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 happen all throughout the day, but each merchant creatively plans their own event so check each listing below for individual hours and details.
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WHERE'S SPUDDY BUDDY?
During this August's First Thursday, join us in finding Spuddy Buddy! In partnership with the Idaho Potato Commission, Downtown Boise is filled with hidden Spuddy Buddies for you to find in various Downtown businesses. Each participating* location welcomes you to come into their business, shop and try your best to find their hidden potato.
Make sure to tag us in your findings at @downtownboise or by using #Spuddybuddydt!
*Participating business will have a note in their post below and a "🥔" symbol.
The Basque Market - 🥔
608 W Grove St • (208) 433-1208
Shop Food & Beverage
This month, First Thursday is potato themed! Expect a potato themed pintxo menu featured alongside our traditional Chorizo & Seafood Paella and our famous Frozen White White Sangria!
Plus, stop by between 4-7pm and get a free dessert when you find our Spuddy Buddy! (While supplies last)
Pintxo preview:
• Brandade
• Paps Rellenos
• Grillos
• Patatas Bi
Service starts at 6:00pm and goes until we sell out!
Lenses & Brushes - 🥔
404 S 8TH ST, L100 • 2085902612
Art Shop Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly
Hunter Reid is a Boise-based emerging photographer who works in both film and digital formats. Drawn to the natural beauty of Idaho, he enjoys capturing the state’s landscapes through thoughtful composition and a fresh perspective. Meet Hunter and view his photography at Lenses & Brushes on August 6 from 5–7 PM.
**Where's Spuddy Buddy Participant
Solid Grill & Bar - 🥔
405 S 8th St • (208) 345-6620
Shop Music Food & Beverage
~ ½ Off Draft Beers, Well Drinks, $2 off all wines and $1 off appetizers from 4pm-6pm & 10pm-Midnight.
~ We also have Two Free Comedy Shows! Just the Tips comedy show at 7pm! National touring comedians perform at Liquid Laughs Underground! Free to attend!
~ Followed by the Treasure Valley's funniest comedians and some first timers! Free Comedy! Free Laughs! Sign ups at 9pm Show starts at 9:30pm. Ever want to try stand up comedy? This is your chance!
The best deal you will find on First Thursday!
**Where's Spuddy Buddy Participant
SHIFT boutique
807 W Bannock St • 208-331-7806
Shop
TAG SALE weekend! We're kicking off our biggest markdowns of the year on Thursday. Items priced $5, $15, $25, and $50.
Mixed Greens - 🥔
213 N 9th St • (208) 344-1605
Shop Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly Activity
Join us at Mixed Greens for August’s First Thursday! As a thank you for voting for us as Best Giftshop in Boise for 10 years we are offering 10% off your purchase all day! Come shop with us and support our local vendors. The Idaho Humane Society is promoting Toast to Tails gala. Poppyseed Bakery will be here selling delicious baked goods. Look around the store to spot Spud Buddy! In addition to the local vendors, Mixed Greens will be sampling some of our favorite food items in the store. We hope to see you there!
**Where's Spuddy Buddy Participant
Toy POP! - 🥔
780 W Main St • 2088590095
Shop
New Smiski arrive this week! to celebrate we're hosting another Smiski Trading Event!
First Thursday
August 6th
Trading/meet-up times:
1:00pm
5:30pm
Toy POP!
780 W Main St
Bring your Smiski to trade with other Smiski fans
Plus: buy 10 or more assorted blind boxes get 10% off!
**Where is Spuddy Buddy Participant
Re-POP Gifts - 🥔
210 N 10th St • 208-991-6112
Art Shop
Featured artist The Spooky Dinosaur will be joining us to show off his debut Legend of Zelda Midna inspired print to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Twilight Princess. Join us from 4-8pm to meet the artist, see his new print, and get his work signed!
Also, if it happens to be your birthday in August, you and a friend still get 15% off (some exclusions apply) during the First Thursday event.
**Where's Spuddy Buddy Participant
KIN
999 W Main St • (208) 342-0600
Art Shop Music Food & Beverage
Dust off the cowboy hat and come on down to our rodeo themed August Night Market. It’s our summer First Thursday tradition to get together and partner with a number of our favorite local small businesses, farms, artists and musicians. The misters will be pumping as will the tunes from DJ DaddyBaby. We’ll have a number of familiar vendor faces with plenty of new ones as well. We’d love to see you out on the patio supporting all the local makers.
Idaho Art Gallery
702 W Idaho St • (208) 733-4134
Art Shop Activity
Opening Reception: Alive in the Sun, Solo Exhibition by Benjamin Childress
Thursday, August 06, 2026 | 5PM-9PM
Idaho Art Gallery | 702 W Idaho St #105 | Downtown Boise
Join us for the opening reception of Alive in the Sun, a solo exhibition by Utah artist Benjamin Childress. This poignant body of work explores memory, loss, and the enduring traces of human presence through atmospheric paintings of Salt Lake City alleyways inhabited by luminous shadow-like figures. Inspired by personal grief and the histories embedded within everyday spaces, the artist creates layered compositions that blur the boundaries between past and present, inviting viewers to reflect on the people, places, and connections that continue to shape us long after they have faded from view.
Through a process that combines photography, projected colored light, and richly layered oil paint, Childress transforms familiar urban landscapes into contemplative spaces where memory lingers and the human spirit endures. Experience this new exhibition, meet the artist, and spend the evening immersed in thoughtful conversation and reflection.
Rediscovered Books - Boise - 🥔
1576 W Grove • (208) 376-4229
Shop Kid-Friendly
This First Thursday, enjoy a popsicle on our newly renovated patio area here at Rediscovered Books. We're staying open until 7 PM just for you! Inside the store, the elusive Spuddy Buddy will be hidden, and the first person to find him gets a prize.
**Where's Spuddy Buddy Participant
Wassmuth Center for Human Rights
777 S 8th St • 208-345-0304
Art Shop Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly Activity
Join us at the Center for First Thursday as we partner with Artisans for Hope on August 6 for a special exhibition of The Narrative Thread: Sewn Stories of Refugee Journeys to Idaho. This special open house features a collection of narratives and story quilts crafted in-between 2011 and 2021 by refugees who made Boise home. Through each quilt and accompanying story, discover the threads of courage, resilience, and belonging woven into the fabric of our community.
Thursday, August 6
4:00 - 7:00 PM
We invite you to wander through the Center, meet some of the artists, and connect with the powerful stories that have helped shape Idaho. Docents will be on hand to share more about the connective programs that both Artisans for Hope and the Wassmuth Center provide all year long.
Free and open to the public! Light refreshments provided.
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 “Here We Have Idaho: Belonging | Sofía Jaramillo and Ceci Richardson-Salvador,” which closes later this month on August 23rd.
🎨 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 a Color Field artwork using watercolor crayons, inspired by “Four Masterworks from the National Gallery of Art.”
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.
JD's Bodega - 🥔
161 N Capitol Blvd • (208)519-5516
Shop Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly Activity
Spuddy Buddy Scavenger Hunt.
Stop by the Bodega find Spuddy Buddy and receive a free small popcorn and play a game of pinball on us!
Title Nine - 🥔
170 N 8th St • (208) 342-1493
Shop
Come in to Title Nine on 8th Street between Main and Idaho open late for First Thursday!
Summer's Still On!
Just in time for one more trip, come in for swimsuits still in stock, running shorts, sports bras, hiking shorts and pants and all your lightweight travel clothes!
Mention First Thursday for 9% Off All Day 10AM-8PM
**Where's Spuddy Buddy Participant
House of Wine
1008 W Main St • 208-297-9463
Shop Food & Beverage Activity
Come join us at House of Wine for our exciting “First Thursday” event in August!
For this night we’ll put aside our regular wine by the glass options and offer free tastes of 3 great wines from local Idaho favorite Indian Creek Winery!
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!