October First Friday to Bring Thrills and Chills

Plan ahead for the next free monthly downtown art hop ― which will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 ― because there’s a frightening amount of fun to get into.

A free outdoor performance of SMAGmare will be held in the Oregon Arts District next to the Trolley Stop, 530 E. Fifth St., from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Set to popular music, SMAG Dance Collective, Zoot Theatre Company, Sandstorm Dance, musician Al Holbrook and local hip-hop dancers will present this tale of an evil woman luring her innocent sister to a moment of indiscretion between her mother and another man. The chance viewing causes the sister to lose touch with reality, and she creates a twisted vision of her mother and the lover as zombies controlled by her evil sister. Prepare for scares, surprises and even heartfelt moments as vampires, werewolves, the undead and the dead brought back to life, witches and warlocks, and fiendish ghouls manifest on stage.

First Friday also is a chance for visitors to win a $1,000 travel gift certificate from AAA Miami Valley by completing a First Friday Passport. Each month, AAA will award two prizes of one-year classic AAA memberships, with free renewals for existing members. Everyone who enters for the monthly prize now through Dec. 2 also will be entered into a drawing for a grand prize of a $1,000 travel gift certificate.

Visitors can pick up a First Friday passport at participating locations (click here for a list). The passport must be stamped by at least four locations, and once visitors have all four stamps, they fill out their contact information and drop their passports in any of the First Friday Passport boxes that will be at all participating locations.

Explore downtown with the First Friday Scavenger Hunt. Sponsored by updayton, participants should pick up a clue sheet in a First Friday Passport and be prepared to venture into the Oregon Arts District and along Wayne Avenue. Everyone who completed the hunt will end at a party at the Cannery Lofts, 500 E. Third St., featuring free beer, wine, snacks and a live DJ.

K12 Gallery for Young People/TEJAS, 510 E. Third St., will host Round 2 of Art-Off. The winners from Round 1 will battle new participants in this Iron Chef-like competition in which contestants compete with surprise materials. Audience members will vote for the artists, and Round 2 winners will compete for the Knot Award, a metal sculpture handmade by Hamilton Dixon, at a final event on Nov. 11. To sign up to participate, contact Kelly Sexton at 937-461-5149 or [email protected].

Steamroller Prints: Flat-Out Fun will be held on the street level of the Transportation Center garage on the corner of Fifth Street and Patterson Boulevard (near the former Greyhound Bus terminal) from 5 to 9 p.m. as part of the second annual statewide gathering of Ohio print cooperatives. Watch master printers from throughout Ohio create enormous images made by inking a 4-by-4 foot linoleum block, covering it with paper and rolling over it with a steamroller.

In addition, 45 smaller blocks carved by community members will be printed using this steamroller method. A limited number of blocks are available at the Dayton Visual Arts Center, 118 N. Jefferson St., which is hosting the event. Blocks are $10 each, which includes the opportunity to bring your block to the event, ink it and have it printed. Each participant will keep one print and the original carving; one signed print will be donated to DVAC.

Print co-op members from throughout Ohio also will participate in an open portfolio at ThinkTV, 110 S. Jefferson St., from 5-9 p.m. Many unframed prints will be exhibited and offered for sale for a very reasonable price.

Come taste Buckeye Vodka at the Victoria Theatre before the Projects Unlimited Variety Series presentation of The Flying Karamazov Brothers from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. The tasting includes free appetizers. For more information and a special price for the show, call Ticket Center Stage at 937-228-3630.

Shakespeare for Life, a marathon relay reading of the Bard’s works, will start at 8 p.m. during First Friday. Free Shakespeare! and Optum Nurses for a Cure, a registered team with the Centerville chapter of Relay for Life, will present the relay 24 hours a day through 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, at the Blue Sky Gallery, 33 N. Main St. The event kicks off with a reading of Julius Caesar, with the goal of reading all 37 plays, 154 sonnets and five poems credited to William Shakespeare. The event is a fundraiser for Optum Nurses for a Cure and Free Shakespeare! To volunteer or make a conation, contact [email protected].

Gem City Circle Walking Tours will host two tours highlighting local history. A tour of the Oregon Arts District will meet in the Jay’s Seafood parking lot at 5 p.m., and the Ghosts, Cemeteries and Murders Walk of Downtown Dayton will meet at Courthouse Square at 7 p.m. All walks are $10 per person, and advance reservations are required. Contact Leon Bey, tour guide, at 274-4749 or email [email protected].

A variety of roaming performers will provide entertainment (weather permitting). Courteous Mass, a community of bike-minded individuals, will meet at Don Crawford Plaza in front of Fifth Third Field at 5:15 p.m. for an urban street cycling ride through the city and First Friday action.

Galleries and other venues throughout downtown will host exhibit openings, sales, live music and other special events, and restaurants, retail shops, bars and clubs, and other establishments throughout downtown will be open. For regular updates about this event, follow First Friday on Facebook or text “FirstFridayDayton” to 90210. First Friday is presented by the Downtown Dayton Partnership with support from AAA Miami Valley, the Oregon District Business Association, and WYSO-FM 91.3. The Downtown Dayton Partnership’s website has a complete list of downtown’s arts and cultural amenities, as well as a dining guide, parking map and much more. Click here for a complete list of events.