Galleries to offer shuttle for First Friday openings

Getting around on First Friday just got easier thanks to a new free shuttle service provided by the ARound Town Group of galleries.

The galleries organized the First Friday Art Shuttle to take patrons from the River Campus to the downtown galleries, up Broadway to the galleries on that street and out to West Drive to visit Edward Bernard Gallery.

The shuttle, which starts Friday, loops back down to the River Campus and starts over again. It will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., and organizers expect it to stop at each location every 30 minutes.

"This was something that I thought about when I came down here, knowing that there wasn't any shuttle service," said Peter Nguyen, director at the Crisp Museum on Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

The Crisp Museum is a member of the ARound Town Group, along with the River Campus Art Gallery, The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, The Artist Studio, Gallery 1.2.5., Garden Gallery, Global Cafe, WESTRAY Gallery and Edward Bernard Gallery.

Nguyen said he approached other gallery owners in the ARound Town Group and they jumped on board.

Peg MacDougall, owner of Edward Bernard Gallery, said she had talked about a shuttle service with others in the art community.

"The No. 1 complaint that people have is 'Gosh, I wanted to get out to your gallery, but I got stuck downtown,'" MacDougall said. She said the opposite was true, too. People would start at Edward Bernard and never make it downtown.

This way, she said, "they'll just go to the gallery, park their car and get on the shuttle."

The shuttle holds 20 people seated, but 30 if some don't mind standing, Nguyen said. The shuttles are used during the week to carry Southeast students to and from the River Campus. Now they'll carry First Friday visitors from the River Campus to the other galleries and back.

"Most of the time people don't like to get around to all these different galleries because of parking," Nguyen said. "It's going to be great for people to be a part of the art scene, to come out and see what's happening in their own back yard, pretty much."

People often mill around downtown on First Friday, but the shuttle service "helps get people into the galleries that are kind of out of the way as well," Nguyen said.

MacDougall said the 30 minutes people will have before the shuttle picks them up will be plenty of time to enjoy the gallery and the artwork.

"I don't think it'll cut down on the quality of time because a lot of people come in to the galleries just to see what's new and then they want to move on," she said. "But if they get to talking and miss the bus, they can catch the next go-around."