New London Art Stroll Turns Downtown Into a 28-Stop Citywide Gallery

New London Art Stroll Turns Downtown Into a 28-Stop Citywide Gallery Oct. 3, when artists move beyond traditional galleries and into shops, studios, restaurants, cultural institutions and unexpected corners of downtown for five hours of art, music, fashion, demonstrations and open studios.

Running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, the 2026 Art Stroll stretches roughly 0.7 miles through downtown New London, with 28 locations marked on this year’s official map.

And “Art Stroll” considerably understates what organizers have assembled.

There are painters, sculptors, photographers and jewelry makers, but also four group art shows, three vendor markets, live singers, poetry and open-mic spoken word, a fashion show, printmaking demonstration, artist studios, an art swap and guided tours.

Some stops take only a few minutes. Others could become destinations of their own.

The idea is to keep moving.

Downtown Becomes the Gallery

The New London Arts Council and New London Cultural District have effectively removed the walls from a conventional art exhibition.

Instead of gathering everyone inside one building, artists have been paired with locations throughout downtown. Visitors follow the map from Broad and Federal streets through State and Golden streets and eventually down Bank Street toward the waterfront.

Some participating locations are established arts organizations. Others are businesses that become temporary exhibition or performance spaces for the afternoon.

The arrangement also means visitors are likely to discover places they haven’t entered before while moving between artists.

There is no admission charge for the Stroll, and artists exhibiting through the Arts Council keep their sales rather than paying the organization a commission.

Start at Fiddleheads and Work Toward the Waterfront

At the northern end of the route, Fiddleheads Food Co-op at 13 Broad Street becomes Stop No. 1, featuring whydoirock.

Nearby, Red Square Gallery at 116 Federal Street is offering tours at noon and 3 p.m.

At St. James Episcopal Church, 76 Federal Street, visitors will encounter work connected with Louis Comfort Tiffany, along with artists Cathy Cosby, Roxanne Steed, William Allyn and Garrett Brennan.

From there, the route begins moving deeper into downtown.

The Garde Becomes a Group Gallery

The Garde Arts Center at 325 State Street is one of four group-show locations on the Stroll.

Artists listed there include Maurene Kennedy, Virginia Reyes Conde, Trish Reyburn, Heather Flynn, Beth Pite, Kira Seamon and Michael Congdon.

That makes the Garde worth entering even if you’ve walked past its marquee dozens of times without thinking of it as an art gallery.

Across the route, the historic theater is functioning as one piece of a much larger temporary exhibition spread across the city.

Go Upstairs: Some of the Most Interesting Stops Are Studios

The Stroll isn’t limited to street-level galleries.

Inside the Dewart Building at 300 State Street, visitors can head upstairs to find participating artists. Katie Fogg is in Suite 310 on the third floor, while Esmeralda Bustamante and Ellen Kleckner are exhibiting in Suite 203 on the second floor.

At 250 State Street, Jacob Cullers opens J. Cullers Studio to visitors, although this is one stop where timing matters: the studio is scheduled to close at 1:30 p.m.

Ebbe Dahlor is exhibiting at Washington Street Coffee House at 13 Washington Street.

These are the kinds of stops that make the map useful. Some of the day’s art won’t necessarily announce itself from the sidewalk.

Three Vendor Markets Add Another Layer

The Stroll also incorporates several mini-markets rather than limiting shopping to individual artist displays.

At Harris Place Atrium, 165 State Street, a Vendor Market & Art Swap brings together Jac Meyers/TheBrassGlass, Hanah Masters, Olivia Wolfe, Ari C., Alyssa Drake and Quinn Lee/Writer’s Block Ink.

Another vendor market takes over The Union Room at 86 Golden Street, where participating artists and makers include Ivan Abarca, Chloe Dankocsik, Theresa Bryan, Sara Leone/The Verge Collective, Patrick Miller/Dead Photo Society, Bryan R. Tyler and Jaylynn Claudio.

That stop also includes live music.

At the other end of the route, Tox Brewing at 123 Bank Street is hosting its Toxoween Vendor Market, with Dan Desrochers among the artists identified by the Arts Council.

That creates an interesting overlap: Toxoween isn’t simply another event happening elsewhere in New London Saturday. It becomes part of the larger Art Stroll.

Poetry, Music and Performance Join the Visual Art

This isn’t an afternoon devoted solely to things hanging on walls.

At 19 Golden Street, Casaundra Fenty is exhibiting artwork while Madeline Weisbeck presents a poetry reading and open-mic spoken-word program.

Sara Leone/The Verge Collective participates at The Union Room, where visitors can learn more about the collective alongside the vendor market and live music.

The performance schedule also sends visitors between several downtown locations, including Telegraph Autonomous Zone at 137 Bank Street, The Union Room at 86 Golden Street and Favorites Bistro at 90 Bank Street.

Zachary Vincent is scheduled at Telegraph Autonomous Zone beginning at 11:30 a.m., with additional performances occurring throughout the afternoon.

Rather than building a single stage, the Stroll scatters performance across the same streets occupied by the visual artists.

There Is Even a Fashion Show

One of the more unusual stops is New Youth Affairs at Map Location 18, where the day’s programming includes a fashion show.

Elsewhere, the map identifies Spark Makerspace for a printmaking demonstration.

Those additions expand the definition of what counts as art during the Stroll. Visitors can move from painting and sculpture to fashion, poetry, printmaking and music without leaving the downtown route.

Expressiones Opens an Artist-in-Residence Studio

At Expressiones Cultural Center, 84 Bank Street, visitors get something different again: an opportunity to enter the working world of an artist rather than simply see finished pieces.

Current Artist-in-Residence Ixel Orozco Peregrina will open her studio from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Her practice brings together sculpture, installation, ecology and craft, and Expressiones is inviting visitors to see work in progress, learn about her creative process and talk with her about the residency.

That’s an important distinction.

An art stroll doesn’t have to be only about seeing what an artist has finished. At Expressiones, visitors can encounter the process while it is still happening.

Bank Street Is Packed With Stops

The southern portion of the route becomes particularly dense as the Stroll reaches Bank Street.

The official map includes Flavours of Life/Faire Trade Store, Favorites Bistro Bar, The Local, Studio 33 Frame & Art Gallery, Custom House Maritime Museum, Thames River Gallery, Old Testament Electric Tattooing, Telegraph Autonomous Zone and Tox Brewing.

Eddie Shaw is participating at Old Testament Electric Tattooing, while Zachary Vincent is among the performers at Telegraph.

Several of these locations sit only a short walk apart, allowing visitors to hit a cluster of stops without repeatedly crossing downtown.

Hygienic’s YART Sale Joins the Stroll

There’s another crossover we’ve already been following.

Hygienic Art’s YART Sale is officially Stop No. 17 on the Art Stroll map.

From noon to 3 p.m., Hygienic is digging into its closets and storage areas to sell unclaimed and abandoned artwork, prints, posters, old Hygienic T-shirts and assorted creative oddities.

That means someone following the Art Stroll can fold the YART Sale into the route rather than treating it as a separate Saturday event.

And it illustrates just how much is happening simultaneously.

The Art Stroll isn’t competing with New London’s other arts events Saturday. In several cases, it is connecting them.

The Stroll Reaches Beyond the 0.7-Mile Core

One stop sits noticeably beyond the compact downtown route.

The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is offering its Free First Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Pick and Paint a Pumpkin from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Children can choose and decorate a pumpkin while supplies last, and museum admission is free throughout the day.

We’ve covered that as its own event, but the Art Stroll map deliberately includes Lyman Allyn, creating a connection between downtown’s independent artists and one of New London’s major museums.

Don’t Try to See This Like a Checklist

With 28 mapped locations and only five hours, attempting to spend meaningful time at every stop would leave roughly ten minutes per location before accounting for walking.

That’s probably the wrong way to approach it anyway.

Look at the map before leaving. Circle the artists, performances or demonstrations you particularly want to see. Then allow yourself to wander into some places you didn’t plan on visiting.

That’s what makes the format work.

A conventional arts festival brings the artists to one field.

The New London Art Stroll asks visitors to explore the city to find them.

[ 2026 New London Art Stroll Map ] (pdf)

2026 Art Stroll Artists & Makers

Use the map numbers to find participating artists and makers along the route.

1 — Fiddleheads Food Co-op, 13 Broad Street: whydoirock
2 — Red Square Gallery, 116 Federal Street: Mike Alewitz; gallery tours at noon and 3 p.m.
3 — St. James Episcopal Church, 76 Federal Street: Louis Comfort Tiffany, Cathy Cosby, Roxanne Steed, William Allyn and Garrett Brennan
4 — Garde Arts Center, 325 State Street: Maurene Kennedy, Virginia Reyes Conde, Trish Reyburn, Heather Flynn, Beth Pite, Kira Seamon and Michael Congdon
5 — Dewart Building, 300 State Street: Katie Fogg, Suite 310, third floor; Esmeralda Bustamante and Ellen Kleckner, Suite 203, second floor
8 — J. Cullers Studio, 250 State Street: Jacob Cullers; studio closes at 1:30 p.m.
9 — Washington Street Coffee House, 13 Washington Street: Ebbe Dahlor
12 — Harris Place Atrium, 165 State Street: Vendor Market & Art Swap with Jac Meyers/TheBrassGlass, Hanah Masters, Olivia Wolfe, Ari C., Alyssa Drake and Quinn Lee/Writer’s Block Ink
14 — The Union Room, 86 Golden Street: Vendor Market & Live Music with Ivan Abarca, Chloe Dankocsik, Theresa Bryan, Sara Leone/The Verge Collective, Patrick Miller/Dead Photo Society, Bryan R. Tyler and Jaylynn Claudio
16 — The Golden Owl Bookstore, 19 Golden Street: Casaundra Fenty; Madeline Weisbeck presents poetry and open-mic spoken word
26 — Old Testament Electric Tattooing, 191 Bank Street: Eddie Shaw
27 — Telegraph Autonomous Zone, 137 Bank Street: Zachary Vincent
28 — Tox Brewing, 123 Bank Street: Toxoween Vendor Market with Dan Desrochers

2026 Art Stroll Performances

Performances are spread across the Stroll rather than concentrated on one stage.

The Union Room — Map 14, 86 Golden Street: Vendor market and live music, including Sara Leone/The Verge Collective. Performances are listed at noon and 1 p.m.

The Golden Owl Bookstore — Map 16, 19 Golden Street: Madeline Weisbeck presents a poetry reading and Open Mic Spoken Word.

Telegraph Autonomous Zone — Map 27, 137 Bank Street: Zachary Vincent is listed at 11:30 a.m., with another performance scheduled at 1 p.m.

Favorites Bistro — Map 21, 90 Bank Street: Performance scheduled for 3 p.m.

Details

Event: 2026 New London Art Stroll
Date: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026
Time: 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Location: Downtown New London and additional participating locations
Main Route: Approximately 0.7 mile through downtown
Mapped Locations: 28
Admission: Free
Presented By: New London Arts Council and New London Cultural District
What You’ll Find: Painting, sculpture, photography, jewelry, mixed-media art, fashion, poetry, spoken word, live music, printmaking, open studios and other creative work
Group Art Shows: Four listed by organizers
Vendor Markets: Three listed by organizers
Special Activities: Artist studio visits, Red Square Gallery tours, printmaking demonstration, art swap, fashion show, poetry reading and open-mic spoken word
Information Booth: Corner of Eugene O’Neill Drive and Golden Street
Timed Stop: J. Cullers Studio closes at 1:30 p.m.
Expressiones Cultural Center: Open studio with Artist-in-Residence Ixel Orozco Peregrina, 11 a.m.–4 p.m., 84 Bank Street
Hygienic Art: YART Sale, noon–3 p.m.
Lyman Allyn Art Museum: Free admission 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Pick and Paint a Pumpkin 11 a.m.–1 p.m.
Parking: Several public parking areas are marked on the official Art Stroll map
Planning: Check the map before arriving because several performances, tours and participating studios have their own scheduled times

 

 

Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.