Those who insist Oakland should forever be called a “town” rather than a city need look no further than its First Fridays events for validation.
As the sun descended into golden hour during April’s First Friday event, residents embraced as they reconnected, posing for selfies in the middle of the street. Young couples and large families shuffled through, eyeing the food trucks, merch stands and makeshift art galleries that crop up once a month on Telegraph Avenue. The theme of this month’s pop-up festival was “Oakland Blooms,” and the event lived up to its name — not just in offering a festive springtime atmosphere, but also by showcasing the efflorescence of community itself.
A festivalgoer looks at jewerlry in a vendor’s booth during the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on Friday, April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
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“Oakland is a town where everyone’s familiar with each other, even if they haven’t met,” said Desmond Ford, who operates the Oakland’s Own clothing store on Piedmont Avenue and has run a booth at First Fridays for a decade.
Ford’s father, Leo, sat in a chair nearby, watching his son guide passersby through a selection of snazzy T-shirts with Oakland branding — including a spin on the popular Bass Pro Shop tee with “Lake Merritt” in the logo.
Festivalgoers watch a performer sing before a runway fashion show during the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on Friday, April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“First Friday has had different issues keeping its own brand going, dealing with the COVID shutdown,” said Leo, a clothing designer himself who raised Desmond in Oakland after moving from Texas. “But it’s persevered through that.”
The free monthly events began in 2006 as a simple art gallery walk down several blocks of Telegraph Avenue and has gradually become a touchstone of Oakland culture.
Originally called Oakland Art Murmur, the monthly fest soon began to draw large crowds. That drew vendors, and eventually, the event started spilling out into the street, causing traffic jams and hindering public transportation, according to Oakland First Fridays’ Festival Director Venessa McGhee.
Then, in February 2013, during a First Fridays event, a late-night confrontation turned deadly when a shooting left 17-year-old Kiante Campbell dead and three others injured. The homicide triggered a reckoning within the city.
“The city said, ‘Either we have to get a handle on this, or this has to go away,’” McGhee says.
The Oakland Fox Theater is visible during the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
At that point, the KONO district — short for Koreatown Northgate Oakland — took over the event. As a Community Benefit District — a nonprofit funded by property owners through additions to their property tax bills — it had already been providing funding for things like portable toilets, McGhee says, but it became the official organizer of First Fridays in 2013. Guiding the event was a council of community members made up of vendors and creatives who helped to develop a structure for the event, and today, a number of the former council participants are still involved as vendors and artists, she says.
But as the district ushered in nearly 500 new housing units, some critics argued Art Murmur’s original grassroots spirit had been lost amid the area’s rising cost of living and the city’s stricter rules around vendor permits.
Robin Balliger, a cultural anthropologist at Stanford, argued in a 2021 study that the festival effectively became a sanitized “rebranding strategy” for the local government following a forceful police response to Occupy Oakland protests in 2011.
Today, Oakland Art Murmur continues to host art walk events on the first Friday of each month, but operates separately from the Oakland First Fridays street festival. The art walk features galleries such as ARTogether, Oakland Photo Workshop, Mighty Mighty Studios, FM Oakland, Manna Gallery and more.
Two additional events this year have since put First Fridays back under public scrutiny and led to withdrawals of sponsor support. A March 7 mass shooting at Oakland’s EZ Lounge left two people dead. Then on May 1, someone drove onto the sidewalk and slammed into a group of pedestrians in Uptown Oakland, injuring seven people. In both instances, at least some of the victims were reported to have attended First Fridays hours beforehand.
Since then, a number of sponsors have withdrawn funding for First Fridays, and a public town hall was held to discuss the event’s future. On June 4, the City of Oakland announced a series of steps to improve safety in downtown and uptown areas — starting with the scheduled First Friday event June 5.
“Let me be clear: we will not tolerate violence in our downtown districts during and after our celebrated First Friday events – or anytime, anywhere,” said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee in a press statement.
Meanwhile, McGhee is working to bring back more art to the festival, she says. Over the last three years, for instance, some of the booths at First Fridays events were reserved as free artist spaces, sponsored by Airbnb. But now, Airbnb is “not a current sponsor,” according to The Oaklandside.
Shayla Bell, of Stockton, performs during the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on Friday, April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Today, the festival draws thousands to the city’s uptown, packing the bars and eateries that line Telegraph Avenue and mixing a blend of street-barbecue aromas and hyphy hip-hop into the evening air.
McGhee started out with First Fridays 11 years ago as day-of-event staff, then helped to curate the event’s pop-up bar before becoming a full-time staffer in 2019. She has been the director for about two years and says the festival is finding its way again after plenty of turmoil.
“Over the years, with different leaderships and things like that, we’ve kind of pivoted and lost our path a little bit. But I like to believe that we are coming back to what our true purpose is,” McGhee says. “Being a person who’s from Oakland also makes a difference, because the heart that we have for our city is just a little bit different. If you know, you know.”
The Oakland Fox Theater is visible during the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on Friday, April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
One key mission of the festival is to support small businesses by creating pop-up spaces for vendors, many of which don’t have brick-and-mortar locations. A number of the vendors that First Fridays features are new to running their own businesses, McGhee says. Oakland First Fridays supports these vendors as they secure business licenses and liability insurance, and keeps those documents on hand during the events.
“I constantly tell people, ‘Don’t let wanting to be perfect stop you from getting out there. The best way for you to perfect your craft is to get out there and do it. It’s going to be a learning curve. There’s going to be things that are going to happen along the way. They’re going to teach you how to be better. And that’s a good thing,’” McGhee says.
Each month, around 65 to 75 vendor businesses participate — down from around 100 due to the addition of bike lanes through the streets of the market, a loss that has adversely affected the festival’s budget, she notes.
“Being able to be a part of the process of someone growing their business is really like watching your kid grow up,” she says. “A lot of these people have invested lots of money into starting their businesses, and so we want to see them be successful.”
Festivalgoers attend the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on Friday, April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
One success story is Oakland’s Own, a local apparel brand that started at Oakland First Fridays and went on to host other pop-ups, and then secure a brick-and-mortar location in Oakland’s Fruitvale district before relocating to Piedmont Avenue. The brand continues to pop up each month at First Fridays, McGhee says.
Another longtime vendor is James “Old School” Copes, the man credited with coining the term “Oaktown” at his T-shirt shop back in the 1980s. He recalled how quickly the festival became the “hottest thing” in the Bay Area, drawing international attention for its promotion of Black culture.
“What made it unique was the spontaneity,” Copes, 75, who has missed some recent First Friday events due to health concerns, said in an interview. “People making art on the spot, rapping, juggling, everything you could think of — there’s a different vibe every time you walk 20 feet down.”
Festivalgoers play chess outside a beauty shop during the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on Friday, April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
The pandemic, vendors note, dealt a rough blow to First Friday’s existence. The event — and its attendees — have rallied in the past couple of years, though often without the main-stage concerts of the past and with fewer streetside attractions than before.
Still, business is brisk at First Fridays now, as the crowds have returned post-pandemic.
“People from all walks of life come here,” said Jabari Hopkins, who said his Oakland Native clothing spot has not missed a First Friday in eight years. “Diversity is the culture of Oakland. You can come out here and experience what Oakland is all about.”
Festivalgoers look at art in a vendor’s booth during the Oakland First Fridays event along Telegraph Avenue in Oakland on Friday, April 3, 2026. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Despite Oakland First Fridays’ successes, however, figuring out how to keep it funded is an ongoing battle, McGhee says. “Our budget is never right-side-up. It’s always upside-down. And that’s just because the cost of things is constantly rising, and we really don’t want to pass that cost on to our vendors.”
Over the past few years, she says, the City of Oakland has helped with police and fire fees, but that funding could be in jeopardy due to citywide budget challenges.
“Reaching sustainability is an absolute must in order to keep this event alive, and that’s something that we are working really hard to get to,” she says. “Being in operation for 20-plus years is a huge milestone, and we don’t take that lightly, but we also know that if we want to be here another 20 years, some things have to change.”
Oakland First Fridays are held the first Friday of each month along Telegraph Avenue from West Grand to 27th Street in Oakland, generally running from 5-9:30 p.m. Go to oaklandfirstfridays.org for more information or to get involved.