Pancakes, booze and art: It’s a winning combination. Tom Kirlin would know — he’s cooked up hundreds of successful themed events around the country centered on just that.
Friday night, Kirlin and his company are bringing the Pancakes and Booze Art Show to downtown Phoenix at The Duce for what he promises to be a packed crowd of artists, performers, all-day-breakfast lovers and cocktail drinkers.
“Just expect to see more artwork in one place than you’ve ever seen before,” Kirlin said.
Over a hundred artists will have their work on display at the show, with most of it available for purchase, Kirlin said. Kirlin’s company will provide a free “pancake bar” with a variety of toppings, and The Duce will have themed cocktails for sale. The event will also include live art, body painting and a DJ.
Painter E.Monique, who considers herself an “emotional abstract artist,” said she planned to incorporate five pieces into her display—all available for sale. She considers the biannual event her “home show.”
“I love this event because it’s so casual,” E.Monique said. “There’s just no pressure — you come in, you get a drink out of a mason jar, you order food, you walk around and just meet different people… it’s just a big fun party for everybody.”
Kirlin said the event Friday is the “seventh or eighth” Pancakes and Booze show at the Duce, but it promises to be the biggest yet. So far, almost 700 people have marked “Going” on the event’s Facebook page, with close to 8,000 others “Interested.”
“Every time we do it, it grows,” said Steve Rosenstein, a co-owner of the Duce. “And there’s more artists, and more patrons, and it’s become something that everybody looks forward to. I know Tom does, the artists do, the artist community does, and we really do too. We love hosting all these people.”
Margaret Golonka, a drawing major at ASU, said this was her first time hearing about the show.
“I actually found out about the event through Facebook,” she said. “I’m friends with a lot of other artists and they really like to go to downtown shows and galleries and exhibitions. So I saw a couple of my friends were going and I thought I’d apply when I saw that they had an opening for artists.”
Golonka plans to bring three pieces. She describes one, titled “You’re the Best,” as “basically a big doodle bomb on paper.” She’ll be selling digital prints of her work.
The Duce has 20,000 square feet of space, but Kirlin said the Pancakes and Booze show always reaches capacity. This year, $12 “line jumper” tickets can be purchased online for those who wish to avoid the long queue that Kirlin said will inevitably wrap around the building late into Friday night. Those who don’t mind waiting can pay $7 plus fees online or $10 at the door.
The event begins at 8 p.m. and ends at 2 a.m.
“It’s really not just an art show, but it’s kind of a hangout, party thing,” E.Monique said. “Once you’re done with the art, you can stick around, hang out with friends, have an ice cream float. I mean, it’s literally whatever you can think of, the fun that’s inside this building.”
Contact the reporter at Faith.Anne.Miller@asu.edu.
