NATCHEZ — Friday the white-walled gallery at 419 Main St. was empty.

“There was nothing (at the gallery) but a phone sitting on the floor,” Lucille Golden said.

But by 5 p.m. Saturday, a wine bar and cheese plates were set up, and people were winding throughout the room absorbing the bold color spectrum popping from paintings by local artist Rolland Golden.

Lucille, who will be running her father’s gallery, said a grand opening is scheduled for Aug. 13, but the family wanted to get the gallery ready to participate in the July Second Saturday in Natchez.

“(Rolland) was here hanging (paintings) until 10 p.m.,” said Lucille about her 79-year-old father’s Friday night preparations.

The soft opening offered refreshments, including rum punch, cookies, cheeses and more, but most who walked in were drawn toward the paintings lining the walls, rather than refreshments in the center of the room.

“His work is really fantastic,” Ferriday resident Georgeanne Brakenridge said.

Brakenridge, who already has a Golden collection of her own, said she comes to Natchez daily, and she welcomes the gallery to the downtown area with open arms.

“(Golden’s gallery) will make a wonderful addition to Main Street,” she said. “Everyone (in Natchez) loves art.”

Golden said he did not intend on opening a gallery in Natchez when he first moved to the Miss-Lou in 2006, following Hurricane Katrina, especially since he was focused his work for a year or two on the hurricane’s damage.

But Golden said he recently made prints of his paintings, and realized he had no place to sell them.

Then the space recently became available, and it suited his needs without requiring much work at all, Golden said.

Lucille, who formerly operated two galleries in the French Quarter, both of which closed after Katrina, said it took only five or six weeks to get the Main Street space ready for Saturday.

“It was almost turn-the-key ready,” Lucille said.

After a paint job, some lighting and molding adjustments, the gallery was ready to hang the artist’s depictions of the Mississippi River from all angles, Natchez antebellum homes, cows in pastures and more.

Rolland said his hope is that people outside of Natchez get exposed to his and other artists work during visits.

He said Natchez is home to many talented artists, and the town can provide a good market to art lovers, both out-of-town and local.

“I know people love art here,” Rolland said.

Golden’s gallery, which will have a sign coming soon, was one of many businesses that opened its doors after hours for Natchez’s summertime Second Saturday.