Enjoy readings, professional photography and different types of art as several downtown businesses sponsor the Fall Art Walk Friday in downtown Ames.

“We did an Art Walk in June and it went well,” Alissa Hansen, shop manager at The Octagon Center for the Arts, said.

The walk went well enough that the businesses want to make this a quarterly event, said Big Table Books publicist Cheryl McGough.

Paulette Alden will read from her memoir, Crossing the Moon.

“It just so happened that she was going to be at our store,” McGough said.

Big Table Books has had several authors stop by for a reading over the years. Some writers from the past include former ISU English professor Jane Smiley and Story City native Richard Munson.

“We wanted to get a bunch of people involved from a variety of stores and interests,” Hansen said.

Mary James, owner of From Gifted Hands, said she sees a lot of students come into her store for inexpensive gifts.

She said she has been told that her store is one that has crafts of museum quality.

“Crafts can be defined as something made of glass, wood, metal, fiber and clay,” she said.

One of the more popular items at the store has been a mobile kit James found in San Francisco.

“It sold out in about five weeks,” she said. “You use flexible rods and connecting rods to make something.”

Most of the items in her store cost less than $20, she added.

If food is what’s on tap, Lucullan’s Italian Grill, Cafe Grill and Madeline’s Tea Room will be serving menu items.

Madeline’s, 417 Douglass Ave., will be serving a light dinner with desert and coffee, Hansen said.

This is the second time around for this activity in downtown Ames. In 1991, three businesses were involved.

“People bought tickets and ate a progressive dinner,” Hansen said. The art admirers nibbled on appetizers at one place, ate the main course at another and walked to the next spot for dessert.

McGough and James said things went well, but too many people wanted to be included, and space was limited.

For now, the theme will be art, art and more art. Anyone interested in attending can see art downtown without paying a fee.