The first First Friday dissenter is out, and it looks like some others will follow

The first First Friday dissenter is out.

After ruminating on social media about making a change, Janelle King announced Tuesday that her Workroom and Birney’s Snack Shop will be open for Final Friday starting this month instead of First Friday.

“I have no intention of trying to start a movement or a shift,” King said.

Still, others are on the sidelines watching and wondering what to do.

The popular longtime Final Friday art crawl switched to First Friday last fall.

“I still fully support First Friday,” King said.

She said, however, that with her monthly Second Saturday event, it was too difficult to do something for First Friday, too.

“Just this year alone, there’s three weekends where they fall on the same weekend,” King said.

She said she’s found that people often say, “Oh, I’m going to skip tonight because I’m going tomorrow.”

King said it puts artists at a disadvantage and is “honestly taxing on us.”

In her Tuesday e-mail announcement, King was careful to say that she’s “excited at the opportunity to now may be able to catch some First Friday shows alongside each of you AND still host a show of our own!”

“I didn’t want it to feel like I was trying to be subversive and stir up drama,” King said. “This has been a sensitive subject.”

When King first broached the subject of switching on her Facebook page in January, there were a number of people who said they’d likely join her if she made a switch.

Alicia Ybarra of Vanya Designs on Commerce Street was one of them. Now that King is switching, Ybarra said she’s inclined to as well but wants to see if there will be a significant number who also make the switch.

“I have not had good luck with turnout on First Friday,” Ybarra said. “It’s just been sad.”

She said Final Friday was so well established, and there was some confusion around the change.

“Change is hard, and I don’t know it was a necessary change to make.”

Javan Andrew has decided to return to Final Friday with his J. Andrew studio on Commerce Street, though he said he usually has the event on an outside patio, so he’s going to try to partner with another business while it’s still cold.

Andrew tried First Friday for a couple of months but said his sales were only 13% of what they had been.

“So I just basically gave up on doing First Friday shows, which makes me sad.”

With previous Final Friday sales, Andrew said he used to be able to pay his monthly studio rent along with his house payment.

Marilyn Grisham’s Fiber Studio also is on Commerce, and she’s also giving up on First Friday.

“Nobody came,” she said.

She said there has grown to be a host of issues on Commerce, with parking trouble due to Intrust Bank Arena, the city’s changed trolley schedule and increasing rent along the street.

Grisham, who turns 80 this year, said she can’t consider moving.

“There is not enough energy left in this body.”

She said she can at least try changing back to Final Friday, though.

Others wonder if First Friday has had enough of a chance yet.

“Obviously it takes time for a change,” said Rachel Thomas of Thomas Grey Interiors at 121 N. Mead.

She said sales and attendance have been off.

“That switch was hard for us.”

Thomas is open to switching back to Final Friday but is concerned if there’s not a collective switch because of free advertising that comes with whatever day the art crawl is on.

Reuben Saunders of Artworks near Douglas and Hillside was the leading proponent of the change to First Friday and said it’s been “very successful.”

“You know, First Friday is working like a charm, and just like it was supposed to,” he said.

Saunders said most cities nationally have First — not Final — Fridays.

He said there are other reasons to do it then as well, chief among them the three year-end holidays — Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas — that he said conflict with Final Friday.

For instance, Saunders said Halloween becomes “a big costume party, and no one’s looking at art.”

The success — or lack of it — of First Friday seems to be different for different types of businesses.

Fisch Haus artist Elizabeth Stevenson said First Fridays have gone “pretty well” in regard to attendance.

“We’re not reliant on . . . sales to stay open,” she said.

Stevenson said she and the other Fisch Haus artists are “super flexible” and can do First Friday or Final Friday.

She said critical mass is important for either day, though, and she thinks everyone needs to come to an agreement.

“I do think that the more we splinter, the less attendance there will be overall,” she said. “I feel strongly we should all just decide and go with that.”

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 5:01 AM with the headline "The first First Friday dissenter is out, and it looks like some others will follow."