First Friday
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First Friday is a city-wide public event that occurs on the first friday of every month. The events may take on many purposes, including art gallery openings and social networking. Other senses of this term may refer to monthly gatherings of fighter squadrons to build unit cohesion.
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[edit] Art Gallery openings
In cities such as Phoenix, Arizona; Raleigh, North Carolina; San Antonio, Texas; Richmond, Virginia; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; Augusta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Tallahassee, Florida, and Las Vegas there are Gallery hops and "art walks" where many of the art galleries in town will have gallery openings and open their doors to anyone who wishes to see works in progress. The idea is that galleries will attract people to the downtown and enrich the art community by pooling their openings together into one monthly evening. Additionally, these are "see and be seen" events that serve as a block party or social gathering open to the general public. These events are not limited to art, and may involve other stores such as cafes and restaurants remaining open as well as including other events such as fire twirling acts, belly dancing, street musicians and other performers, and pub crawling.
[edit] Effect on Downtown Safety
A historic area perceived as dangerous during the rest of the month may benefit from the "safety in numbers" mentality of a critical mass of pedestrians coming downtown for a First Friday event. For this reason, American cities have promoted First Friday type events to combat urban decay.
[edit] Social Networking
Other smaller scale First Fridays serve as gatherings for groups of friends or people new to an area and may involve no art. In many cities First Fridays events place an emphasis on African American networking and social opportunities for professional African Americans.
First Fridays is known as the number one networking event for African American professionals in North America and consistently attracts over 16,000 people every first Friday of the month. The First Fridays monthly events originated in 1987 as an outlet for urban professionals to network and develop contacts with their peers. Over the years, the concept has grown and operates in more than 38 cities in North America and 7 countries worldwide. The cities that host a First Fridays include Austin, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Hartford, Hong Kong, Houston, Indianapolis, Jackson, Kansas City, Kingston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, London, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, Nassau, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Norfolk, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Rio de Janeiro, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, Syracuse, Tokyo, Toronto, Virginia Beach, and Washington, D.C.
Today, First Fridays reaches over 850,000 urban professionals through email and internet marketing. In 2002, First Fridays United, LLC (www.FirstFridaysUnited.com) organized First Fridays chapters in 30 cities and now sponsors a series of international events in addition to the monthly networking happy hour events.
[edit] Fighter Squadron Traditions
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This article lacks information on the notability (importance) of the subject matter. Please help improve this article by providing context for a general audience, especially in the lead section. This article has been tagged since October 2006. (help, talk) |
First Friday is a long standing tradition at Fighter Squadrons. Spouses, friends and family are welcomed into the squadron on the first Friday of the month for a social gathering involving good food, drink, conversation and much carousing. It is often stated that the main purpose of such a gathering is for esprit de corps and to inculcate a sense of family in the squadron. This is important since life in the military can often introduce stresses to a family well beyond that of the average citizen. The less advertised, but perhaps more important reason for First Friday is that it forces Squadron members to actually clean out the refrigerators, get rid of the trash, and make their place of work more habitable for humans lest they face the wrath of their significant others.
