Hundreds of people flock to downtown Goshen on the first friday of every month to catch the aptly named celebration of First Fridays. During these events, locally owned stores stay open until the "late" hour of 9, the smell of food booths fill the street, and there are normally scheduled things to see. Examples of this are the fire and ice sculptures, jazz concerts, and shopping days.
These evenings bring so much business to small shops. Working in one of these shops myself, I can truthfully tell you that profits are normally double or even triple what is made on an average Friday night. And business itself (meaning people coming in and perusing) is at least tenfold. This is so important, as small businesses are beneficial to the city itself, and the individuals within them. The event itself is very popular, and has grown in the past several years. Surrounding towns have come to develop similar events, following Goshen's example.
All types of people attend First Fridays. Amish couples serve popcorn from a stand, college students perform in concerts, middle school children flock the comfortable hang out of the Brew, Mexican restaurants are filled with customers, families with young children browse the stores. Everyone feels welcome during this time. It is the pride of Goshen, and they are the people who keep it alive. People interact on the streets, be it to ask where they got their child's face painted, or catching up with an old friend.
One border that has caused some problems for First Fridays is age. Middle and high school students are one of the highest attending groups, yet they also cause the most problems. There is almost always a fist fight downtown, and during the Fire and Ice Celebration, over 5 ice sculptures were broken. It has gotten to the point where Myron Bontrager, owner of the Brew, has asked for a police officer to be stationed in his cafe. And the problems have led some to consider stopping first fridays entirely. Because of these few youngsters, some of the older generation have stopped attending First Fridays. Those that remain have a tendency of looking at all young people as if they are the ones causing problems.
Fist-fights, eh? It is good of you to mention this very-slightly-shadowy side of the "First Fridays," for is not the exchange of blunt force between overly adrenalized adolescents a kind of occurrence to be expected in many contact zones? Altercations arise when diplomacy deflates between individuals who believe the differences they perceive are irreconcilable. People ought to be prepared for the possibility for problems like this, because many events meant to be fun for all can have the capacity to become a very physical free for all. Glossing over the times that our idyllic bubble is burst would only harm our understanding of what a contact zone's nature allows for.
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