The Uptown Art Fair Plans Its Return After a Reinvention

The Uptown Art Fair is coming back to the lakes. After two years held in a parking lot at Bachman's flagship store on Lyndale — where it ran under the name SoMi Art Fair while Hennepin Avenue was torn up for reconstruction — organizers have announced the fair's return for 2026, reimagined as 'Art on the Isles' and set along Lake of the Isles Parkway.

For a fair with more than 60 years of history, it is a homecoming of sorts. The Uptown Art Fair grew into one of the country's best-known juried art festivals, drawing crowds that organizers have put as high as 300,000 over a weekend. A move back toward the water it was built around is being framed as part of a broader effort to rebuild Uptown.

A fair that has weathered a hard stretch

The road back has not been smooth. The fair was canceled in 2020 during the pandemic and again in 2021, after the killing of Winston Smith Jr. in Uptown. In 2024 it decamped to Bachman's because of the Hennepin Avenue rebuild, and stayed there in 2025 under the SoMi name. The 2026 edition along Lake of the Isles Parkway is the first real step back toward its old footprint.

Stefani Pennaz, the new executive director of the Uptown Association, has described the relocation as a milestone in Uptown's revitalization — a chance to put one of the neighborhood's signature draws back somewhere people associate with it, even if not on the exact block it once filled.

What it means for the lakes neighborhoods

For East Isles, Lowry Hill and the Wedge, a major art fair on Lake of the Isles Parkway is a mixed bag worth planning around. On the upside, it puts hundreds of artists, food vendors and live music within walking distance for tens of thousands of people who already use the parkway daily. On the practical side, it means a busy weekend on a stretch of road and path that neighbors rely on for quiet.

That is the trade a lakeside event always asks of the people who live closest: a few crowded days in exchange for one of the better free afternoons of the summer in your own backyard. For a fair this size, expect parking restrictions, detours and heavy foot traffic along the parkway during the run.

The draw remains the art

Whatever the address, the heart of the fair is the same: a juried show of gallery-quality work — painting, sculpture, jewelry, ceramics, photography — alongside food from local restaurants, live performances and family activities. The jury process is what has long separated it from a craft sale, and it is why collectors and casual browsers alike have kept coming back across the decades.