The inner city experience

Phoenix is one of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, and although I work in a high rise, and fight the traffic on the commute everyday, I never felt like I quite had the inner-city experience until last night. I went with some friends to an event called First Fridays. Every first friday of the month they have a huge art walk in downtown phoenix. All the art galleries open their doors, the AZ science Center hosts free lectures on different topics and vendors line the streets selling everything from sculptures & paintings, to clothing and jewlery. They even have some interactive art exhibits where they set up large pieces of wood and provide spray paint for anyone who wants to try their hand at graffiti type art.
It's all set up in the heart of downtown in neighborhoods that I would be scared to traffic any other night, and would certainly never want to go to alone, but quite added to the energy and urban feel of the whole experience. There were of course a great variety of people and it was a far cry from conservative little Rigby, Idaho, but definitely fun to do a bit of people watching. All in all, I think I'll definitely have to go again because it was a very safe way to experience the city nightlife that in other situations could be really scary.