About the Phoenix Friday Night phenomenon

written by Evo Terra

History

It all started with coffee. During the summer of 2008, Austin Baker and Sunny Thaper started using Twitter to organize people who wanted to have a cup of coffee after a long week. They met at different coffee shops on the east side of the Phoenix metro area. And Phoenix Friday Coffee — #pfc — was born. It was very informal and didn’t happen all the time. But it did plant the seed for something larger.

Fast-forward a few months (no, no one can remember the exact date) and Tyson Crosbie extended the model. Rather than just coffee, he wanted dinner, drinks and a whole lot more. He also wanted to explore the culture and merchants of his stomping grounds, downtown Phoenix. So the original Phoenix Friday Night — #pfn — was born.

Then one long week in the harsh Arizona winter, Evo Terra decided to add some further tweeks to the tweetup. Downtown was a long way away from Chandler — not something you want to deal with after four hours of cocktails. So he created East Vally Friday Night — #evfn. It was the first “regional” offshoot of the #pfn concept, happening at different restaurants & bars, with decidedly early hours of 6:00p to 8:00p. Of course, after parties have been known to happen.

And then things went nuts. Kevin Spidel went to one #evfn and decided to bring the party to the West Side. The next weekend, #wvfn was born. And then Jennifer Maggiore brought the party to the north end of town with #nvfn. And most recently, Aaron Bates decided to party along the entire run of the Light Rail. #lrfn often crosses the lines with the downtowners — recently renamed #dtfn — and the easterners. But it’s all good.

So there you have the story of how #pfc became #pfn which created regional #_fns and had to be renamed #dtfn to let things flourish. Whew!

Want to start an #_fn in your area of Phoenix? DO IT! With over 4 million people in this town, that’s a Good Thing! Just let us know about it and we’ll add you to the page!

And for you outside of Phoenix: Are you instigating this much fun and community in your town? No? Why the hell not?