Where did the Sausalito Art Festival go? For 67 years it was an annual Labor Day weekend tradition. Then in December 2019 its foundation canceled the 2020 edition, the first cancellation since the festival began, and the 2021 edition was canceled too.
Its work now carries on indoors, mostly in November, in two buildings: a former bank on Bridgeway and a wartime shipyard office on Gate 5 Road. This November both are full of art. On one Saturday, November 14, both have artists on hand. In practice, that Saturday is now the closest thing Sausalito has to the old festival weekend.
How a 1952 tradition stopped
The festival began on September 6, 1952, at Shell Beach, where the Spinnaker Restaurant now stands, according to a Sausalito Historical Society column. The same column traces how often the festival changed hands. The Chamber of Commerce ran it in the early 1960s. Artists took it back in 1966. The Chamber took it over again in 1971, and from there it grew into the internationally known Sausalito Art Festival.
The 2020 cancellation came down to cost. Louis Briones, then executive director of the nonprofit Sausalito Art Festival Foundation, told the Marin Independent Journal the reasons were production expenses, competitive booking rates for musicians, higher security concerns after the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting, and property rights issues. He also told the paper:
"It's going to be noticeably missed. It's a big event, and the economic impact the festival brings will be felt because it is a draw for people to come to Sausalito from all over the region and all over the U.S."
In May 2021 the Marin Independent Journal reported that the festival would miss a second Labor Day. Organizers couldn't confirm in time whether Marinship Park, its traditional location, would be available. By now the Sausalito Center for the Arts refers to "the demise of the celebrated Sausalito Art Festival" and says it has "picked up the arts-banner for Sausalito."
The festival's people built a room on Bridgeway
The center grew out of the festival's own circle. It traces its start to 2021, when a group that included the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation, the ICB Arts Association and Marin Open Studios came together with local leaders. The Marin Independent Journal reported that from its 2022 inception, the center was co-directed by founder-board member Monica Finnegan and Louis Briones, the same Briones who announced the festival's 2020 cancellation. Shiva Pakdel now serves as executive director.
The building has its own history. Bank of America built the branch at 750 Bridgeway in 1956 and closed it to walk-in customers in May 2019, the same year the festival called off 2020. The city bought the 5,875-square-foot building for $2 million in 2020, and it sat vacant until the arts group moved in. The center says it is responsible for all remodeling and maintenance under its lease. Its first phase of work cost more than $125,000 and covered removing the banking infrastructure, new carpet and paint, and repairs to the plumbing, electrical, fire and alarm systems.
The Historical Society column adds one more Bank of America connection. In 1966, artists lobbied the City Council to hold the festival in the parking lot next to the Bank of America downtown. The 1966 and 1967 festivals there drew crowds big enough to cause what the column calls the biggest traffic jams in Sausalito's history.
SCA Open spreads its season over five and a half weeks
The festival took place over one holiday weekend. SCA Open, the center's juried exhibition, runs from October 30 to December 6, 2026. Admission is free.
The show is only in its second year, and it is already drawing far more artists than it can hang. In 2025, the inaugural SCA Open drew nearly 600 artists and almost 1,500 submissions. In 2026, nearly 1,000 artists entered 2,250 works. Three jurors, one each from a museum, a gallery and an educational institution, chose 207 artists and nearly 300 artworks. That comes to about one in five applicants on the walls.
The opening reception was Sunday, November 1. Three dates are still ahead: artist demonstrations on Saturday, November 14, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; free gift wrapping on November 21 and 22 for Gallery Store purchases over $30; and the artists' closing reception on Sunday, December 6, from 3 to 5 p.m.
The other half has its biggest weekend in a 1942 mold loft
The second building holds its biggest open weekend of the year in November. The Industrial Center Building at 480 Gate 5 Road went up in 1942 as the Yard Office and Mold Loft Building for Marinship, the shipyard that built Liberty ships during World War II. Pile driving started May 3, 1942, and the building was finished on September 15. It covers roughly 110,000 square feet and was one of about 20 buildings in the yard.
Today ICB/ART calls The Big Open "our biggest event of the year," with nearly 100 artists opening their doors. The Eventbrite listing says more than 100 artists and covers painting, sculpture, photography, fiber, printmaking and jewelry, all under one roof on the waterfront. Admission is free, but you reserve a ticket. Parking is free, and the building is ADA accessible from the bay side.
The schedule starts with an evening preview on Friday, November 13, from 5 to 8 p.m. Open studios follow on Saturday, November 14, and Sunday, November 15, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, November 14 is the one day both buildings have artists on hand
Put the two calendars side by side and they overlap on one day.
| Saturday, November 14 | Sausalito Center for the Arts | ICB/ART, The Big Open |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 750 Bridgeway | 480 Gate 5 Road |
| Hours | Artist demos 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. | Open studios 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. |
| What's on | SCA Open 2026, 207 artists | Nearly 100 artists in their own studios |
| Admission | Free | Free, reserve a ticket |
| Building | 1956 bank branch | 1942 Marinship mold loft |
Friday's ICB preview and Sunday's open studios have only one building with artists on hand. On Saturday, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., you can see working artists in both. Between them, the two buildings show roughly 300 artists that day.
Where the art calendar goes in December
After November, the art season moves back toward the waterfront and toward holiday shopping.
- November 21 and 22: Free gift wrapping at the SCA Gallery Store, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., for purchases over $30.
- December 3: Sausalito's fifth annual tree lighting at Tracy Way Plaza, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The tree lights at 6:15 p.m.
- December 6: SCA Open's artists' closing reception, 3 to 5 p.m.
- December 8 to 31: The Chamber's Gingerbread House Tour and Competition, a free tour around downtown, the waterfront and Caledonia Street.
- December 12 and 13: The Sausalito Winter Market at 750 Bridgeway, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., free, with more than 25 Marin artisan and vendor booths. It runs a full weekend this year instead of one day, and past makers include Heath Ceramics, Botnia Skincare, Amanda Hunt Jewelry and Mercy Vintage.
The Winter Market shares its weekend with Winterfest, organized by the Sausalito on the Waterfront Foundation. Its Lighted Boat Parade starts at 6 p.m. on Saturday, December 12, at Gabrielson Park, with fireworks at about 7:15 p.m. Public viewing is free. The Jingle Bell 5K starts at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday on Humboldt Avenue. So on December 12, you can go from an artisan market inside the old bank to the boat parade on the water without moving your car.
I keep a running calendar of Sausalito's art and community dates, and November 14 is circled on mine. If you're curious what your own home on this side of the bay is worth, Raquel Newman would be glad to talk it over. Request your private market valuation.
