Ottawa Third Friday events hope to keep growing, promoting business

Last August, the last of three Third Friday events in Ottawa finished with a flourish, drawing more than 1,000 people to the downtown area.

This year, it looks like a good bet to repeat that number and then some.

Amanda Zehr, owner of the Open Space Art Gallery and coordinator of the annual event, has added a few new wrinkles to her plans and believes the June event – from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday on Madison Street, the first of three planned over the summer – will be the biggest and best Third Friday yet.

“We’re super excited,” Zehr said. “The first one is always fun to get them started again. We finished last year with way more people than we expected, over 1,000 people were on the street … And this year we’re sharing the streets with the Cruise Night and the carnival, so we know it will be very well attended. We’re really looking forward to it.”

Where last year’s three events yielded a top number of 25 artists showing and selling their wares, this year’s opener has already drawn 30 – five in the gallery itself, the remainder on the street – with some artists actually being deferred to the later events because of limited space on the shared street.

That figure could go to the limit of 50 for the next two events, slated for July 21 and Aug. 18.

But the event has much more to offer. Nearly 30 sponsors have contributed to several aspects of this year’s event, including the construction of a giant arch that, if completed in time, will greet participants and patrons of the arts. and will be available for photos.

Zehr is particularly excited about a new part of the event, a scavenger hunt. Businesses all over the downtown area will be a part of the search game, which will consist of visiting a store during any one or all of the three Third Friday events and scanning that store’s QR code, yielding information about the artists involved.

These are all good things and it’s growing bigger and more fun, keeping it community and family-oriented and helping draw attention to our amazing businesses and downtown area, too. That’s what this is about.”

—  Amanda Zehr, owner of the Open Space Art Gallery and coordinator of the annual event

After the last Third Friday, participants fill out a form listing the artists they saw to be entered into a drawing for a grand prize.

The businesses along Madison Street and the surrounding area, Zehr said, will be open later than normal and have been encouraged to take part in that or conduct some kind of special event in conjunction with the Third Fridays.

“It’s just kind of a fun and playful thing with no pressure to buy anything, that will just get people involved, visiting our downtown area and seeing the businesses there,” she said. “We want people to enjoy Madison Street, but we also want them to take advantage of the entire downtown”

There are several other new aspects to this summer’s events.

For example, Surf Internet is sponsoring “The Surf Zone” in which hammocks will be placed near the music provided by Patrick Butler, so that visitors can lay down and relax for up to 30 minutes, listening to some tunes while taking a break from their downtown tour.

Also, the Ottawa Special Events Committee and the Open Space Gallery are sponsoring a Kids Create Tent, including a stained glass house, a fort kit in which kids can cover the walls with colored cellophane; a craft lesson for kids to paint and take home a bird house; a fantasy butterfly play, in which kids can “dress up like butterflies and take flight;” many easels on which children can paint and draw: and a giant Connect Four game that kids and adults can play.

There will be bubble machines, a marble run and, for the July event, a splash area to keep them cool. An axe throwing station will be added to the latter two Third Fridays.

“These are all good things and it’s growing bigger and more fun,” Zehr said, “keeping it community and family-oriented and helping draw attention to our amazing businesses and downtown area, too. That’s what this is about.”