Not a typical First Friday: After tragedy, food trucks move and fewer people show up
On any other First Friday, Emily Wirtz would have enjoyed some downtime after the bustle of the afternoon lunch crowd had calmed down.
Wirtz, who works as the floor manager of Parlor, a food hall located in the Crossroads Arts District at 17th and Locust Streets, said the place isn’t as busy this Friday. Only a handful of customers lounged on comfy chairs in the living room area while teams of kitchen workers prepared for the evening dinner crowd.
“Typically on First Fridays, lunches are a bit busier in the middle afternoon, so this is a bit surprising. But it will pick up,” Wirtz said. “People will still want to come out on First Friday and enjoy themselves.”
But this wasn’t a typical First Friday.
The long stretch of food trucks, art vendors and performers, that had been key ingredients in past First Fridays had moved from their traditional locations farther east along 18th Street.
And as it came time to kick off the September gathering on Friday evening, few people walked the streets despite the ideal weather.
Relocating the food trucks and street vendors were part of a number of changes announced last week by the Crossroads Community Association, the organizers of the monthly First Fridays street festival. Organizers said the changes, albeit temporarily, were the result of the group losing its general liability insurance and was unable to obtain new coverage in time.
In addition, the changes were in response to the shooting death of 25-year-old Erin Langhofer at the last First Friday gathering on Aug. 2. Langhofer was an innocent bystander, police said.
The night of the shooting, off-duty police officers working nearby quickly arrested 18-year-old Deon’te Copkney, who Jackson County prosecutors later charged with second-degree murder. Copkney allegedly told police he didn’t intend to hurt anyone but had tried to protect himself during an altercation.
After the shooting and changes to the event, it was unclear to organizers and attendees what this First Friday would look like.
Taylor and Aaron From attend First Fridays on a regular basis. The couple said the changes made Friday night “take away from what First Fridays was about.” But still, they said they’ll keep coming “because we love this place,” Aaron From commented. “(Changes) might make it safer.”
Some attendees The Star talked to Friday night commented they weren’t aware of the changes planned for this month’s event until they arrived downtown.
Others, such as Kelsey Riggs, commented on the smaller crowd size. Walking around, Riggs said she’s used to running into other people and seeing cars struggling to get around downtown. That wasn’t an issue Friday night, Riggs said.
Later in the night, a stream of people moved through 18th Street between Oak and Cherry streets. Three bands played in different spots along that stretch of the street.
Pivoting ‘back to art’
Wirtz said Parlor shifted its First Friday focus from having a DJ and dance party in the downstairs event space to highlight a group of independent artists who normally would line the streets outside.
“I think it’ll be a little tamer than it usually is but it will be good,” she said. “This is a good overall shift for everybody. I am hoping that the First Friday will take this as an opportunity to pivot back to the art.”
Earlier this week, Crossroads restaurant owner Stretch, whose legal name is Jeff Rumaner, said he planned to donate a percentage of sales from Grinders, Grinders West and Chances Social to charity to honor Langhofer.
Stretch also said he would let 15 street vendors set up tables behind Grinders in response to the changes on Friday.
But by Friday evening, Lisa Schwemin, a manager at Grinders, said they had only about five vendors get back to them, and had decided to hold off this month — make it a bigger gathering next month, hoping First Fridays will return to normal by then.
Noah Gately and Emily Arwine set up a booth for their photography business on 18th, between Locust and Cherry Streets, outside Made in KC. The pair say they’re worried what the changes could mean for Kansas City’s art scene but believe organizers made the right choice to scale back.
“I’m not happy it changed, but it’s probably for the best,” Arwine said.
Gately added he’s “nervous but also hopeful we can find a new way.”
This time around, food trucks that typically line 18th Street relocated to 18th and Cherry Streets for September’s First Friday. Some who operate the food trucks have expressed reservations about the change.
Anna Elodio, who along with her uncle Rodolfo Elodio, pulled their taco truck in just before 2 p.m.
“We were told to park here, we don’t know why,” Anna Elodio said. “We don’t know if it’s going to be the same because of the (new) parking spot.”
Prebia Burton, owner of PABS Mobile Treats, said that, although he had moved his food truck to 18th and Cherry Streets for Friday night, he doesn’t plan to stay there permanently.
If organizers decline to bring back the food trucks in coming months, he said Food Truck Fridays will likely move to another part of town.
“What happened was a tragedy ... but the food trucks aren’t the cause of what happened,” Burton said of the Aug. 2 shooting. “But they’re punishing the food trucks.”
‘Not afraid to be here’
A large group showed up Friday to walk from 19th and Campbell Streets to the site where Langhofer was shot, near where the food trucks would normally be parked.
Bobbie Jo Reed, founder and director of the Healing House, where Langhofer’s father volunteered, said while about 200 people came, police only allowed 100 to walk for safety reasons. Wearing bright orange T-shirts and carrying signs, Reed said they wanted to “bring light into the community” and honor the young woman whose life was cut short.
Meanwhile, Langhofer’s church hosted a family fun night that featured bounce houses, games for kids and hot dogs. The event was designed to honor Kansas City homicide victims, including Langhofer.
Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of Church of the Resurrection, said they planned to donate money collected from parking in the church lot Friday night to Rose Brooks in honor of Langhofer, who had worked at the domestic violence center.
Hamilton said it was important to get together Friday night to push back against violence, to “be instruments of light and love; kindness and mercy.”
“The hearts are still tender at the Church of the Resurrection; not just tender but people are still grieving the loss of one of our members,” Hamilton said. “This is about more than the loss of one of our members. We recognize that 100 people have died in Kansas City in violent crime. We want to say, we love our city and we are not afraid to be here.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended the event, thanked the church for putting on Friday’s event, showing it will not be deterred by the violence that happened last month. He hopes people will continue to come together for First Fridays.
“What we are seeing today is largely about how do we build a community, how do we bring folks together and I think that is what we are seeing today. I am proud of it, and more than anything, this is Kansas City at its best,” Lucas said. “Clearly, I think this event is bigger than food trucks. I hope all of the food trucks are back next month. I want everybody down here. ... I think (we) can deliver a safe experience for everyone.”
Jeff Owens, vice president of the Crossroads Community Association and chair of First Fridays, said that although this First Friday was “not remotely the same” as last month, turnout was good.
“So far, we couldn’t be happier,” he said.
This story was originally published September 6, 2019 at 8:53 PM.
