Our local merchants plan exciting, engaging in-store events including food and beverage tastings, local art exhibits, retail trunk shows, live music, family activities, and entertainment in a special and unique way you'll only find in Downtown Boise. Stop into your favorite establishment or check out someplace new!
Events typically run from 5–9pm, but each merchant creatively plans their own event so check each listing below for individual hours and details.
SUPERSIZED First Thursday's are back!
What does that mean? More free activation throughout your downtown area! We'll have roving artist performing & engaging with the public for free fun during select months! Keep an eye out for the signs for where they'll pop-up next!
Interested in being a performing artist for our SUPERSIZED First Thursdays?
Submit ARTIsT Information Here
WaFd Bank
1001 W Idaho St • (208) 338-7400
Art Music Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly
Join us for a fun evening of local art, live music, food, networking and philanthropy!
Come listen to the wonderful music of Spenser Batt, peruse the wonderful artwork of Boise High School students! All while enjoying drinks from Edge Brewery and some fantastic food! Habitat for Humanity will be here to showcase some of what they do for our community too!
View Free Public Art at Freak Alley Gallery
Alley: 8th & 9th and Bannock & Idaho St •
Art Kid-Friendly Activity
Freak Alley Gallery is the Northwest's Largest Open-Air, Multi-artist Mural Gallery, located between 8th and 9th street and Bannock and Idaho in Downtown Boise.
Join the BoldCircle at BoldHue!
405 S 8th St •
Art Shop Activity
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Join the BoldCircle and be the first to know when we officially launch. As a member, you’ll receive exclusive behind the scenes content and see milestones in real time while you wait for its anticipated arrival! Join for free at BoldHue.com
Meriwether Cider House
224 N 9th St • (208)972-6725
Art Activity
Join for for Downtown Boise Association's 1st Thursday! We will provide all the supplies you'll need for FREE to paint your own little terracotta pot and plant it with native Idaho flowers! Hang with friends, sip some cider, and make your lil garden masterpiece!
The Cider House is 21+ dogs are allowed on the patio.
Artist - Andrew Aczel
Call for First Thursday Performing Artists!
816 W Bannock St • (208) 385-7300
Art Shop Music Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly Activity
Downtown Boise Association seeks performing artists and activators to implement a variety of one-night roving activations during Supersized First Thursday events from May to September 2024.
New or existing work may be submitted for consideration. The theme is open, but the content must be appropriate for all members of the public. View more details, requirements, compensation, application, and more via the 'Venue Website' button below.
Art Source Gallery
1516 W Grove St • 208-331-3374
Art
Art Source Gallery: Duets Exhibition Opening Reception
When a potter and a printmaker collaborate, they would create a harmonious exchange of ideas, each influencing and complementing the other's work, resulting in a unique artistic expression.
This collaboration of these very divergent artistic mediums will be featured during the month of April 2024 at Art Source Gallery. Gallery members Genie Sue Weppner, a potter specializing in Raku style, and Laurel Macdonald, an oil painter and linocut printmaker, have melded their distinctive styles into each other’s mediums, creating explosions of color and texture rarely seen together.
"It's such an honor to be using Genie Sue's vessels in my artwork," said Macdonald of her upcoming display. "I love her vases and mugs and have had such a fun time imagining them in different scenarios!"
“Laurel's prints are full of color which are defined by strong black lines, a design technique that I try to use in my Raku work,” Weppner said. “I always tried to imagine what it would look like if I could replicate her work on a Raku pot. I’m so grateful that she agreed to this collaboration so we could play with each other's imagery.”
Potter
Genie Sue Weppner is a long-time artistic potter who is currently exploring Raku firing techniques at her Boise studio. The Raku technique is essentially when glazed ceramics are taken from the kiln while they are still glowing red hot and are then placed in a material that would be able to catch fire, such as sawdust or newspaper. This technique is used to starve the piece of oxygen, which creates a myriad of colors within the glaze.
Printmaker
Laurel Macdonald explores printmaking and linocuts in creating images that depict beautiful Idaho landscapes and activities. Her colorful prints are filled with energy and playfulness. As a longtime Treasure Valley artist, her work is featured in local galleries and collections as well as adorning several public spaces throughout Boise and Meridian.
Join the artists at the First Thursday Opening Reception, Thursday April 4, 2024 from 5:00 to 9:00 PM. Enjoy the live music of Old Thyme. Wine and snacks are available. The exhibition will be on display at the gallery, 1516 W Grove St. (Linen District) Boise, ID 83843. More information is available at the gallery website: www.artsourcegallery.com.