The Best of First Fridays

Arts galleries, studios, local businesses, live entertainment, and food trucks liven the Crossroads District on the first Friday of every month for “First Fridays.” Due to the rain at the Sept. 7 First Friday, the usually crowded Southwest Boulevard was absolutely deserted. No artisans or food trucks. Just puddles and those who had actually remembered an umbrella. I was not among the latter.

Jones Art Gallery

My first stop was Jones Gallery thanks to the poster I spotted at the street corner. Jones Gallery is a 9,000-square-foot warehouse-converted-art gallery with three floors showcasing local artists, hidden away on Walnut Street.

After the gallery’s owner, David Jones, immediately asked me “if I was an artist?” I got the sense of his passion for art. Now my version of art is a couple of lopsided stick figures, but his passionate words almost had me convinced to drop everything and become the next Picasso.

Jones is always on the lookout for more artists to feature, having already highlighted over 300 in the eight years he has operated his gallery. Jones prides himself on running an inclusive gallery. He does a yearly group showcase for disabled artists and he recently began one for high school artists as well.

Jones enjoys First Fridays because they bring a younger crowd into his gallery. According to Jones, the typical age group that visits his gallery are 30 to 50 year-olds, but on First Fridays he usually draws a crowd of 18-25 year-olds as well.

“You get people that wouldn’t generally come and when they see the art they say, ‘Well I didn’t know all this was here!’” Jones added. I definitely fell into that category— I had had no idea that an ordinary Crossroads gallery could be so progressive and contain so many works of art.

Featured Business 2: KC Fooditude

When looking for a food truck to photograph, KC Fooditude seemed like the most Instagrammable option. While the other trucks on East 18th Street appeared grimy and unwelcoming, KC Fooditude was fire engine red, shiny, and inviting. It was as if it were calling “Oooh look at me! Pick me!”

Co-owner David Ayres’s passion for barbecue led him to creating KC Fooditude with his wife, Wendi. The truck specializes in KC barbecue and made to order artisan pizza.

“We can cook pizzas in 90 seconds so it’s pretty easy for us to compete [with other food trucks],” David Ayres said.

KC Fooditude has been coming to First Fridays for two years now. “These types of things keep Kansas City alive,” David Ayres said.

I had to agree; when I heard Ayres rave about the menu, I was convinced to come back next Friday and try it for myself.

Featured Business 3: Jerusalem Cafe (& Food Trucks)

When I went up to the order window at the Jerusalem Cafe Food Truck, I was surprised to learn that the owner of the truck, Fred Azzeh, owns six more food trucks in addition to his own restaurant. Azzeh’s restaurant, Jerusalem Cafe established in 1990, was the first Middle Eastern restaurant in Kansas City. But his accomplishments didn’t stop there.

“From there, I decided to have a hotdog cart in Westport and it upgraded to a food truck and then it just became one truck after another,” Azzeh said.

Although active in both, he prefers the food truck business over the restaurant business.

“Food trucks are more profitable than restaurants because you don’t have to pay the overhead, they’re just based on scheduling,” Azzeh said.

Just like Ayres, Azzeh has been bringing his food trucks to First Fridays for two years now. He keeps coming back because he likes seeing them improve more and more each time. In Azzeh’s opinion, First Fridays have become more organized and attracted even more people to the Crossroads than ever before.

According to Azzeh, his trucks’ great quality, quantity and customer service are what make them stand out at First Fridays. He staffs each truck with six college or high school students to make service as fast as possible.

“They come to work very excited, they want to be there: make money and go back to study,” Azzeh said.

At every First Friday, you can see Azzeh’s hard work paying off— in the form of smiles on the faces of satisfied customers. Next First Friday, you can bet that I’ll be joining them.

Check out a map of these spots here