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. American cities have promoted such events to bring people to historic areas perceived as dangerous, using the "safety in numbers" mentality to combat urban decay. In some cities this monthly event may occur on the first Saturday of each month instead of Friday. The First Friday of every month is very busy. The term may also refer to monthly gatherings of fighter squadrons to build unit cohesion.
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[edit] Art gallery openings
In cities such as Honolulu; Phoenix; Richmond; Philadelphia; Raleigh; San Antonio; Kansas City; Louisville; Augusta; Tallahassee; Las Vegas; Burlington; Columbus; Indianapolis; and Denver 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. There are also said to be snake charmers and ice sculptures, street performers, and more!
[edit] Social networking
Some First Fridays promote arts and culture combined with social networking, like First Fridays in Tucson, AZ. Other smaller-scale First Fridays serve as social 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 business opportunities for African American professionals. First Friday is the top networking event for African American professionals and consistently attracts over 16,000 people each month across North America according to First Fridays United. The First Fridays monthly events originated in 1987 as an outlet for African American professionals to mix, mingle and network. During the 1980s it was common for an individual to be the only black professional working in their company. First Fridays happy hours become a way for these professionals to meet in a social atmosphere while exchanging useful information. The concept spread rapidly and First Fridays chapters now operate in 38 cities across North America and seven countries worldwide, including 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, Tallahassee, Tokyo, Toronto, Virginia Beach, and Washington, D.C.
In 2002, several First Fridays operators created First Fridays United, which is a company founded to organize the existing First Fridays chapters in 30 cities into one group to share information, resources and solicit corporate sponsors and advertisers. The organization sponsors a series of international events in addition to the monthly networking happy hours. Today, First Fridays United claims to reaches over 450,000 urban professionals through email, internet, and event marketing and has had numerous Fortune 1000 corporate clients.
[edit] Fighter squadron traditions
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First Friday is a longstanding 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. 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 stress a military family more than a civilian one. 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.
