"Check with your favorite Galleries and Artists to find out if they are participating. Make sure to sign up for their newsletters."
That line comes from Tourism Santa Fe's listing for the Historic Canyon Road Paint and Sculpt Out, and it describes how the event works better than any poster could. The Canyon Road Merchants Association presents the event on Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It's free and happens rain or shine. Artists come out of the galleries and set up in courtyards, in sculpture gardens and along the old sidewalks. You'll find painters, sculptors, jewelers, photographers, ceramicists and mixed-media artists. Visitors can ask about technique and commission work on the spot.
The organizers don't publish a master schedule. Each gallery posts its own plans, so the full picture only comes together gallery by gallery. For anyone who lives within walking distance of the Historic Eastside, that makes the Saturday worth planning around. The event rewards people who can walk the road more than once and check each door along the way.
What's Confirmed as of September 29
The Merchants Association's event page names two feature artists for 2026. Stephanie Paige is listed with InterFusion Art and Joel Nakamura with TierraMar. Beyond those two, the published plans so far come straight from the galleries.
| Gallery | Address | Artists listed for October 17 | What their current work uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tierra Mar Gallery | 225 Canyon Road | Jami Tobey, Jarrett West, Chris Hill | Tobey: mixed media on canvas and archival pigment prints. West: high-fired stoneware. Hill: welded steel, acrylic and paper |
| Ventana Fine Art | 400 Canyon Road | Event listed, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; no artists named yet | Not yet announced |
The media column tells you what you're likely to see at each stop. Tierra Mar's three listed artists work in canvas, clay and steel, which makes it a good first stop. Jarrett West's stoneware and Chris Hill's welded steel are both easier to follow as work in progress than a painting that is nearly done. The gallery hasn't said what each artist will demonstrate. What they're known for is the best guide available right now.
Last year's lineup shows how much of the road usually joins in once the galleries finish posting. For the October 18, 2025 edition, Canyon Road Contemporary Art at 409 Canyon Road listed Ed Sandoval, Steffen Plistermann, Lydia Piper and Cameron Johnson. Tierra Mar's 2025 listing named Joel Nakamura, Sheryl Zacharia and Laura Wait. Nakamura showed mixed-polymer work, Zacharia hand-built glazed clay and Wait mixed media on wood panel. None of those 2025 names is confirmed for this year. Keep an eye on 409 Canyon Road's own page, though. The Merchants Association points people to the galleries' newsletters for the rest of the lineup, and the gallery pages are where you'll find the updates.
The Road's Clock Runs Longer Than the Event
The event lasts four hours, but the road around it runs on its own schedules. They start earlier and end later, and they decide what the day feels like more than the event window does.
- 7:45 a.m. The free Santa Fe Pick-Up begins its Historic Plaza to Canyon Road route. On Wednesday through Sunday, daytime buses run every 15 minutes.
- 8 a.m. The Teahouse at 821 Canyon Road starts breakfast and brunch. A February 2026 interview gave its hours as Thursday through Monday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- 11 a.m. The Paint & Sculpt Out begins.
- Noon to 2 p.m. Lunch at The Compound, 653 Canyon Road, which serves lunch Monday through Saturday.
- 3 p.m. The event ends, and so does The Teahouse's service day.
- 4:45 p.m. Geronimo, at 724 Canyon Road, opens for the night.
- 5 p.m. The Pick-Up switches to evening service every 30 minutes until 7:30 p.m. The Compound starts dinner at 5 p.m. as well.
Set side by side, the schedules show the gaps. The Compound's lunch fits entirely inside the event's hours. The Teahouse closes right when the artists pack up. Geronimo doesn't open until an hour and 45 minutes after the last demonstration. Lunch has to happen on the road while the event is running. Anyone hoping to eat at Geronimo will have a gap to fill after 3 p.m. The Merchants Association's free Friday Art Walk, held every week from 5 to 7 p.m., fills that same evening slot on a normal week. On this Saturday, the busy hours on the road come earlier.
Getting to 225 Canyon Road This October
The Merchants Association's map puts Canyon Road at about half a mile long and recommends walking it. Parking on the road itself is limited and meant for short stays. Most of the side streets have free parking, subject to posted restrictions. On an event Saturday, short-stay spaces on the road won't cover four hours.
This fall, the side streets come with a catch. According to the City of Santa Fe's Orange Barrel report, updated September 25, 2026, contractor Sub Surface is laying a new water line up Garcia Street to Camino del Monte Sol. Traffic control stays up for the length of the job, and the City asks drivers to use other routes where they can. The work may run through October. Garcia is one of the streets many Eastside households use to reach the upper road, so check that page again the week of October 17.
For guests coming from outside the neighborhood, the Pick-Up is the easiest option. The Merchants Association's map lists its Canyon Road stops in front of Cafe des Artistes, The Compound and Geronimo, plus stops on connecting roads. The map lists a different timetable than the City's transit page, with a bus about every 30 minutes, daily, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The City's schedule of every 15 minutes is the one to plan around, but check it again closer to the date.
City garages downtown work for guests who'd rather park once. The Sandoval Garage at 216 W. San Francisco St., the Convention Center Garage at 119 S. Federal Place and the Railyard Garage at 503 Camino de la Familia all charge $1 for the first hour and $2 for each hour after that, up to $12. The Water Street Lot at 100 E. Water St. charges $2 an hour, up to $12. At those rates, four hours in a garage costs $7 and the same time at Water Street costs $8. Park, ride the free Pick-Up to Canyon Road and walk back down.
One more project is close by. The City's River Park work along Alameda Avenue has the new bridge frame in place, stone facing is still going on, and all sidewalks are open. Walkers coming up from the river side shouldn't need a detour.
A Walking Order by Street Number
The confirmed galleries sit at the low end of the address range, and the kitchens open during the day sit at the high end. That makes the route easy to plan.
- 225 Canyon Road, Tierra Mar Gallery, at 11 a.m. Jami Tobey, Jarrett West and Chris Hill are listed here.
- 400 Canyon Road, Ventana Fine Art. Check its show page that morning in case it has named its artists.
- 409 Canyon Road, Canyon Road Contemporary Art, which took part in 2025. Its 2026 plans hadn't been posted as of late September.
- 653 Canyon Road, The Compound, for lunch between noon and 2 p.m.
- 821 Canyon Road, The Teahouse, before its 3 p.m. close. Cole and Brittany Campbell have owned it since September 2024.
The Teahouse's hours come from a February interview, so it's worth calling ahead in October. Every stop in between is open to whatever the galleries along the way decide to put outside.
The Door at 808 Canyon Road
The walk from The Compound to The Teahouse passes El Farol at 808 Canyon Road. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the restaurant closed in November 2025. Damien Muñoz and Maria Vigil, who own Palacio Cafe at 209 E. Palace Ave., bought it in a deal that closed April 21, 2026. The new owners said they planned to reopen under the El Farol name within 60 to 90 days, with a menu drawn from Palacio's. They also described the setting as perhaps a bit more formal. The restaurant's liquor license had been sold earlier by the previous ownership group, and the report said Muñoz intended to apply for a new one.
The same report describes a building nearly two centuries old that was renovated down to the studs in 2018, and the sale included the kitchen equipment. The 60 to 90 day target would have fallen between late June and late July. No reporting through late September confirms that El Farol has reopened or has a liquor license. On October 17, 808 Canyon Road is the one address on the walk where the only way to know is to look at the door.
At Plaza Group Santa Fe, we keep track of what opens, what changes hands and what's still waiting along Canyon Road. If a particular Eastside address matters to you, whether it's a courtyard gallery or a historic building like the one at 808, we're happy to talk through its history. Schedule a Private Consultation.
