Last night's meeting between the Downtown arts community and the new owners of the First Friday trademark could best be described as a big love fest.

The getting-to-know-you mixer, complete with a Mondrian-inspired cake that read “Welcome Zappos and cultural arts aficianados,” helped build the bridge to clearing any tensions and concerns that had been floating since Tuesday’s announcement that a team of Zappos executives, including CEO Tony Hsieh, were buying the First Friday trademark and would be taking over the monthly street festival held on Casino Center Boulevard.

Hsieh, who has been actively supporting Downtown events, is moving his online retail corporation into the soon-to-be-vacated City Hall building and has said that he wants the company to be further involved in Downtown's redevelopment. He recently donated $5,000 to artist Jerry Misko’s Downtown mural project and says that his role with First Friday is simply that of a silent investor: “I had heard that it had run into financial challenges, and I didn't want the event to go away. I think it's a great event for Downtown Las Vegas. I would like to see it continue and grow, so I decided to personally support it financially.”

The purchase of the trademark was not made by Zappos, but by a team of individuals involved with the company. That includes Fred Mossler, Steve Hill, Andrew Donner and Joey Vanas. Hsieh didn't say what the group paid for the trademark, but said that they will likely spend $500,000 over the next 12 months to keep the event going.

At last night’s event, hosted by Brian "Paco" Alvarez at Artifice, Graham Kahr took the small stage to address about 100 people who turned out eager to engage in dialogue with the team.

“This place is so special to all of us and all of us just want to be participants,” said Kahr, a Zappos employee who was born and raised in Las Vegas and will help with marketing the event and other Downtown-related activities. “This was an investment in a belief, an investment in the community,” Kahr said, adding that First Friday should not be just about one day, but should include all of the days in the month: “We want to help fill your galleries all the time.”

The group's purchase is of the First Friday trademark, the website and mailing lists of vendors and artists. Marketer Joey Vanas, who works with Zappos, said the group has plans to meet with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and the planning commission and he discussed some his group's plans for First Friday Las Vegas LLC: marketing, production, sponsorships and reaching out to the community through social networking. Additionally, Vanas said, they’d like to see more people coming from out of town and planning their trips around First Friday.

“We’re neighbors,” he added. “If there are questions or concerns, I’d love to address them.”

Important to some gallery owners in the audience was reassurance from the the new owners will not move the event out of the designated Arts District and onto Fremont East, which had been a concern for some.

“We’re going to do the same programming as had been done in the past,” Vanas said. “There’s no intent in uprooting anything that exists.”

If anything, he says, it will expand into and include other areas. Cindy Funkhouser, who founded First Friday and Whirlygig Inc., which oversees the festival portion, will be helping them with the transition. Brett Sperry, owner of the Brett Wesley gallery and Artifice, said that this change, like the opening of Artifice and Emergency Arts, is part of the next wave in Downtown growth.

The word “inclusion” was stated several times by different entities throughout the meeting—inclusion of all the galleries, visitors and stakeholders and epicenters of Downtown. Jennifer Cornthwaite, who co-founded of Emergency Arts and has had galleries in the Arts Factory and in a storefront just outside the Entertainment District, said that she firmly believes in the “connectedness of all the little pockets Downtown.”

“We’re really excited for the future,” she added. “Joey understands that we want to make this thing bigger, better and more cohesive. All of these guys are generally interested in Las Vegas, the arts and the community. We all want to have an amazing dialogue about how we can take the arts community forward in the next 20 years.”

When a gallery owner questioned which part would be involved, Cornthwaite responded: “It’s all Downtown. It’s all Downtown all the time.”

Someone asked Vanas who the new ownership group is, if not Zappos. “We’re the First Friday Las Vegas LLC,” Vanas answered.

Anne Davis Mulford, board president of the Contemporary Arts Center then took the stage and, after explaining CAC’s longstanding history in Las Vegas, added, “There’s inclusiveness. There’s plenty to go around. The arts community is growing by leaps and bounds and they (the new First Friday Las Vegas LLC members) are going to help us get to that next level. There are people who are worried about being driven out of the community and that’s not what this seems like.”

Jokingly, she added (addressing past tensions between key players), “This feels like couple’s therapy,” a comment followed by laughter from everyone familiar with those tensions.

Kahn, after the meeting, reiterated that this is not a corporate takeover of the arts scene, saying, “It couldn’t be further from the truth. We’re just trying to help give it the infrastructure that it needs.

“We’re good at connecting with people,” Kahr added. “It’s part of our DNA.”

Zappos' move into Downtown, he says, will move 1,300 bodies into the area, its businesses and galleries. Many of the Zappos employees live Downtown and are already active in the events, he says. Several are artists, whose work is featured in the Zappos headquarters café.