UPDATED: Next First Fridays Art Walk Cancelled

UPDATED: 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.

At least we will have fireworks.

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.

The prospective changes reported for discussion include moving the event to a different day of the week, canceling the art walk scheduled for Labor Day weekend and also moving forward with the event as scheduled.

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.

"We are working with the stakeholders involved in the First Fridays Art Walk," Lepley said. "It's a work in progress in terms of what changes may be made."

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

In attempt of crowd management, the City hosted a teens-only event several blocks east of the Art Walk, at CenterStage, to provide entertainment for the teens and as an attempt to manage the crowds.

City official Tesha Davis reported that 369 teens attended the RVA Presents the Lounge at CenterStage; less than a quarter of the kids estimated at the First Fridays Art Walk.

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.

“Absolutely it affected our business,” Chris Chandler, owner of Comfort, said. “We didn’t get a single customer after 9 p.m., so we lost close to two hours of dinner service.”

“The people who were in our restaurant were staying there on purpose, waiting for it to die down outside,” 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.

Organizers for First Fridays Art Walk will meet over the next month to discuss future options.

“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.”

Comfort, although not officially considered a participating restaurant of the event because it does not pay “dues,” was for a long time the only restaurant in the area. There are now seven.

Chandler, with a front table view of the event’s evolution, said, “First Fridays has been very good to this area, but I think it’s lost its way.”

“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.”

Chandler said that many First Fridays clientele come in and treat the restaurant as a café situation. “For a tea or cocktail, they are taking up tables for diners.”

“First Fridays has slipped slowly into this idea that the more people the better, but instead they need to focus on the clientele they want,” Chandler said.

Chandler shares the same sentiment many people have; something needs to be done, but no one know what exactly. “I don’t pretend to know what the solution is,” he said.

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

Norman C. Merrifield Ed. D., Director of Parks and Recreation, said that “No definite decisions have been made,” regarding another CenterStage event, but that the City will continue “…to engage this population by providing recreation programs for teens through the city’s recreation centers, not only during this event but throughout the year.”

Richmond.com will continue to report on any changes as they develop.