Pensacola Gallery Night – Authentic Exploring – Lunar Night on Palafox.

About

Pensacola Gallery Night brings vendors and small businesses to downtown Pensacola one night a month and closes down Palafox Street for a few hours of fun. The best part about this event is that it’s free! Featuring art and having the Art Gallery open to the public, anyone can come out and find out what’s happening in our town! Come with me to explore Lunar Night on Palafox.

Visit Gallery Nights’ Website for more upcoming events! https://gallerynightpensacola.org/

I explored the January Gallery Night, themed after the Lunar New Year, featuring performances and artwork related to the year of the snake. The street is filled to the brim with vendors, and everyone’s hard work is on display as everyone bustles around them, finding what art truly calls them.

This blog goes over my experience venturing through Gallery Night as well as informing you and what to expect! I’m going to go over where Gallery Night is held and when, what the vendors have to offer, and the many different specials that go on up and down the street.

Where and When

Pensacola Gallery Night is held every third Friday of each month Gallery Night is held between 5 pm and 9 pm on Palafox Street between Mainstreet and Garden Street to make room for this outdoor event. Make sure to know where to park and get out there early! Parking can be hard to find with the street parking on Palafox being closed between 3 pm and 10 pm to make space for the vendors.

I would recommend arriving early if you want to find parking, as the parking for Gallery Night can get expensive around the immediate area where the Gallery is held. If you want cheap parking and don’t mind a little walk, you should park down by the pier, where Palafox and Jefferson Street merge all the way south. Every third Friday of each month a Gallery Night is held between 5-9 pm on Palafox Street between Mainstreet and Garden Street to make room for this outdoor event. Make sure to know where to park and get out there early! Parking can be hard to find with the street parking on Palafox being closed between 3 and 10 pm to make space for the vendors.

Vendors

Pensacola Gallery Night is packed with vendors and performers up and down Palafox while most of the Restaurants and Businesses that line the blocked-off road will have their doors open to everyone, some of them will have Drink specials with a small bar cart out front serving drinks to anyone on Gallery Night.

Lots of tents will be set up with artsy craft work from the hard-working artists of Pensacola, displaying their work. Some of these artists will have crafts tailored to the theme of the Gallery Night, the January Lunar Night had plenty of snake-themed crafts to honor the year of the snake.

Food Trucks have a special area off the main part of Palafox, housing multiple food trucks including 3-D Eats which was very popular when I went!

Drink Specials

Most of the Restaurants through the Gallery Night will have some sort of drink special, most noteworthy are the ones with bar carts! Slick Lips had $3 Amaretto Sours and Strawberry Mango Mojitos, while Wild Greg’s Saloon had $10 Buckets right on the street! Some restaurants like Graffiti’s Pizza will already have a drinks special going on, including their $3 well drinks between 5-7 pm. Since the road is blocked off from the public, you can take your drinks through Gallery Night, no worries! 

Live Performances

There are two separate stages set up for live performers that change out every month. The main stage is located at the North side of Gallery Night, right at Main Street while their smaller stage is around the halfway point of the Gallery. 

In my experience, the smaller stage held a Youth Music Group where they were singing and playing their own instruments, while the main stage held more of the performances. You can expect street performers throughout the night up and down Palafox at various times.