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.
Art Source Gallery
1516 Grove St • 208-331-3374
Art Shop Music Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly Activity
Join us for the First Thursday opening reception of “Upon Closer Reflection”, a feature artist exhibition by Boise artist Beth Trott, May 7, 5–9 pm. The artist will be there, along with snacks, wine and live music.
Beth explores the natural world through a blend of observation and abstraction. Featuring both new and recent work from this series, the show runs May 5–30 at Art Source Gallery, in the Linen Arts District.
Title Nine
170 N 8th St • (208) 342-1493
Shop
Join us at Title Nine Boise for Boise's First Thursday and Title Nine's Mom's Night Out!
Motherhood is an incredible journey, and often, while you're busy taking care of everyone else, you forget to take care of yourself. We at Title Nine believe that deserves to be celebrated.
You are invited to enjoy:
~ 20% Off All Purchases 5pm - close
~Free Gift with Purchase 5pm - close
Special Guest- WellHouse Sauna and Social Club
~ Wellhouse is now open in Garden City, where wellness meets community through sauna, cold plunges and intentional living. They will be here First Thursday hours with specials for their new social club!
Because you deserve the best, not just on Mother's Day, but every day.
See you this First Thursday, May 7th for Mom's Night Out!
With Gratitude,
Title Nine Boise Team
Boise Art Museum
670 Julia Davis Drive • (208) 345-8330
Art Shop Kid-Friendly Activity
Find inspiration and get creative at BAM during First Thursday! Admission is “pay what you can,” and the Museum is open late, until 7 p.m., to encourage Access for All. Experience BAM’s current exhibitions, including “Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love | from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation.”
🎨 Drop in from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. and get creative in our FREE Studio Art Exploration program in BAM’s Education Studios. Create an artwork that includes words and images, inspired by “Jeffrey Gibson: They Teach Love.”
Generous support provided by Art Bridges Foundation’s Access for All program.
🎁Stop by the BAM STORE to find unique and creative gifts for all ages.
House of Wine
1008 W Main St • 208-297-9463
Art Shop Food & Beverage Activity
Come join us at House of Wine for our exciting “First Thursday” event in May!
For this night we’ll put aside our regular wine by the glass options and offer selections for a FREE “May Sunshine Wines” tasting from our friend Jackie Elo from Amphora Wines- a locally owned wine distributor.
The festivities begin at 5pm and last until 8pm. This is a free event and no registration is required. We look forward to welcoming you!
Lenses & Brushes
404 S 8TH ST, L100 • 2085902612
Art Shop Kid-Friendly Activity
First Thursday: The Found Camera Project
What happens when you hand a camera to a stranger and ask them to tell a story?
Join us at Lenses & Brushes for a First Thursday exhibition of The Found Camera Project—a community film photography experience where cameras were hidden throughout downtown Boise and discovered by curious explorers. Each person who found a camera captured their own moments before returning it to be developed and printed in our darkroom.
This showcase features a collection of those images—raw, honest, and beautifully unexpected—creating a shared visual story of Boise through many different perspectives.
Let’s make art together.
The Basque Block
Grove St between 6th St & Capitol Blvd •
Art Shop Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly Activity
Join us for First Thursday! Enjoy free admission, a hands-on art activity, and the chance to explore the historic boarding house. It’s a fun and relaxed evening to discover local history, get creative, and experience the museum in a whole new way!
Mixed Greens
213 N 9th St • (208) 344-1605
Art Shop Music Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly
Pop into Mixed Greens for the perfect Mother's Day gifts. Cinder Winery will be pouring wine, Poppyseed Bakery will have goodies for sample and sale, Bead-a-Bull Jewelry will have a selection of jewelry to pick from, and Eric Henderson will be singing all night in the shop. Come join us from 5PM-8PM.
City Peanut Shop
803 W Bannock St • (208) 433-3931
Art Shop Activity
Fun flash tattoos done by Lacey Hueffed (@LaceyInk) from 5 - 8pm!!!
Idaho Art Gallery
702 W Idaho St • (208) 733-4134
Art Shop Activity
Opening Reception: Seasons and Soliloquies by Zack Thurmond
702 W Idaho St STE 105 – Idaho Art Gallery
Thursday, May 7, 2026 | 5–9PM
Join us for the opening reception of Seasons and Soliloquies, a solo exhibition by Zack Thurmond, on Thursday, May 7 from 5-9pm at Idaho Art Gallery in downtown Boise.
Born in St. Louis and shaped by years in the Mountain West, Thurmond’s work is rooted in a deep and enduring connection to place. Largely self-taught, with a BFA from Boise State University, his paintings draw from direct observation, often beginning as small plein air studies before expanding into larger studio compositions. Whether working from a single creek drainage or a stand of aspens, Thurmond returns again and again to the landscapes that surround him, exploring a distinctly “hyperlocal” sense of place.
In Seasons and Soliloquies, these landscapes become a vehicle for reflection. At its core, this exhibition considers the passage of time not as something to resist, but as something to experience more fully. Each painting holds space for quiet observation, echoing the artist’s own awareness of time’s steady movement and the beauty embedded within it. Through changing seasons, weather, and light, Thurmond invites viewers to slow down, to notice, and to reconnect with the rhythms of the natural world.
Thurmond’s work is held in public and private collections across North America and Europe. He currently lives in Idaho with his wife, two children, and three dogs, and serves as Chief Preparator at the Boise Art Museum.
Alongside Seasons and Soliloquies, explore our current open-theme group exhibition featuring local and national artists, as well as our curated gift shop offering original works, small-format pieces, and locally made goods.
Join us for an evening of art, conversation, and community in the heart of downtown Boise.
The Basque Market
608 W Grove St • (208) 433-1208
Shop Food & Beverage
We’re taking a little trip across the Iberian Peninsula for First Thursday!
Join us from 4pm-7pm enjoy Portuguese wines and Portugal-inspired tapas, while still staying true to the flavors we love. Enjoy our Port & tonic, who knows it might just be your new favorite. 😉And yes, our famous paella will be ready at 6 PM, and our regular menu will be available too! Come explore something new with us! Same vibe, new flavors.
The Record Exchange
1105 W Idaho St • (208) 344-8010
Shop Music Kid-Friendly
Join The Record Exchange at 5:30pm on First Thursday, May 7 for a vinyl release party and live performance celebrating Mylo Bybee’s new album “Revisions.” As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.
The vinyl will be available to purchase, and you can get your copy signed following the band’s performance!
ABOUT MYLO BYBEE AND ‘REVISIONS’:
Mylo Bybee is a high-energy rock band from Boise, turning raw emotion into tightly-wound songs fueled by restless rhythms, sharp guitars and vocals balancing grit and vulnerability. Since forming in 2020, they’ve carved out a reputation for music that doesn’t ask permission, it grabs you, shakes you and leaves you charged.
Known for high-octane live shows, the band has grown from local stages to major festivals, building a name as one of the Pacific Northwest’s most dynamic acts. With releases like “Revisions” and singles “Time Machine” and “I Wish You Well,” Mylo Bybee continues to evolve, pushing their sound forward while staying true to the raw spirit that defines them.
“The propulsive indie pop sound of the Pacific Northwest is alive and well and in the amplifiers of Mylo Bybee.” - Ron Hart SPIN Magazine
Re-POP Gifts
210 N 10th St • 208-991-6112
Art Shop
Here at Re-POP! the first week of May is always momentous. We've got May the 4th (be with you). And let's not forget Return of the Fifth! This May First Thursday we will be ringing in this wonderful month with one of our favorite local artists Noble Hardesty, who will be featuring a new Star Wars print!
Boise Contemporary Theater
854 Fulton St • (208) 331-9224
Art Shop Food & Beverage
Our First Thursday event is ONLY from 5:30-6:30 pm, as our play, AJAX, starts at 7:00 pm. Why not stay for both? Mingle over discounted drinks and complimentary charcuterie while viewing local art in our lobby, and get 20% off tickets from our box office to stay for that night’s show, Thursday, May 7th, or buy your tickets at 20% off during Happy Hour and come back for the show Friday, May 8th, or the matinee on Saturday, May 9th. Only during Happy Hour, from 5:30-6:30 pm, meet local artist Claire Remsberg, whose work you may have seen on traffic boxes around town! Her paintings are available for sale. Learn more about her art on her website: https://www.claireremsberg.com/.