On the first Friday of every month, numerous vendors from across the valley congregate to participate in First Friday located along the Roosevelt Row Arts District, affectionately referred to as RoRo, from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
The event is open to the public and welcomes people to come and browse all of the vendors that take part. The Roosevelt Row Community Development organizes this event every month and according to their official website, “exists to advance arts-focused initiatives for artists, entrepreneurs and residents, cultivating creative space within a sustainable Roosevelt Row Arts District.”
Yolanda Trujillo, the owner of Viva La Yum Yums, sells handmade bath bombs, body scrubs, and soaps. She discovered First Fridays through social media and “saw how awesome other vendors were and decided to apply.”
Before starting her business she was a stay-at-home mom and was at home bored when she decided to look into bath bombs. Trujillo worked to perfect her craft and then made the jump into the business world, later adding soaps and candles to her product line.
Since she started participating in First Fridays, she has seen a positive effect on her business.
“I think when I first started vending, I realized that everybody liked my stuff and it really encouraged me to continue to grow my business,” Trujillo said.
She said she appreciates how welcoming the community is to all types of artists and vendors and hopes to see more people take part in the future.
Tony Bass, a longtime vendor at First Fridays and the owner of Trip the Lights, a handmade lamp business, was involved in social work many years ago before starting his current business.
He says his love of lamp making began as a small hobby where he “…made a few little lamps for fun and family”. Bass describes his craft as “…more than a hobby and less than a career.”
He began participating in First Fridays 15 years ago and said he has noticed that it’s changed significantly in gaining notoriety on a national scale.
“First Fridays used to be a large kind of thing in the country. There were 40 to 50,000 people who came down here,” he said.
Although First Fridays have seen a significant reduction in participants due to the pandemic, he said hopes to see it built back up to its former glory.
Samantha Kneale Taylor, an artist and the owner of Arts by SKTaylor, has also been a longtime vendor at First Fridays, discovering it through a friend and former vendor in 2007.
She became inspired to start her business through her love of art and video games.
“I’m a big nerd, so a lot of my art is…mixed (with) my love of all my video game habits and the kind of botanical style … I just combined old fashion with super geeky,” Taylor said.
Before the pandemic she worked in theatre however after she lost her job, her main source of income for the first eight months of the pandemic relied entirely on her art. While the pandemic had a negative impact on her in-person sales, Taylor noticed a different effect on her online revenue.
“It absolutely has affected my business online but in an incredibly good way. My revenues have tripled on my Etsy store. During COVID I had amazing sales, because everyone’s sitting at home. Especially in the beginning … I couldn’t even keep up, which was just amazing,” she said.
Taylor is also the chair of the breakout artist advisory council for First Fridays and has plans for the future of these monthly events
“(We’re) really pushing to try to get more entertainment on the lot,” Taylor said. “We’re trying to make a good experience…and make more than just a walk.”
