First Fridays are held, as you’d imagine, on the first Friday of every month. In part, they’re meant to draw students from the University of Scranton to downtown.
Tonight, about 300 students will get a literal “taste” of what’s going on in the city.
University of Scranton senior Kelly DesRosiers says being on campus can sometimes feel like you’re in a bubble. You can easily miss what’s going on in the outside world.
“When my mom came at the beginning of the year we took her downtown and she was like ‘you’ve been here 4 years and I didn’t know any of this stuff was here!'” DesRosiers said.
The first Friday of every month, more than 300 students get off campus and into the downtown. This weekend, the students will sample from a list of local restaurants.
“I think they’re an asset to the city, to the cultural character of the city, I would like to get more of them in,” said Dominic Saadi, owner of City Cafe.
“A lot of people don’t realize there’s a lot of good restaurants, a lot of good food here, a lot of culture too,” said University of Scranton senior Jim Olechna.
The point is to give students a taste so they’ll want to go to the restaurants again. After dinner, the university will treat the college students to a movie at Marquee Cinema downtown.
“It’s nice getting people off campus and realizing there’s more to the city than just 5 blocks,” saiud senior Joseph Daniel.
“If you give Scranton a chance, it really gives a lot back,” added student Brendan Reedy.
This is the second “First Friday” event of 2012. And organizers hope, as the year goes on, the students will keep coming downtown.
