October means art downtown, and the Silver City MainStreet Project is helping area elementary school students show their work alongside the professionals as part of this month’s AmBank First Fridays Downtown.

Students from Jose Barrios Elementary School will be showing their works together with art by children studying at Shifang Foreign Language School in China at the Silco Theater on Bullard street, beginning on Friday and continuing through the Red Dot Studio Tour weekend.

The exhibit is part of the worldwide Global Art Project, and Jose Barrios students are participating in the program for the second year.

Also at the Silco will be the For the Love of Art and Read for Joy art exhibition, featuring kids artwork and interactive craft projects for children.

“Kids are such an important part of AmBank First Fridays every month,” said Nick Seibel, Silver City MainStreet Project manager. “We’re looking forward to really turning over the evening to them, not just with the art shows but also with a free jumping balloon, activities and face painting with Silver High’s Key Club.”

The monthly street dance will join the jumping balloon and kids’ activities on Market Street between Bullard and Arizona. Street dance music will be from 6 to 9 pm, and will feature local band Friends of the Underground.

“Even though the weather has been cooling down and fall is definitely upon us, it’s still great dancing weather in the early evening,” Seibel said. “Since winter’s going to drive us indoors soon, we’re hoping to make the most of these last couple of street dances for the year.”

Just around the corner from the dance, at the Silver City Museum on Broadway, they’ll be embracing the coming cold with the opening of their latest exhibit, the Stars Over New Mexico Quilt Show with the Southwest New Mexico Quilters Guild. The opening is scheduled from 5 to 7 pm Friday, and the show will continue into the winter.

And as usual, downtown will be showing off its latest additions, as Millie’s Bake House at Yankie and Arizona streets unveils their new “Millie’s at Night” menu, featuring Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. Millie’s will feature special deals during their new regular Friday evening hours from 5 to 10 pm.

In addition to the free Market street dance, other free live music will be available throughout downtown, including Greg Renfro and Charlie Alfero playing at Diane’s Parlor from 6:30 to 9. The Diane’s engagement is also expected to include guest performances from Berlin’s internationally-touring music group “17 Hippies.”

“The Red Dot Studio Tour is such an important event for downtown, highlighting the amazing range of fine art produced right here in Southwest New Mexico,” Seibel said. “We hope to see a great turnout for the event throughout the weekend — and we hope that folks will choose to start out their special weekend with us at AmBank First Fridays.”

A full schedule of AmBank First Fridays events can be found at SilverCityMainStreet.com, and more information is available by calling the MainStreet office at (575) 534-1700.