See artists, artwork, colorful street performers, and just plain colorful people at this fun event.

On the first Saturday evening of each month, artists come out of the woods and out of the woodwork for Eureka’s Arts! Alive . Tourists and residents alike stroll, grazing and sipping their way along Eureka’s waterfront, home to dozens of galleries. Picture a low-key Mardi Gras atmosphere, a street party without the craziness. It's fun, friendly, and inviting.

The epicenter of the event is at the corner of F and 2nd Streets, where you might see a prancing accordionist, a rock band jamming in an alleyway, maybe even spiraling fire dancers. At 9 p.m., the party moves toward the west end of Old Town, where the sort of Bohemians who once flocked to Greenwich Village now gather to check out cutting-edge visual and performance art in cramped studios and converted seafood warehouses.

Expect the unexpected. One gallery hosted a collaboration in which sculptors, dancers, and puppeteers explored the subject of ghost towns. The beautifully restored Arkley Center for the Performing Arts hosts local talent and gives you a chance to check out one of the few surviving vaudeville and silent movie houses left in California. Whatever your opinion of the onstage talent, the experience of wandering through this 1920 Spanish Colonial Revival landmark is worth its weight in gold.