American cities have promoted such events to bring people to historic areas perceived as dangerous, using the "safety in numbers" mentality to combat urban decay.
Among the cities with art-oriented First Friday events are: Albany, Anchorage, Augusta, Bellingham, Binghamton, Boston,[5] Burlington, Chicago, Columbia (Missouri),[6] Columbus, Denver,[7][8] Fort Collins, Honolulu, Hood River, Indianapolis, Ithaca, Juneau, Kalamazoo, Kansas City, Knoxville,[9] Lincoln, Louisville, Las Vegas,[10] Miami,[11] Missoula, Peoria (Illinois), Scranton, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,[12] Olympia, Philadelphia,[13] Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (Maine), Raleigh,[14] Richmond,[15] Rochester, San Antonio, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Spokane, Tallahassee, Tulsa, York (PA), Marietta, Ohio, and Ypsilanti.
It draws nearly 20,000 people from all over the state of Virginia and nation, showcasing its artistic side and opening restaurants and art galleries all over Broad Street, Manchester area,[16] and Downtown Richmond.
The concept spread rapidly and First Fridays chapters now operate in 39 cities across North America and seven countries worldwide, including Austin, Binghamton, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Hattiesburg, Hartford, Hong Kong, Houston, Indianapolis, Jackson, Kansas City, Kingston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Long Beach London, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Nashville, Nassau, New Orleans, New York, Newark, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Richmond, Rio de Janeiro, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, Normandy, Scranton, South Bend, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Tokyo, Toronto, Washington, D.C., and since May 2016 also in Switzerland Biel/Bienne [27] In 2002, several First Fridays operators created First Fridays United, which is a company founded to organize the existing First Fridays chapters in 30 cities into one group to share information, resources and solicit corporate sponsors and advertisers.
Today, First Fridays reaches over 450,000 urban professionals through email, internet, and event marketing and has had numerous Fortune 1000 corporate clients.
[28][29] Chanin Walsh was one of the first to create a marketing plan for First Friday in Doylestown which turned the “art gallery model” into an all-merchant benefiting event.