Fayetteville's Fourth Friday
My 10-year-old daughter, Erinn, and I attended Fourth Friday in Downtown Fayetteville last Friday night. I was attracted to the presentation by the Cape Fear Mineral and Gem Society at the headquarters branch of the Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center, and Erinn had an interest in the Recycled Art Show.
In the end, we didn’t make it to either, and I’m not even sure there was a Recycled Art Show, but we had a great time anyway.We started the evening wandering Maxwell Street, we read the sidewalk art, explored vendors’ offerings and found ourselves in Cape Fear Studios. It was a busy place! Potters and painters were demonstrating their crafts and an artist creating glass beads. We spent a lot of time watching Stephanie Crieder create her beads – she even let Erinn pick out colors and designed a bead for her. By far, this was the highlight of Erinn’s evening.
While we waited for the bead to cool, we made our way to Hay Street. On Hay, we visited a bead store with peace sign beads (again, Erinn was very happy) , saw belly dancers, sampled some delicious red velvet cake at Just Deserts and wandered to the Market House to watch the drum circle. As we watched, Erinn nudged me to turn around and look behind me. Someone was juggling fire just outside the drum circle, and it was pretty cool! A few minutes later Erinn broke my hypnotic trance (how often do you see fire juggling?) and reminded me her bead MUST be done by that point.
Once back on Maxwell Street, we stopped to watch several kids painting on an easel outside of Greg’s! Art Pottery & Gifts. Once the kids moved on , Greg Hathaway handed Erinn a paintbrush and invited her to go to town. He explained that the picture currently full of peace signs and aliens started out as dogwood flowers on a branch. I don’t think the content mattered to the kids – but I know they enjoyed creating art.
Once we finally made it back to Cape Fear Studios , Erinn picked up her bead and cradled it in a tissue all the way home. That wasn’t the only treasure from 4th Friday – one of the antique stores had what looked to be a hand-made paperweight with a foot etched into it. Perfect for the Foote family.
As we walked back to the car, Erinn said “You mean this happens EVERY fourth Friday?” Indeed.
Here’s a video of our adventure. I am not only an extremely amateur videographer, but I am also an indulgent mom – so you’ll see lots of Erinn and hear lots of me. My hope is it will give you a sample of Fourth Friday.
When you visit next time, or for the first time, make plans to stay and experience Fourth Friday, Its one of the great FREE offerings from our community. In September, Fourth Friday coincides with the International Folk Festival, so events are sure to have an international flair.
For more information on Fourth Friday visit the Arts Council website.
For information on other things to see and do throughout Cumberland County, click HERE.
