Boyfriend and I went down to First Friday for the first time to volunteer at a Yelp event. We also walked through a bit and were pretty disappointed.
FF is billed as an artsy street fair event. It is less mind-improving, culture-expanding art and more "it's all about the art, maaaaan". We were treated to an almost dead-on, but scary drunk Captain Jack Sparrow impersonator (I guess the drunk is part of the character, but he's a lot less charming when he's not Johnny Depp), a woman dressed as a giant pot leaf and hoards of underage kids smoking and being obnoxious. Oh, and did I mention the 15 year old girls running around with their asses hanging out of their "sexy Santa" costumes?
This seems to be a place for "artists" to inflict their "craft" on innocent people and for their "fans" to behave badly. Other volunteers at the event told me that FF used to be a lot cleaner, better organized and actually feature a lot of great art. It sounds like it was a worthwhile community event some years ago, but, based on what I saw, it's high time for FF to be taken out back and shot.