"There's no single route and no right way to experience it," Tom Casalini, vice president of Main Street Zionsville, told Current in Zionsville about this Saturday's Gallery On & Off Main. He meant it as an invitation to wander. Look at this year's format and it also works as a practical tip. The event runs from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 24, and almost all of it happens indoors, with artists demonstrating inside the bookstores, jewelers, galleries and coffee roaster along the bricks.
Last year's art walk was a Friday evening crowd on the sidewalks. This year's is a slower Saturday spent inside a smaller set of rooms, each with an artist at work. Plan for that and the day goes better.
A shorter host list across a longer day
Main Street Zionsville launched the idea in 2025 as its "inaugural Summer Art Walk." It ran on a Friday evening in late June. The Indy Arts Council listing for that first edition described nearly 30 businesses opening their doors, with work spilling across storefronts and sidewalks. It also featured a screening of the documentary about painter Nancy Noël at COhatch and a 25th-anniversary celebration at Art in Hand.
The 2026 edition has a new name, a new season and a different shape.
| 2025 Summer Art Walk | 2026 Gallery On & Off Main | |
|---|---|---|
| Day and date | Friday, June 27 | Saturday, October 24 |
| Hours | 4 to 9 p.m. | Noon to 8 p.m. |
| Hosts | Nearly 30 businesses | 13 featured host locations |
| Where the art sits | Storefronts and sidewalks | Demonstrations inside shops, galleries and restaurants |
The day gets three more hours, and the featured list has fewer than half as many hosts. That gives you more time at each stop. The event page describes merchants welcoming "artists and artisans" so visitors can "meet the makers." Current's announcement describes the format as demonstrations in various mediums. That means watching a painter mid-canvas at the counter of a place where you'd normally buy a birthday card.
Who is set up where, by street number
The pairings below come from Main Street Zionsville's event page, ordered by address. Where the page gives a medium, it is listed. Where it doesn't, the column says so instead of guessing.
| Host | Address | Artist | Medium |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoHatch | 75 N. Main St. | Pamela C. Newell | Oil and soft pastel |
| Robert Goodman Jewelers | 106 N. Main St. | Scott Miller | Watercolor |
| Out of the Blue Studios | 70 S. Main St. | Amy B. Carroll | Not specified; subjects include Midwest landscapes, florals and animals |
| Frances Parke | 98 S. Main St. | Cindy Newcomer | Oil |
| CV Art and Frame | 110 S. Main St. | Julie Davis | Water-based media |
| Black Dog Books | 115 S. Main St. | David M. Seward | Oil, often Indiana landscapes |
| Curious Squirrel Bookshop | 120 S. Main St. | Faith Blackwell | Photography and mixed media |
| Midwest Jewelers | 190 S. Main St. | Susan Brewer | Abstract-expressionist canvases, mixed media on paper |
| Fivethirty Home | 205 S. Main St. | Cynthia Young | Not specified for the event |
| Art in Hand Gallery | 211 S. Main St. | Judy DeGan and Dawn Michaelis | Pottery; mixed media in relief |
| Village Mercantile | 285 S. Main St. | Joe Vondersaar | Fine-art landscape photography |
| A King's Art Studio and Gallery | 60 E. Cedar St. | Ann King | Not specified |
| Roasted in the Village | 27 E. Pine St. | David Broerman | Plein-air oil landscapes |
There are two small updates if you saw the early announcement. Current's October 8 list put Linette Pedigo at Curious Squirrel Bookshop, but the official event page now lists Faith Blackwell there. Current also spelled Joe Vondersaar's surname "Vandersaar." The table uses Main Street Zionsville's spelling.
A few pairings show how this format works. A watercolor artist at Robert Goodman Jewelers and an abstract painter at Midwest Jewelers put two very different kinds of work into two jewelry stores. A plein-air oil painter at Roasted in the Village means you can watch landscape painting with a coffee in hand. Two bookstores, Black Dog Books and Curious Squirrel, sit five doors apart by street number and host an oil painter and a photographer. Every one of those pairings depends on the hosts being the Village's everyday businesses.
The two times worth setting a reminder for
Most of the day has no schedule. You walk in and the artist is working. Art in Hand Gallery at 211 S. Main St. is the exception, with two timed demonstrations:
- 4 p.m. Judy DeGan, whose medium is pottery, leads a carving demonstration.
- 6 p.m. Dawn Michaelis, who works in mixed media in relief, gives her demonstration.
Those two times can anchor the whole day. Art in Hand is a longtime artist cooperative that celebrated its 25th anniversary at last year's walk, which makes it the natural center of the event. One easy plan is to spend the early afternoon at the North Main and Cedar Street stops, reach Art in Hand for the 4 p.m. carving demo, have an early dinner in the Village, and come back for Michaelis at 6. That still leaves two hours before the 8 p.m. close.
What "Off Main" means on the map
The event name is literal. Two featured hosts aren't on Main Street at all. A King's Art Studio and Gallery is at 60 E. Cedar St., and Roasted in the Village is at 27 E. Pine St. The event page asks visitors to "explore just beyond the bricks." The side-street stops are part of the plan, so count them in rather than treating them as optional.
The Cedar Street stop is the one that gets missed most easily. Ann King's own studio is the only featured location where the host and the artist are the same, so you're seeing her work where it's made. Her listing on the event page includes an artist statement but no medium. Walking in without knowing what you'll find is part of the appeal.
Parking, maps and the street itself
Logistics are light, but here is what's published:
- Parking: Visit Zionsville's event page lists free public lots at the northwest corner of Main and Sycamore and the southwest corner of Main and Pine, plus street parking downtown.
- Maps: The same page links to a general downtown map showing shops, parking, restrooms and landmarks. It isn't an artist-by-artist route, so the table above works best alongside it.
- Check-in: The organizers haven't published any registration or check-in step. Walk in at any host.
- Staying over: The event page suggests Brick Street Inn for anyone hosting out-of-town guests for the weekend.
The Main and Sycamore lot sits beside an intersection the Town plans to rework. A March 5, 2026 Town of Zionsville release on Main Street Momentum describes a peanut roundabout at Main, Sycamore and First, more pedestrian crossings along First Street and to Lions Park, and a traffic signal at First and Oak. In that release the Town said it expected utility relocation in 2026 and construction in 2027, with a detailed schedule to follow once design is finished. The project website still describes the work as being in design. Saturday's walk takes place on the downtown street as it stands now, before that construction starts.
The next big Village date is already on the Zionsville Chamber calendar. The Christmas in the Village parade and tree lighting runs Saturday, November 28, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The parade starts at Eagle Elementary and ends at Old National Bank, where the tree lighting follows.
Our team spends a lot of time in Zionsville's Village and is always glad to compare notes on the shops, galleries and side streets that make it feel like home. If a Saturday on the bricks has you thinking about your own place in town, The Carrie Holle Group would be happy to talk it through over coffee. Schedule a Personal Market Consultation.
