San Ramon Art & Wind Festival

We attended this event at Central Park on Memorial Day weekend (Monday), and the weather was perfect. Nice and warm, but enough of a breeze for kids and festivalgoers to enjoy some kite flying. There were specific fields dedicated to that, not allowed in the grassy areas where the food tents and stages were. There were plenty of merchandise vendor tents and kids activities, as well as carnival and train rides, so this is definitely a great event for families with young ones. But my bf and I just enjoyed a bite to eat while listening to the live entertainment on stage and basking in the sun. I really loved Lady K and the Kings of Swing, but the second band, Luv Bomb, made it fun as well with all of their upbeat covers. There were a couple other stages too, with cultural and kids' performances, but I only really had an interest for this music stage. The food offerings were very limited, only 5-6 food/drink tents, and the lines for most were pretty long in the early afternoon, with unreasonable wait times. So I'd recommend bringing your own food if coming here. The volunteers/workers were very friendly, and the atmosphere very laid back. For a free event, it's pretty cool. But is it really free if you have to pay $6 for parking?!? Interesting when places do that for events.

This is an annual event - so hopefully this review will give you a snippet ofwhat to expect next year. (Sorry this is a bit lengthy - but wanted to note while it's fresh on my mind.)We came for the first time with our grandkids (4 years and 20 mnths) so our visit was geared toward entertaining them.Admission is free. Price is right.Parking: 3 different areas for $6. But apparently you can find free parking if you're willing to walk a block or so. With the 2 little ones - it was more convenient for us to pay the $6 -and be close with a stroller.Food: We saw corn dogs, beer, lemonade, kettle corn. We bought small bag of kettle corn ($6) and cup of lemonade ($5). I saw someone from another area with a plate of chicken - but didn't see the vendor. We brought our own food (egg mcmuffin from McD for the kids) since we didn't know what was going to be offered.Entertainment/Activities for the Kids: Yes - free kites that you can make and fly in designated kite flying area (or bring your own kite), puppet shows, 3 stages of entertainment (check the schedule - for various live music bands(I heard oldies but goodies from the 70's and 80s), martial arts demo, dance academy performances, bollywood performance,bubble guy, etc. - enough variety for adults or kids. Bubble guy make bubble over you if you wait in line. We also flew the kite we made. It actually flew!!Rides for Kids: Various rides for little kids (train, twirling bucket, horse ride in circles, spinning tea cup, fun house, climbing wall,etc. Tickets were 20 for $25 or $1.50 each. (You can buy larger package of tickets but I was still in sticker shock.) Yes - EXPENSIVE!! And each ride was minimum of 3+ tickets!! You do the math. I only went on one ride - the spinning tea cup with our 4 year old because that was the one ride she wanted to get on. Thank goodness it had the shortest line. Unfortunately I had to grab the steering wheel for dear life so as not to get vertigo from spinning. Sacrifices you make for your grandchild.Booths: lots of vendors selling their crafts, various organizations promoting their business or bay area civic groups (EBMUD, Recycling,etc.)Summary: With such variety for all ages- you just need to find what interests you. (We were there from 11 - 5pm)

Not much to see, is nice space between vendors. Not kite really today. See some nice art work, that's about it!

Better bring a neck brace: those kites in the sky will have your neck turning all day. It's always heart warming to see people enjoy playing with the wind with a huge array of creative kites. We got to enjoy great talents perform through out the day on the main stage and side stage (near the baseball diamond). There were a lot of booths for art, mental health, and summer programs. It looked like there was some serious fun going on this year. Glad to have been there.

Very small festival without too many booths, you can probably walk through everything slowly and still see it all within an hour. Mostly crafts, and a few food type items. I did find a gourmet jam I bought. Not too much in the way of high end art. The food booths were ok, but I was surprised to see they did not have the teriyaki chicken skewers which are ever present at every fair of this type! It's also blazing hot as balls in San Ramon...best to dress in shorts not jeans! LOLI probably would not drive out of my way to come back here again, but if you live in the area, it's an ok way to spend the day....

I like Art and Wine festivals San Ramon has a nice small one that's perfect to start the Festival season with. So I rolled my Whip Black Beauty to San Ramon . I stashed her in a safe spot .I street hiked to the Festival . The City of San Ramon does a great job of putting this Festival on Lots of Police and Fire presence to keep trouble to a minimum. Its a real low key event . Very family friendly . Standard fair fast food.The high point of the Festival is the Entertainment . The Live Bands which are local entertainers and really put on a good show. My Aunt and Uncle were dancing up a Storm which entertains me immensely.This Year was the Fairs 30th anniversary!!!

Back again! It was much cooler today, compared to last year, which made it more pleasant. At 10 o'clock we still found street parking, when we left at 11:30 it was much more crowded. I'm embarrassed that I didn't know about the amazing park there. There's a lovely stream that runs to the play area, my daughter loved playing in it. Good thing I brought spare clothes. Next year I'm going to bring her swimsuit. The festival had the same food booths, artisan boots and fun music. My daughter is in love with motorcycles so her two-year-old eyeballs popped out of her head when she saw a police man with his motorcycle, and he was very nice to her. It's not the most exciting or varied fair but it is a nice way to get out in the community, see the services that are offered in San Ramon, eat some food and hang out.Despite the no dogs and no smoking signs, we still saw both. Some things never change.

For what it is, San Ramon's Art & Wind Festival is a fun little local event. Taking place on the Sunday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend each year, this is a modest but community minded festival. It features arts & crafts, food, wine and kite displays and activities. The community park is a great venue for this event with tree lined pathways for some shade on hot days. It also has a big open hillside that was perfect for the kite flying displays.The layout was very easy to navigate and what I really appreciated was that they kept everything in sections (art, food, local business booths and the children's ride area.) That allows you to focus your time and energy where it most interests you.I didn't partake in any food or wine but did sit upon the grassy hill to watch the stunt kite show.The event is free and has a pleasant community vibe. Parking is at a fee if you want to park at one of the community center or middle school lots. I ended up parking across the street near the library-that lot is free but you'll have to circle a few times to snag a spot-everyone has the same idea.Overall, not a large festival but still nicely done and a great way to spend some time on a holiday weekend.

we've gone to this nice festival in the past and it was easy to park nearby in one of the many business parks surrounding the area. But this year they've added paid parking $10 a car. And they've blocked off the parking in all the business parks for 2 miles around. Don't call this a free festival unless you're speaking only two people who live nearby or are willing to park 3 miles away.

It was a fun outing for the family. Met another family here and enjoyed the bands and entertainment.