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Dozens of new vendors, a dedicated space for local artists, new literary offerings and henna art are among the additions on the horizon for San Ramon at this year’s Art and Wind Festival as organizers prepare for its largest iteration yet this holiday weekend.
While the festival has evolved alongside the city of San Ramon over the years, the annual tradition continues to draw residents of all ages across multiple generations for the classic celebration of art, airborne attractions and sunny, windy weather that mark late spring in the valley.
“The Art and Wind Festival continues to grow in size and popularity as San Ramon’s signature community event, drawing increased participation in its celebration of culture around the world through art, kites, music, entertainment and food,” recreation supervisor Steve Cox said.
“This year, the arts and crafts area will feature an additional 50 vendors, including the debut of a dedicated San Ramon Fine Artists section,” he continued. “This new area will spotlight the work of talented local artists, further strengthening the festival’s connection to the community’s creative identity.”
That connection for the event dates back nearly 40 years, having since then transformed into a regional attraction that draws artists and attendees from throughout the Bay Area and serves as a key Memorial Day weekend celebration.
With that in mind, the new San Ramon Fine Artists section offers a platform dedicated to the city’s artists as one of the many attractions on tap for a jam-packed weekend
Nonetheless, the festival has long served as a platform for local artists, with a commissioned piece by a featured artist selected each year to represent the spirit of the event. This year that’s Jeffrey Brewer, whose work entitled simply “Art and Wind Festival 2026” is on display along with a full exhibit throughout the month at the San Ramon Community Center.
While the event is centered on the visual arts in particular, this year’s festival will see the addition of a new literary offering with a reading and story walk from local author Monisha Bajaj on her debut children’s book “A Year of Kites: Traditions Around the World”.
While the new title marks Bojaj’s first foray into the world of children’s literature, she’s not new to the topic. A professor of international and multicultural education at University of San Francisco, Bajaj has a broad range of academic publishing – for older audiences – under her belt, and a deep familiarity with the experiences of children from throughout the world.
San Ramon’s Art and Wind Festival is just one of an array of traditions that centers on kites across cultures, continents, and millennia.
The book explores 12 of those traditions in a globe-trotting adventure aimed at highlighting cultures’ near-universal fascination with kite-flying and other things that communities share across borders, illustrated by Los Angeles artist Amber Ren.
Other new additions this year include dueling kite demonstrations and a henna artist, Cox said.
While the festival has continued to usher in new offerings over the years as the city’s population grows and changes, it has also said goodbye to some other traditions – including a longtime sponsorship by Chevron, which served as the event’s primary sponsor for its final year in 2024 amid the company’s downsizing in San Ramon.
The tourism agency Discover San Ramon has since taken its place as the main sponsor of the event, with support from a number of other local organizations including John Muir Health, East Bay Municipal Utility District, Bishop Ranch and School of Rock San Ramon.
But besides the sponsorship changes and new offerings, the festival is poised to uphold its traditional spirit and offerings, with longtime attractions including choreographed kite flying, puppet shows, a Coast Guard helicopter landing, and dedicated kids’ zones offering kite making workshops, rides, and other activities and entertainment.
While the festival is known for its striking visual displays, musical and culinary offerings also abound each year, with two food courts and a range of musical offerings and other performance arts across three stages.
Day two of the event kicks off with the city’s Memorial Day programming honoring fallen service members at Memorial Park before the festival springs back into action later in the day.
Festivities are scheduled from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday (May 24) and Monday (May 25) at Central Park in San Ramon. More information is available at sanramon.ca.gov.
