App Helps You Find Events In The North Loop
Looking for live music, comedy or special events in the North Loop?
The Nrby app, developed by a Minneapolis company, is helping people see what’s happening nearby, get directions and share the event with their friends.
Brian Taylor (pictured above) is not only an advisor and investor, he’s also a regular user. “Last week, for example, we had a group of six people eating dinner at Billy Sushi,” he said. “Two of us wanted to keep hanging out afterward. We found an open mic comedy club (at Underground Music Cafe) that we never would’ve known about without the app. So five minutes later, we’re enjoying comedy.”
Taylor said the founding developers, Adam Hammad and Rob Flessner, brought computer coders onboard to develop a web crawling system that collects information on events happening in specific areas and loads them into the app.
Looking at your phone, color-coded countdown icons will let you know how soon the event starts. And there are links to the event’s website. You can even summon an Uber ride through the app if you don’t want to walk.
“On NOLO’s Rooftop, I think there was a silent disco a few weeks ago on a Sunday night,” Taylor said. “I never would’ve known that NOLO’s had a silent disco that night if it wasn’t for the app.”
While the development team is based in the Twin Cities, the app is already in use in nine other cities as well, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
We should also mention that the North Loop calendar here on our own website has neighborhood events that may not show up on the app.
By Mike Binkley, North Loop volunteer