I’ve been working with the Fredericktown Revitalization Initiative for the past two years and one of our latest projects, in cooperation with the local Chamber, is First Friday. Fredericktown does not have much going on in terms of public art shows or poetry so we’re going to remedy that with First Friday which is a monthly art opening/poetry reading/potluck the first Friday of each month. During the warmer months we’ll be adding outdoor activities on the north side of Court Square and the adjoining park on North Main. In addition to acoustic and bluegrass music we’re hoping to do movies in the park, karaoke, games and crafts.

We just held our second First Friday and had a fantastic turn out… in fact the place was crammed with about as many people as we could handle and still maintain a level of personal space. Very exciting. Even better, we’ve worked out an agreement to use the whole second floor space above the Chamber for our new gallery/visitor center. It’s been unused for years and needs painting, track lighting, old carpet removed. A few weekends and a few hundred dollars and it should be ready to use. We’re hoping to have it ready to go by May 1st which should be a pretty easy to accomplish goal.