doesn’t think losing First Friday this month will hurt the community.
“I drive daily here, and at night before leaving, Roosevelt is still alive. The breweries around here and locations are still pumping and people are coming out.”
Contact the reporter at cdfries@asu.edu.
