Saturday, February 7, 2009

First Friday artwalk

I've been living in Phoenix for nearly 12 years now and have never been to a First Friday artwalk. Yesterday, we decided to go for the first time!

We went with a friend (D) who had never taken the light rail before, so we decided to park and ride to the Central/Roosevelt station. Here are some pics (notice the "crowds of people" riding and the wrapped rail cars...for next week's 2009 NBA All-Star Game, which is being hosted in Phoenix):
Phoenix light-railPhoenix light-rail
There are two "main" areas of the artwalk (on Roosevelt and Grand). We headed to the Roosevelt area, which was a few blocks east of the light-rail station. The "epicenter" of the artwalk is at the intersection of 5th St. and Garfield St. There are vendors along 5th St (between Roosevelt and McKinley) and Garfield St (between 4th St. and 6th St.). Since you rarely see people walking out on the sidewalks of Phoenix, I was surprised at how many people were there. It was almost like being in Chicago or New York. There were a few food vendors, but I definitely think there should be more.

After doing a complete circuit, we were all hungry and headed back to the car to go eat. On the way back, at the light-rail station, we starting chatting w/ a complete stranger and ended up eating dinner with him (one of the benefits of mass transit - you have the opportunity to meet new friends!). More about dinner in the next posting...

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