First Friday Art Walk will have a new schedule in 2024

Galleries and other small businesses opened their doors to art-loving community members during November's First Friday Art Walk, Nov. 3. But in the middle of a successful event, one of the organizers, Anne Postle of Osmosis Gallery, announced some news. The schedule for First Friday Art Walks in 2024 will be different. There would be a total of six First Friday Art Walks in 2024 which will be held in March, June, July, August, September and December. "We want to allow more of our businesses, who put a lot into the event and stay late at the end of the week, to be able to focus, get more out of it," said Postle. "But tonight, we had a good crowd. There was a lot of life on the street, a lot going on." The news came in the middle of a busy event for the Art Walk, which is sponsored by the Niwot Cultural Arts Association and Osmosis Gallery, possibly due to the unseasonably warm weather as guests came out to view artwork, enjoy refreshments and socialize. In Osmosis Gallery, this included continued displaying of work by husband and wife team Tim and Barb Husby as well as Ukrainian potter Viktoriia Smirnova. At Inkberry Books, oil painter Carolyn Bradley of Niwot, who took third place at the 2023 Niwot Cultural Art Association's Why Not Niwot? Art Show, was on hand as a featured artist.

Further down Second Avenue, mercantile retailer Few of a Kind Vintage and Mercantile participated in the Art Walk, but also used the opportunity to introduce and support a new local business, Holiday Shindigs. The venture by La Musette chef Skyla Olds and Liz Tobiason of Shindig Partyware, provides menu planning and food created by Olds, with matched beverage planning (alcohol not included), served on vintage tableware that elevates an occasion. Art Walk participants got a sneak peek of the food, drinks and ambiance that Shindig could provide for holiday events. "We had an evening tonight, kind of like an open house, so they could test out culinary and we had about 100 people here," said the store's owner Angie Miltersen. "We had punch in real punch cups, like from the '40s. Skyla made an amazing apple quince, and an amazing cranberry punch."

Next door to Few of a Kind, Little Bird was also celebrating with champagne to mark their 12th anniversary in their shop at 112 Second Avenue. The boutique opened in 2011 on the night of that year's First Friday Art Walk. Owner and designer, Liz Gould, considered her journey as a Niwot business. "When we started, we were tiny. We were just on one side of the space, not even into the back. And then we expanded [when] we purchased the building. It's been good. Niwot has been kind to us. We are so happy to be able to celebrate this."

As the night demonstrated, First Friday has a long history of significance to the community, gathering art lovers, fostering connections between residents and helping to launch new businesses. As it enters 2024 with changes to the schedule, its impact on the community is both valued and vibrant.