The Nederland Caribou Village Shopping Center held its first 4th Friday event which allowed several of the businesses to extend their hours to offer special deals products while the galleries hosted art demonstrations by local artists.

Seven vendors participated in the event. In the downstairs shopping center, Augustina’s Winery offered $4 glasses of wine and Very Nice Brewery hosted live music by a local artist as well as hosting a small art stand by another local painter. Brightwood Music hosted a sale on cellos as well as a guitar repair demonstration. Tadasana Yoga hosted a free yoga class from 6-7 p.m. as well as a sale on select items in store. The upstairs art galleries hosted live art demonstrations and opportunities to create your own pottery pieces.

The event will occur monthly between the months of June through September 5-8 p.m.on the fourth Friday of every month. “I figured Ned’s different, let’s do fourth Friday instead of first Friday,” said Roz Bagtaz, the organizer of the event.

Bagtaz, who owns the Kaleidoscope Fine Arts Gallery, wants to encourage locals to support the shops which make up Nederland’s “little art district” in the upper shopping center. “I feel like 1st Street gets a lot of activity and people forget we’re over here. So, I was thinking ‘what’s a way to get people over here?’” Bagtaz said.

Spinning Silica Arts Collective, owned by Briana and Max Rashbaum, hosted the last event. Max Rashbaum sat outside supervising guests as they painted tiles that will be glazed and fired for them to collect later. Mrs. Rashbaum creates pottery in a solar powered kiln and Mr. Rashbaum creates glass pipes and artwork.

“We want to serve our community,” Mr. Rashbaum, who is a lifelong Nederland resident, said as he talked about joining the 4th Friday. “It was hard during the pandemic not seeing our friends, our people… It’s good that people are coming out. We’ve got a good community.”

The idea of community is at the center of the 4th Friday events. “We [the vendors] all work together and encourage each other’s businesses.” Bagtaz said. Gussie Walter, the owner of Augustina’s Winery, agreed, saying she joined to boost foot traffic for the upstairs art galleries.

“Anything to encourage people to look around [at the art galleries] up there,” Walter said. Walter is offering discounted prices on her wine glasses and calls the event her “personal happy hour” that allows her to catch up with her regulars and offer customers a place to enjoy a beverage before the art galleries.

Several customers wandered around the various venues. Casey and Gabe Ryan saw the events advertising through The Mountain-Ear’s previous reporting. “It’s something fun to do on a Friday and a reason to come out to the galleries and grab a drink,” Mrs. Ryan said. It’s the first time the couple has entered the galleries and they enjoyed painting tiles with Spinning Silica.

Jeff and Rebecca Young are also excited to see the local artists. “That’s what we love about this town. Coming in and supporting the local business.” Mr. Young said.

Kaleidoscope Fine Arts itself boasts over 30 local artists in its gallery alone and Spinning Silica Arts Collective hosts 18, including its owners Briana and Max Rashbaum.

Danielle Crouse is one such artist and offered her skills for one of the art demonstrations in the gallery, painting a fox sitting amongst daisy’s. Crouse hopes events like 4th Friday will help bring awareness to local artists’ efforts to make its own art district. These efforts are aided by funding provided by the Nederland Downtown Development Authority, which authorized over $14,000 for murals to be painted. Crouse sees projects like these working with events like 4th Friday. “The energy is all there and we’re all getting excited to collaborate,” Crouse said. “The more involved we are the more involved others will be.”

Businesses display wares at 4th Friday Above, left; Angel’s Perfect Pasta on sale at a table in front of O’Neil Rocky Mountain Stained Glass studio and gallery. Above, right; Very Nice Brewery Comapny offers extended seating outdoors. Bottom, right; Tadasana Mountain Yoga Studio prepares for its free class. Bottom, left; Danielle and Bo DuBose admire artwork, with Rox Bagtaz in the background. Middle; Gussie Walter serves wine to customers at Augustina’s Winery. PHOTO BY ELIZA DUBOSE[/caption]

Caribou Village is located at 20 E. Lakeview Drive in Nederland. The shopping center will hold 4th Friday events June through September, then evaluate for future events. To find out more, check out the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ CaribouVillageShoppingCenter/.