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.
Neighborhood Prom!
1118 W Idaho St • (208) 343-0571
Art Music Activity
Join us at Neighborhood Prom!
Presented by Neighborhood Imagination Foundation (NIF) and Larry Flynn Benefit Events.
Mark your calendar: May 7th at 6:30-10:00pm at The Shrine Ballroom (upstairs).
The unforgettable night includes a presentation from NIF, live auction and paddle raise, the Royalty Raffle, drinks for purchase, Jilly.FM on the tunes, and dancing until bedtime!
Each ticket comes with a custom Party to the People Neighborhood Prom tote! Must be present to collect.
Follow us on Instagram or visit our website and sign up for email updates for more information!
Secure your ticket today!
Wok N' Roll
345 South 8th Street •
Food & Beverage
Come through, support AAPI-owned, and enjoy bold Thai + Lao-inspired dishes, drinks, and good vibes in the heart of Downtown Boise. Bring your and celebrate with us by kicking it off this First Thursday with extended happy hour specials đź–¤
đź“Ť 345 S. 8th St (South Bodo)
🥢 Extended Happy Hour for First Thursday, Food & Drink Specials.
Voodoo Cellar Boise
200 N Capitol Blvd • 2089180881
Food & Beverage
$5 Craft Beer Flights Every First Thursday!
Dawson Taylor Downtown Coffee House
219 N 8th St • (208) 336-5633
Art Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly
Come to Dawson Taylor Coffee on 8th St: open form 7am to 5pm.
-BOGO Free drinks from 3-5pm!
-New local artists featured in the gallery!
See you there!
Trillium Restaurant
245 S Capitol Blvd • 208-333-8002
Food & Beverage
Join us every First Thursday in Downtown Boise to experience Live Jazz performed by The Ohadi Trio inside the lobby of The Grove Hotel from 6pm-8pm!
Fred Astaire Dance Studios Boise
1511 W Main Street • 208-514-0440
Music Food & Beverage Activity
Boise's ONLY guided social dancing party!
The perfect opportunity to get comfortable on a social dance floor in a safe and fun environment!
Practice your moves and meet our dance community! Come for a few minutes just to check the place out, or stay and practice to music from a variety of dance styles.
No partner required — or bring your friends. We love to see couples who want to dance together, too. Everyone is welcome, no experience required!
Dance Demos & Free Newcomer Group Variety Class from 7:00pm—7:45pm
Social Dancing Party from 7:45—8:30pm
The Warehouse Food Hall
370 S 8th St • 986-999-4081
Music Food & Beverage
The Warehouse Food Hall is bringing live music to the heart of downtown Boise every First Thursday. Guests can enjoy performances from local artists while exploring 10+ food and drink vendors under one roof. With cold drinks, bold flavor, and no cover, it’s the perfect spot to kick off your evening and stay awhile.
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.
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/.
The Warehouse Food Hall
370 S 8th St • 986-999-4081
Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly
Dig into $5 small plates from every corner of the food hall, crafted by the vendors you know and love... plus a few you’ll be glad to meet. This is your chance to sample the goods, try something new, or build the ultimate dinner lineup. Your taste buds are in for a night.
The Art Room Inc.
508 South 5th Street •
Art Food & Beverage
The Art Room features a new local artist every month. That means new art on the walls of the coffee shop, classes available to the public taught by the featured artist, and a free artist showcase every First Thursday. Join us each month in encouraging local artists and building the Art Room.
Our vision is to see a generation consumed by consumption experience revival in creation. Our mission is to serve Boise with art, coffee, and community and shine the light of Jesus.
Hemlock
500 S Capitol Blvd •
Food & Beverage Activity
Join us at the bar from 3–6 PM.
Indulge in:
Boise’s Best Burger.
Steak skewers. Oyster shooters. Gaucho meatballs.
Duck-fat potatoes. Fries. Marinated olives.
$7 drafts.
$9 select wines.
$10 classic cocktails.
Two Hemlock Happy Hour rituals to get the most of First Thursdays:
Hemlock Happy Meal
Haute Girl Dinner
Wassmuth Center's Hansberger Art Awards
1000 Myrtle St • (208) 639-6610
Art Music Food & Beverage Kid-Friendly Activity
Experience the beauty and strength of American diversity through art on Thursday, May 7, 2026 at JUMP! The Wassmuth Center’s Hansberger Arts Awards Showcase highlights student performance, writing, and visual arts in response to Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Freedom from Discrimination. Don’t miss this community-wide celebration of kindergarten through 12th grade Idaho artists!
Located on the 6th floor in the Pioneer Room
Event Schedule
5:00 p.m. Student Arts Showcase, Idaho Gives Nonprofit Table Fair, Drinks & small bites available for purchase
6:30 p.m. Student Arts Awards
7:30 p.m. Boise Rock School Performance
For a full schedule of city-sponsored America 250 events, visit cityofboise.org/America250.
Parking
To access JUMP, we encourage you to use public transportation or carpool. Paid parking options are limited at JUMP and ParkBOI facilities. Plan ahead!
Accommodation
The City of Boise is committed to ensuring equal access to all public meetings, programs, and services. Reasonable accommodations and effective communication—such as ASL interpretation, materials in alternative formats and language access—are available at no cost to facilitate participation. To request an accommodation, please contact us at CommunityEngagement@cityofboise.org or call (208) 972-8500, TTY: 711.  
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!
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.
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!
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.