BRYAN, Texas — First Friday’s are always an exciting time here in downtown Bryan, from food to arts to a variety of activities.
“If you’re brand new to the Bryan-College Station community, really the Brazos Valley as a whole, First Friday is the very first event you must come and do in our area,” said Abigail Noel, PR & communications manager, Destination Bryan.
This Friday marks the anniversary of First Fridays.
“October first Friday is one of my favorite First Fridays because it’s the first cooler one of the year,” said Noel. “I know the weather is going to be really wonderful tonight. It’s actually the anniversary of First Friday. October is the official anniversary month, so we’re at 17 years of First Fridays this October.”
One new business to Downtown Bryan is Billy’s Grille & Bar on the corner of South Main Street.
“It’s going really well,” said Gary Vangundy, director of food and beverage. “We couldn’t be happier. The community has been great. We’ve been really busy and we’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we’re three weeks old.”
While Billy’s is new as a stand-alone restaurant in Bryan, it has roots in downtown.
“We’re part of the Queen Theatre,” said Vangundy. “We manage that location as well and we saw this space and we just fell in love with it. As you can see, it’s just beautiful. It’s sort of rustic with a lot of history and we just thought, what a better place to put a restaurant.”
While Billy’s is only 21 days old, they are already seeing an outpour of support from the community.
“We’ve got the hip hop dance group from A&M, Fade to Black, coming so they’ll do a dance performance shortly before 8 p.m. right in front of Mr. G’s Pizza,” said Noel. “At 8 o’clock, we have a Michael Jackson impersonator coming to do an entire performance as well. Thriller is one of those. Of course, it’s October we have to throw in Thriller with Halloween coming up.”
Also excited to be part of First Friday is Voices for Children in Downtown Bryan.
There will be a fall photo booth, popcorn, and a movie.
“Live music, arts, culture, everything going on so, of course, there’s just not a lack of things to do in First Friday because you can kind of get a little feel for everything in one stop shop here in Downtown Bryan,” said Noel.
The First Friday will kick off in Downtown Bryan from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.