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
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.
Voodoo Cellar Boise
200 N Capitol Blvd • 2089180881
Food & Beverage
$5 Craft Beer Flights Every First Thursday!
The Funky Taco
801 W Bannock St • (208) 488-4593
Music Food & Beverage
Jazz Night at The Funky Taco
Once a month, on the First Thursday, The Funky Taco will have a jazz night featuring the Dean Jennings Jazz Quintet for the first set. We will then feature local jazz artists for the second set and close the night with a jam session featuring established, up-and-coming, and future jazz musicians.
Check the Event Calendars (https://www.deanvjennings.com/eventscalender) or the Funky Taco's Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/thefunkytaco/) for upcoming Jazz Nights at The Funky Taco.
The Matador Boise
215 N 8th St • 208-342-9988
Food & Beverage
HAPPY HOUR 4p-6p & 10p-CLOSE (daily)
Situated on historic 8th St in energetic downtown Boise, the Matador has been a part of the city’s restaurant and happy hour scene since 2010. Within easy walking or biking distance from all downtown shops and sights, as well as the Greenbelt and the scenic Treasure Valley foothills, the Matador offers adventures in Mexican-inspired food and tequila when you need a retreat from your adventures outdoors or in town.
The Matador uses all-natural ingredients only, and that includes our carne, pollo, carnitas and seafood. We source the freshest, in-season vegetables and fruits available. Then we take those ingredients and cook them up into creative dishes that taste a bit like Mexico, a bit like the local area, and a bit like nothing you’ve ever tasted before.
Come in and be enveloped by our passion for the most daring of spirits. For brave, fresh Mexican flavors, and beautiful scratch-made cocktails. For the people and the culture of Mexico, where we forge friendships with tequila makers, listen to their stories, and bring them home to share with you, as we guide you through your tequila experience.
HOURS OF OPERATION
Sun-Thurs 11a-11p
Fri & Sat 11a-1a
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
Re-POP Gifts
210 N 10th St • 208-991-6112
Shop
This First Thursday we celebrate April Birthdays! If it's your birth month, you and your friend will receive a special treat - 15% off your entire purchase*. And that's not all! As an extra bonus, if it's your birth month, you will also receive a birthday treat bag filled with surprises. So mark your calendars and get ready to celebrate your special day with us at Re-POP Gifts LLC!
*cannot be combined with other offers, some exclusions apply
Tom Graineys
109 S 6th St • (208) 345-2505
Music
DJ Mike Moses spins all vinyl every 1st Thursday of the month at Tom Grainey’s from 9-close. Funk and soul, new and old, hip-hop samples and remixes, and more!
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!
Join the BoldCircle at BoldHue!
405 S 8th St •
Art Shop Activity
FIRST and only
AT-HOME SHADE
MATCHING DEVICE
BoldHue revolutionizes the beauty industry with an approach to beauty that is completely customizable, for every unique individual. Our patented technology is one of a kind, just like you.
Follow our story, learn more, and view our viral videos on Instagram (instagram.com/boldhue) and TikTok (tiktok.com/@boldhue)
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
Rush Bowls at The Warehouse Food Hall
370 S 8th St suite 115 • 208-579-2351
Food & Beverage
Buy ONE smoothie or ONE bowl and get a FREE acai bracelet!
Code: First Thursday
The Balcony Club
150 N 8th St • (208) 336-1313
Food & Beverage
Join us for a free wine tasting at The Balcony Club from 5pm-7pm.
We will be tasting the following:
- Holesinsky Winery, Unicorn Sparkle Rosé Snake River Valley (2022)
- Cherries & Rainbows, Sans Soufre Red Wine (2020)
- Michael David Winery, Freakshow Zinfandel Lodi (2019)
Bottles will be available for sale to take home.
Full bar available for non-wine drinkers.
Non-alcoholic options also available (beyond water, soda, and energy drinks).
Drag bingo follows wine tasting at 730pm.
This is a 21+ ONLY venue and ID's will be checked.
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.
Trillium Restaurant
245 S Capitol Blvd • 208-333-8002
Food & Beverage
All day Happy Hour! Half off appetizers and $4 draft beer, $4 well cocktails, $4 select wines from 11am-11pm every first Thursday in Trillium Restaurant or Trillium Bar.
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.
Radio Boise
1020 W Main St • 208-258-2072
Music
Radio Boise is having an "Open Station" in the basement of the Alaska Center on Main St. between 10th and 11th St where we will give guided tours, have live DJs Wendy Fox and Jason D on the air, share snacks and generally chat about the station and community radio from 5pm-8pm. It is hosted by Nichole Marie of The Rapture and Geek Goddess from the Rebel Alliance. This month we are joined by Freedom Bound Hounds, a non-profit dedicated to saving dogs and helping them find their forever homes in the Pacific Northwest.
Radio Boise
1020 W Main St • 208-258-2072
Shop Music Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly
We are having an "Open Station" in the basement of the Alaska Center on Main St. between 10th and 11th St where we will give guided tours, have live DJs Wendy Fox and Jason D on the air, share snacks from Green's Deli and just generally chat about the station and community radio from 5pm-8pm. It is hosted by Nichole Marie of The Rapture and Geek Goddess from the Rebel Alliance.