June 23, 2010
Gallery Crawling in Charlotte
The First Friday Gallery Crawl in Charlotte, North Carolina is definitely a great time to be had for all. The city’s South End district has organized a monthly event, held every First Friday of the month, which draws people to the historic area, located between Camden Road and South Tyron. Thousands of people descend upon the different galleries, studios, exhibits, installations, and street entertainment each month, appreciating the works of art by local artists. There are many restaurants on the way, a deli, pubs, a cute coffee shop, a wine bar, a dog bar (humans welcome), some boutiques, live music and the best Charlotte hotels that are close by willing to accommodate the art aficionados traveling to Charlotte’s for this fabulous event.
The area, from 1903 to 1975, flourished as a North Carolina textile industry. The textile community functioned as a self-contained village of sorts, separated from the city by fields and farms. After 1975, the last mill finally closed and a powerhouse era came to an end. The south side of the city was all but forgotten until the 80s, when young artists in need of inexpensive studio space envisioned this area to be the new art community.
The Gallery Crawl has no official beginning or end, it’s not organized like a pub crawl, but it’s thousands of visitors manage to meander, at their leisure, through a fine collection of galleries, all featuring original works in all kinds of mediums by artists at all stages of their development. There’s no charge, but parking is an issue, try the neighborhood theater’s lot, there’s only a $3 parking fee. There are over 17 galleries to visit, all with an open door, wine and food affair. Come early, stay late, enjoy the community night out and by all means, bring your wallet, because you will be purchasing a fine piece of original art.
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Filed by Herbert Jones at 4:10 pm under 
1 Comment
I love hearing about First Fridays across the country. It’s my dream to get an RV and spend the rest of my life traveling form one First Friday to the next.