Lodi’s First Friday Art Hop gets a makeover

The First Friday Art Hop has been a Lodi tradition for years — and this Friday, it’s getting an update.

“We’ve been working on expanding the Art Hop for the past six months,” said Nancy Mellor, a member of the Lodi Arts Commission.

The commission has teamed up with several Downtown businesses and the City of Lodi to overhaul the monthly event.

Starting this month and running until February, seven venues will be displaying art. In March, that number will expand to about a dozen.

Along with old favorites, The Fashionable You Boutique, Twisted Barrel Winery, and Idol Beer Works will be hosting work by local artists.

They came with ideas. Fashionable You suggested offering a door prize drawing, a concept the other venues were happy to jump aboard with, Mellor said.

So the November brochures will include a space for each guest to write their name and contact information, as well as spots for each of the seven venues to sign off. Anyone who collects all seven signatures on Friday will be able to enter in the drawing.

The prize, valued at about $20, will be donated by one of the venues.

The new venues are also pushing the envelope in Lodi’s art scene.

“Idol Beer, for example, wants to do only avant garde things,” Mellor said.

Fashionable You will be hosting a window painting demonstration during this Friday’s Hop.

Of course, visitors will still be able to enjoy refreshments at the different venues, Mellor said. And the spotlight will still be on the art — and there’s plenty of excellent work to enjoy, she said.

“We’re working hard, and art is thriving in Lodi,” she said.