A Year of Fabulous Firsts — 2014 First Friday Review

What a fab­u­lous year it has been! Our First Friday cel­e­bra­tions have grown from a handful of friends and clients to a store packed to the brim! With our neigh­boring busi­nesses par­tic­i­pating and spon­soring (Soho Cycling Studio, Buddy Brew Coffee, Malindy Elene and Pow­er­Sto­ries)the Tampa Police Depart­ment was needed help with pedes­trian traffic crossing Kennedy Blvd. at Albany Ave.  A BIG thank you for joining in on the fun. It was so amazing to see the street a buzz with people going from store to store learning more about our “Albany Square” neighborhood.

Each month we focused on a dif­ferent and typ­i­cally, local charity. We raised money for the Amer­ican Heart Asso­ci­a­tion, Make-​​A-​​Wish Foun­da­tion, The Tampa Garden Club, Hope Chil­drens Home, His­toric Hyde Park Neigh­bor­hood Asso­ci­a­tion, The Junior League of Tampa, Amer­ican Cancer Society, Feeding America Tampa Bay, Give Day Tampa Bay, Mof­fitt Cancer Center, Michelle DeJong, and Academy Prep Center of Tampa. Whether through sales, dona­tions, toys, or canned goods, you came together to help those in need within our com­mu­nity. We hope that you learned about some new char­i­ties and have pos­sibly adopted a new favorite cause. A huge thank you to all of the staff from these char­i­ties that worked so hard on pro­moting Clayton Gray Home and the First Friday Cel­e­bra­tions, together we made great fundraising partners.

What would our First Friday cel­e­bra­tions be without food, cock­tails and pho­tog­raphy?! HUGE thanks go out to all of our spon­sors for First Friday. These busi­nesses donated the goods that helped our First Friday cel­e­bra­tions grow to the next level. Thank you to MichaelJon Pho­tog­raphy for pho­tographing so many of our FF cel­e­bra­tions and thank you to 4d Stu­dios LLC, event pho­tog­raphy. Always making us look our best and pre­serving the mem­o­ries of the night, without our paparazzi, the last year would be a dis­tant memory. Kudos and cheers to Fruit of the Vine Organics and Clemen­tine Chef for spon­soring not just one, but TWO FF cel­e­bra­tions. Absolutely deli­cious and amazing, local, organic food deliv­ered fresh every week! Working closely with our local neigh­bors, Ducky’s, Boca Kitchen, Squeeze Juice Works and Buddy Brew Coffee, all served up some deli­cious nib­bles and drinks. Family Table Catering also wowed us with their deli­cious wraps and desserts.

Swag bags and raffle items are always a favorite amongst the guests and we would be remiss if we didn’t thank all of those who helped add the swag to the bags and the sparkle to the raffle items. Buddy Brew Coffee, Soho Cycling Studio, Shear Art South Tampa, Bodyshapers Fit­ness, and the Tampa Garden Club, thank you for your gen­erous sup­port of Clayton Gray Home and our First Friday fundraisers.

Now to those who have kept the enter­tain­ment vibe going during our First Fri­days, Bone­yard and Nick Peterson. We want to pay a spe­cial thank you to the man with the swag, Nick Peterson. Thank you Nick for playing bar­tender for us on so many of our First Friday cel­e­bra­tions, you’ve def­i­nitely made it fun and enter­taining! Keeping the jams pumping and the crowds jumping, Bone­yard has been fea­tured at three of our First Friday cel­e­bra­tions, twice as a whole band and a solo per­for­mance from Bob Frierson. Great local music and a great local celebrity, we are cer­tainly blessed!

If you missed coming out to First Friday in 2014, we cer­tainly hope to see you in 2015! This week, for Jan­uary, we will change it up  a bit by hosting a day­time event. On Jan­uary 2nd, we will have a Cus­tomer Appre­ci­a­tion First Friday from 10–5.Throughout the day, we will have sev­eral dif­ferent offer­ings of food and bev­er­ages such as Buddy Brew Coffee served with healthy break­fast noms, Fruit of the Vine Organics will pro­vide a fab­u­lous lunchtime salad and we will fea­ture a juice bar from Squeeze Juice Works fea­turing their “Get Fresh” juice for an after­noon snack and to help jump­start the detox needed from the hol­iday indul­gences. Brad­ford Stevens from Viking Fit­ness will be on hand from 12–5 to pro­vide fit­ness tips for that New Years Res­o­lu­tion and to talk about our spot­light charity, South Florida Rowing Asso­ci­a­tion. Intro­ducing some­thing new for 2015, you can sign up to join our birthday club for spe­cial birthday perks!  Stop by Clayton Gray Home on Jan­uary 2nd from 10–5 and join in the fun. Until then, have a safe and fun new years and cheers to 2015!