First Friday Art Walk on Santa Fe
Sometimes it’s good to get out of your comfort zone. My Husband and I don’t go to Downtown Denver at night much anymore. BUT it’s such a treat when we do! When we went to Mmm… Coffee! A Paleo Bistro a few weeks ago we had heard from them about the First Friday Art Walk on Santa Fe (Where they’re also located) which features the art culture in Denver. There are food vendors, musicians, poets, artists, and so much more!
We were intrigued and thought it would be a great adventure for us to go on together as a date night! So we got our wonderful baby sitter, got dressed up (Isn’t a formal event but definitely feels nice dressing up every now and then! Especially inside the fancy art galleries ;) ) and headed downtown to the Lincoln Park area!
Parking was kinda a pain but we eventually found a ton of spots near Sunken Gardens Park and it wasn’t a bad walk at all! We headed towards the Santa Fe strip and decided to stop at Mmm… Coffee! A Paleo Bistro first for a quick coffee and a stuffed bacon wrapped date! It was just as good as last time and the owners even remembered us! How sweet are they!
Once we were done we saw they had a HUGE line. They were super popular! So we stepped out and saw how busy it had gotten on the strip (It was amazing seeing so many people come and check it out!) and were eager to get in on the action!
It was just starting to get dark since it started at 5 but the street was lit up so, so beautifully – The lingering sun had just enough time to shine off of the many street performer’s instruments.. It made for a very mystical scene.
There were also many artists in the street as well and they were all amazing! I’ve always loved spray paint art and there was an artist creating a piece for a little girl who wanted a city skyline. We loved getting to see something in the making – Think it’d be fun for anyone to see!
The air was filled with amazing smells of all different types – There were Mexican food trucks, BBQ, American, Indian, Healthy, Gluten-Free.. SO many. Made me so proud of our state. We’ve still got some delicious food options or if you’re feeling something light OR something that’s specifically for people with food sensitivities, they’ve got it! If I hadn’t just eaten that wrapped bacon date I would’ve eaten EVERYTHING.
As the sky was continuing to dim we walked around to check out all of the street performers before they left so we didn’t miss them. One of them was a VERY talented little girl playing the violin AND singing – There was a huge crowd surrounding her and cheering for her. I could hear whispers of awe coming from nearly everyone and it made me fall in love with this event even more. People weren’t coming out for just the drinks and food – They were truly coming out to support and admire the talent our beautiful city holds!
Once it got really dark we began to pop into each of the art galleries. There were so many beautiful and unique pieces in every building with the artists proudly standing beside them. I loved to walk by and tell them how talented they were – Their warm smiles were worth it. I had the chance to really speak with a few and get some photos with them and their art!
After we’d seen it all we said our goodbyes to the sights, sounds and smells and leisurely walked back to our truck raving about everything we had seen. We were happy we did something out of our comfort zone as it was a unique experience that made us feel closer together and more in-tune with our city.
We’ll be back as often as we can now and recommend any native or tourist to try it out and enjoy it for themselves!
