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Oakland First Fridays is currently in jeopardy of losing our event. Our last expected event would take place in October of 2022. We are asking our beloved community to come together to save this event from going away, Please donate (GoFundMe OR CashApp $OaklandFirstFridays)
If you are interested in volunteering or joining a Oakland First Friday Committee to raise funds, Please contact us at volunteers@oaklandfirstfridays.org.
Oakland First Fridays is Oakland's nonprofit signature monthly celebration of arts, culture, food and community. It happens on the first Friday of the month from 5pm-9pm on Telegraph Avenue from West Grand to 27th Street. It draws up to 30,000 people from Oakland and the surrounding areas to celebrate our unique community. It is a free event open to people of all ages, and we keep vendor fees low so we can create opportunities and reduce barriers to entry for Oakland’s small businesses and artistic entrepreneurs. Monthly themes focus on the communities of Oakland including LGBTQ Pride, Black Love, Latin Pride, Youth, Women and more.
Oakland is home to Black families with roots all over the globe, with some who go back generations and some who just landed. This month we celebrate them all as we come together to celebrate Black Love!
Tell a friend to tell a friend WE'RE BAAAACK! Join us on Friday, February 3rd for all our beloved food, artist, and retail vendors! We're also featuring a host of Black artists, entertainment, authors, and vendors! Stay tuned for more details!
Our limited edition
✨Oakland First Friday Logo T-shirt✨
is available for purchase! Help us fundraise to keep our cause alive. T-shirts will be available for sale starting May 6th and will continue to be available every First Friday event at our booth on 26th and Telegraph! Can't wait to see you rep our stuff 😎
T-Shirts are $25 each ranging from sizes XS-3XL
What a year it has been for our event! Thank you to everyone who has attended and supported our mission of uplifting Oakland's creative economy! With continuous active campaigning with assistance from YOU, our community, we hope to keep up this celebration of arts, community, and culture to The Town. We ended this year on a high note with lots going on at Frosty Fridays: a holiday themed KidsZone with a mechanical reindeer, snow machines along Telegraph Avenue, holiday cocktails at the KONO Lounge, the second Oakland's Got Talent, and overall great holiday spirit! We were especially fortunate that the rain took a break to give us clear skies for the last event of the year! Thank you to all the individuals who stopped by the First Fridays booth to donate jackets, coats, and toys! They will be making their way to a new owner soon!
Shoutout to all the talents who took the Main Stage to compete in our second edition of Oakland's Got Talent! We had singers, dancers, magicians, musicians, and MORE! Our crowd was certainly entertained the entire night! (1st Place: Mikeila Janae, 2nd Place: Ysenia, 3rd Place: A Tribe Called Groove)
Additionally, thank you to Anika Evans and Marcus Dyson for gracing our stage and getting us in the holiday season! They closed out the last half hour of our night with their own individual original songs and a rockin' duet of This Christmas!
Every First Friday reminds us just how grateful we are for YOU and the rest of our community! This month was a celebration of everyone's contribution (big and small) to make this event happen!
With our November event just being a couple days after Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), an alter was set up on our footprint. Our main stage made sure you were THANKFUL for coming to November's First Friday! Dos Four and Gambizi started our Friday night party with their Hip-Hop and Latin Fusion Music that had our attendees groovin! A comment from our Instagram, "I challenge anyone to listen to @dosfour and NOT want to dance"... everyone certainly lost that challenge! Sorry, not sorry.Invited back to our Main Stage was Cielo Contreras, the second place winner from August's Oakland's Got Talent! She performed covers of Tennessee Whiskey by Clark Stapleton and Maria Maria by Santana adding ad libs dedicated to Oakland which we definitely appreciated. What a great way to promote our Talent Show for December!To close out or night was the alternative soul ensemble, Noah and the Arkiteks. New to First Fridays, they set our souls on fire with a combination of covers and original songs like "Soul Fire". Thank you to all our performers and make sure to check them out on socials if you enjoyed their vibe!
Beyond the Booth: INSTAGRAM LIVE
Every month we highlight a few of our vendors and their road to entrepreneurship. Hear what local business owners have to say! View past Instagram lives on our YouTube channel & Don't forget to subscribe!
