First Fridays

First Fridays are free community festivals that take place the first Friday of every month starting at 5pm in downtown Las Vegas and the Arts District at Charleston and Casino Center Blvd.  The First Friday Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting local arts and culture. Every first friday of the month, the streets are closed to traffic for these epic block parties and locals and visitors alike can check out local art, restaurants, music and all sorts of entertainment. It sets the stage for the local art galleries and  is vital to Las Vegas’ downtown revival.  Check out the shops and galleries on Charleston, like the Arts Factory, and the galleries on Main Street.  While we typically have beautiful weather to walk the foot-traffic friendly neighborhood, the City of Las Vegas also kindly provides arts tour buses that make rounds throughout the area, making pick ups every 15 minutes throughout the evening.

photo courtesy latimes.com

On First Fridays of the month, special access gates are set up along Fremont Street Experience, and those wishing to enter must be 21 and over, and need to present a valid I.D. Guests of age with valid I.D.’s receive a wristband to enter the gates.  Anyone under 21 won’t be permitted on the Fremont Street Experience mall beginning at 10:00 p.m.  The Slotzilla zipline will also be restricted to 21 and over because the landing will be inside the gates.  First Friday restrictions include no strollers,  no package beverages (this is now true all the time on Fremont Street), no coolers, no chairs, no backpacks or luggage, no masks, no glass, aluminum or bottles, no weapons.  Pretty standard security restrictions for any event that may draw a large crowd.  If you haven’t been downtown for this awesome event, you need to go.  You can always expect a diverse crowd, cool local art, live music, street performances and plenty of entertainment for everyone.

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