What is First Thursday?

The First Thursday of each month, almost every gallery in Downtown and Northwest Portland open their doors to the public for extended hours to view a broad range of contemporary art. From about 6:00pm until 9:00pm, you will find hundreds of people roaming the streets, viewing art, shopping and eating at some of the greatest restaurants.

Most galleries offer free wine and visitors can mingle with the artists themselves, if your in the mood for a little more variety, you can head over to 13th street between Everett and Johnson from 5pm to 10pm where three city blocks are closed off for the First Thursday Street Gallery. From April to November you will see all local area artists selling their hand made art.

If you're not in the mood for art, this is a great time to get a little late night shopping in, or perhaps have a cup of coffee while a musician plays. Try it out next first Thursday, it's free and if you take the streetcar in, you won't even have to worry about parking.

For general information on First Thursday go to www.firstthursday.org.

For information regarding the First Thursday Street Gallery for independent artists go to www.urbanartnetwork.com.