Several downtown Billings galleries and businesses are participating in tonight's First Friday event from 5 to 8.

Galleries will offer beverages and snacks and new art exhibits.

Mark Sanderson, at the Toucan Gallery, 2505 Montana Ave., said he is showing pieces priced at $100 or less to get customers ready for holiday gift buying. The show "Art for Everyone" features artisan-made items, from pottery to glass to jewelry to fabric and weaving and photographs and small paintings.

"This is stuff that is all undeniably art, but I think is within reach of anyone who appreciates something handmade by an actual person, and a person who lives around here, who knows the spirit of this place where we live,'' Sanderson said. "Art doesn't have to be intimidating or expensive, esoteric or obscure. It's just about finding something that you connect with."

Prairie Blossoms, 225 N. Broadway, will host a reception tonight from 5 to 9 for Crow bead worker and doll maker Mary Lou Big Day. Her Crow name is Bia waaitchilaachish, or Strong Fortunate Woman. Also showing is work by her grandson Heywood Big Day III (Biimuaniisaukshaa, or Young Gentleman In the Water), who makes Crow angel Christmas ornaments.

Big Day has been making dolls since she was a little girl, and in 2008 she won the Indian Arts and Crafts Association top award Artist of the Year for her handmade dolls. The winning artwork is titled "Crow Traveling Medicine Beaded Doll." It is a miniature scene of a Crow doll moving the family camp. The dolls are made from buckskin, rawhide, trade wool, horsehair, mink, seed beads, earth paints, brass beads and other materials.

Heywood Big Day III shares his grandmother's desire to carry on the family traditions and makes wool dress Crow angel ornaments that are sold at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. as well as Prairie Blossoms.