# @denverwestword on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DKh8g8nJwpS
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/31195269-denverwestword-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/6e6d350fa9.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-06-05T19:12:22.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Denver Westword (@denverwestword) — https://gondola.cc/denverwestword

## Caption

The Art District on Santa Fe’s First Friday Art Walk event has been experiencing some growing pains.

Last year, officials from the Denver Department of Infrastructure & Transportation started telling vendors setting up along Santa Fe Drive during the eclectic monthly event that they would have to move off the main street because of accessibility and safety concerns, as well as some issues with blocking entrances to businesses. Ouch.

This year, the groans from those growing pains became audible when the Art District on Santa Fe got First Friday permitted by the city as a Special Event, meaning that artists hoping to sell their wares were no longer allowed to set up along Santa Fe at all. And while vending had previously been free, now they’d have to pay for a spot along one of the art district’s side streets, where portions of Seventh, Ninth and Tenth avenues were closed to traffic. Ouch again.

While pedestrians didn’t have to navigate around vendors on crowded sidewalks along Santa Fe Drive, they still had to deal with the crush of vehicular traffic making its way down the street.

And that’s the real pain on First Friday. If Denver really valued a historical, community-driven arts event that only happens for a few hours once a month, Santa Fe Drive would be closed to traffic — not to vendors — during the First Fridays on the warm nights May through September.

✍️ Read Culture Editor kfiorewrites’ full commentary on first friday at westword.com or at the link in our bio. 

#firstfriday #santafedenver #santafeartdistrict #denverevents #denverart #coloradoartists

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## Tags

santafedenver, denverart, coloradoartists, denverevents, firstfriday, santafeartdistrict

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