Event Overview

Palo Alto Festival of the Arts 2026 Promo Video  CLICK HERE

This high quality, community-friendly event is hosted by the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce with the support of the City of Palo Alto. This event attracts people every year from throughout California and the West Coast. The festival—celebrating its 43rd year—takes place on tree-lined University Avenue in beautiful downtown Palo Alto, a vital economic area 35 miles south of San Francisco.

The backbone of the festival and the key to its success are the 250 fine artists and crafters whose display booths are placed back-to-back along University Avenue. These exhibitors are the reason why this festival attracts such a high percentage of fine artists and crafters whose work you’ll see only at a few select shows on the West Coast.

While strolling through the festival, don’t forget to stop by and listen to sidewalk piano virtuosos located at Bryant St. Look for the PLAY ME sign. More Info

The Italian Street Painting Expo—always a crowd-pleaser—will again showcase chalk artists from throughout the state, creating larger-than-life works of art. Tasso Street is where it’s happening so don’t miss it. This year’s co-beneficiaries of the Italian Street Painting Expo fund-raisers are the Palo Alto Youth Community Service and Ada’s Cafe.

Local participation is high at this event, throughout the festival, the Kiwanis Club of Palo Alto will again be serving alcoholic beverages for everyone’s enjoyment.

PLEASE NOTE: The City of Palo Alto has a ban on the use of plastic & paper bags for carrying purchased merchandise. The Chamber of Commerce highly recommends that festival attendees bring their own tote bags for easy transportation of multiple purchases.

For those driving to the festival, free parking is within a block or two of the festival site, with parking for disabled patrons in all city lots. Festival attendees though are encouraged to use public transit or ride a bike. For transit information go to 511.org.

If you are a dog owner thinking about bringing “Cuddles” to the festival, please reconsider. Large crowds can easily make a typically mellow dog very anxious & sometimes aggressive.