The Art and Wind Festival is an annual festival that features performances, crafts and food vendors. This year’s festival took place on May 25, 2025 and May 26, 2025 from 11am-6pm.
Planning a festival over a 35-acre park was no small feat. With numerous entrances and 20,000 festival-goers per day, Event Manager Steve Cox expressed that they had to accommodate traffic, accommodate parking, and ensure that everybody had enough to do.
“We wanted to make sure that it’s a festival that is for families of the community, that there is enough for them to do all day, and hopefully enough for them to do two days in a row and come back,” Cox said. “It’s always a challenge to see what the trends are, making sure that we are staying with the trends, and also things that are popular that people want to do.”
For example, Black Tiger Taekwondo, a martial arts studio based in San Ramon, had multiple practices to prepare the choreography and music for their act. Alexander Wahhab, a member of the team Black Tiger, expressed his feelings about their performance.
“I think we did good altogether,” Wahhab said. “I’m very proud that everyone showed up. I think it was just good that we were all there and had a good time.”
There were many handmade arts and crafts available for purchase. Artist Jennifer Patton set up her booth with about 60 paintings.
“[I spent] a lot of hours in my studio,” Patton said. “It takes up a lot of room and it takes several weeks to prepare something like this.”
Additionally, there were wearable items for sale. Jewelry maker Elizabeth Hall, founder of Wearable Phantasy, set up her booth with her unique jewelry items.
“I don’t really think too much about what I do, I just do it,” Hall said. “If I think too much about what I do, it goes wrong. I’ve had better shows, but I’ve had worse.”
Finally, there was food and drinks to keep festival-goers’ energy up. From hot dogs to shaved ice to smoothies, there was no shortage of options. Gary Riccomi, the owner of Primo’s Gourmet Food, does 150 festivals a year, and Riccomi expresses that the Art and Wind Festival is one of their many successful shows.
“[The Art and Wind Festival] is a very easy event to get to,” Riccomi said. “Also, the people are great, and we sell a lot.”
Overall, Cox and the rest of the planning team were pleased with the turnout for the 2025 Art and Wind Festival.
“I’m just really proud to see everybody coming out and having a great time,” Cox said. “That’s what this festival is for, that’s what we want it to be and I just love to see everyone embrace that concept.”
