By Kristen Peterson

Published Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 | 5:02 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.

Anyone who retreated from First Friday during the grueling summer heat will find a couple of changes when they return to the downtown arts festival Friday.

Trees. The gritty industrial, sometimes neglected area has gotten a little love from the city in the form of 94 Raywood Ash trees planted along Casino Center Boulevard between Charleston Boulevard and Colorado Avenue, and on Hoover Avenue between Las Vegas Boulevard and Casino Center Boulevard.

The trees are part of a city improvement project that includes sidewalk widening, public art and decorative lighting.

The $2 admission to the festival at Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue still stands, but everything else is free, including gallery and studio exhibits in the Arts Factory and the First Friday Express Trolley that will run between El Cortez hotel and Main Street and Colorado from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Some noteworthy stops:

--"Golden Slumbers" the Ryan Foerster photography exhibit at Dust Gallery (http://www.dustgallery.com/) in the Soho Lofts, 900 S. Las Vegas Blvd., suite 120 B.

--"Access Hatch" at Trifecta Gallery in the Arts Factory featuring Biscuit Street Preacher, 103 E. Charleston Blvd., suite 108

--"Trick or Treat" at Atomic Todd, 1221 S. Main St.

--Installation by Glascow, Scotland, artists Sandy Smith and Alex Gross at the First Friday Outdoor Exhibition Space on Casino Center Boulevard and Colorado Avenue.