First Fridays in Xenia

09/03/2021

Hi folks! We hope you are doing well and staying healthy. We sure have missed seeing your lovely faces these past 2 years! We are reaching out to let you know some sad news, but also an exciting announcement.

During the COVID pandemic, the City of Xenia was able to re-evaluate how they approach events and are excited to take more of an active leadership role in coordinating events for the community. Enter the sad news... First Fridays, as we are used to seeing it, will be coming to an end. We know this is a hard one to swallow BUT, the exciting news is, in First Fridays place, the City of Xenia will be hosting some type of quarterly events and are actively working on getting these up and running. We are super excited to see where the City of Xenia takes this idea and hope you will continue to come out and show your support! Ryan Baker and Christina Schaefer at the city will be heading this initiative and we think they will do great things!

An e-mail and phone number has been set up at the city for event inquiries: [email protected] Phone: 937.665.0160
There is also a page on the city's site with additional event information.

We want to thank each and every one of you for a wonderful 12-year ride! We were able to build some pretty tremendous relationships over the years and through those, give back to our community so we thank you for that. Every sponsor, volunteer, city worker, city admin, downtown merchant, vendor, local business, community club, food truck, hired contractor, entertainer and attendee played such an awesome role in the success we have seen over 12 years. We appreciate you more than you know! With your support and positive energy, First Fridays went from an idea with 3 downtown shops staying open in 2009 to 4 street closures, 81 passionate vendors, 23 exciting downtown shop specials, 9 amazing entertainers, 11 awesome attractions and a BOAT LOAD OF COMMUNITY PRIDE at our last event in 2019. You all make us smile!

Blair, Heidi and past volunteers can't thank you enough for how amazing you have been to work with and the positivity you brought not only to our events, but the City of Xenia as a whole.

Here's to keeping Xenia moving forward and cheers to a new chapter!


Blair Davis & Heidi Hilderbrandt
Event Coordinators

03/18/2021

We miss you... and all other humans for that matter.
We hope you are well and that we are at the tail end of this pandemic!

While it was recently announced that festivals will soon be allowed, the First Fridays Committee has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2021 season as there are still many guidelines that have to be followed and many uncertainties surrounding this. With First Fridays being early in the year, we are going to have to 'throw in the towel'. We know, we are sad as well!

That being said, the City of Xenia is planning for a July event along with the fireworks, details still to be determined, as well as possible future events to look forward to. As we learn of more information about this, we will pass it along.

Stay safe and we hope to see you next year!

05/31/2020

Kevin Sonnycalb Memorial Fireworks show will be held as scheduled
The City of Xenia is pleased to announce the annual Kevin Sonnycalb Memorial Fireworks show will be held as scheduled, the evening of Friday, July 3rd, 2020.

The City has been working with the Sonnycalb family and Xenia Rotary to safely present this annual tradition for our city. Restrictions still in place on large gatherings prevent the annual festival at Shawnee Park from taking place.

Instead, this year the fireworks display will be presented from the city’s west side in the area of Progress Drive. Crews will be out during the evening of Monday, June 1st, at 9:30 to deploy some fireworks to gauge what will be visible to the public. The practice run is to ensure the best show possible for residents.

In the event of rain, the show will take place on Saturday, July 4th.

🎆 Some VERY exciting news to share! 🎆

The Kevin Sonnycalb Memorial Fireworks show is a go, but with some changes. This year it will be displayed on the city's west side, so tomorrow evening crews will be deploying some fireworks to gauge what is visible to the public. More information here: https://www.ci.xenia.oh.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=215

05/31/2020

City of Xenia is working to safely continue the fireworks but as large gatherings are still prohibited First Friday's won't be a part of this years celebration. We look forward to seeing everyone next year and appreciate your continued support!

05/15/2020

Update on Fireworks

04/24/2020

The JUNE 5th 2020 First Friday event has been CANCELED - We hope to see you July 3rd!

03/16/2020

The City of Xenia and volunteers at First Friday regret to inform you that the First Friday event on May 1st has been CANCELED.

The decision was made following the CDC recommendations. At this time we look forward to joining you at the First Friday events in June and July!

03/03/2020

Applications for the 2020 season are now available on our website xeniafirstfridays.com under the vendor tab. Please feel free to share.

02/07/2020

First Fridays is searching for a volunteer Cruise In Coordinator for the 2020 season! . Interested individuals please email [email protected]
Please feel free to share!