First Fridays in Cape

On the first Friday of every month, the scene in downtown Cape Girardeau resembles in a small way that in New York and Santa Fe where galleries with new exhibits welcome thousands of people cruising the streets for artistic expression.

Between 200 and 300 people descend on the Main Street galleries of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri on the first Friday of every month. Among them are artists, art lovers, artists' lovers and doubtless one or two people who come for the wine and hors d'oeuvres. They walk among the art on display, discussing and socializing. The galleries buzz with delight.

Sometimes the opening at the arts council coincides with one at the privately owned Garden Gallery at Pacific Street and Broadway or a show sometimes presented at the H&H Building and at the Schock Community Arts Center in Scott City. When that happens, a kind of critical mass of like-minded people begins bubbling.

People talk about Cape Girardeau's deepening appreciation for its culture and history, and they mean it.