The Downtown Venice Craft Festival is one of the Gulf Coast's most beloved outdoor art markets. Venice Avenue provides a historic backdrop of Mediterranean Revival architecture for a juried festival featuring fine art, handmade crafts, live entertainment, and the kind of small-city atmosphere that the larger Sarasota events cannot replicate.
Your Guide to the Event
Historic Venice Avenue Backdrop
Venice Avenue is one of the most architecturally intact main streets in Florida. The 1920s Mediterranean Revival buildings on both sides of the avenue create a backdrop for the festival that is categorically different from a parking lot or park setting. The scale is human and the atmosphere is genuine.
Fine Art and Handmade Crafts
The Venice festival uses the same juried system as the St. Armands event and draws many of the same top-tier artists. The ceramics, woodworking, textile, and painting sections are consistently strong. The scale of the festival is more intimate than St. Armands, which makes it easier to have actual conversations with the artists.
Venice Downtown Dining
Venice Avenue's restaurant density makes the craft festival a full-day experience. The restaurants along Venice Avenue stay open during the festival. For shark tooth hunters, Caspersen Beach is a five-minute drive from the festival site.
Parking in Venice
Venice's small downtown grid has street parking and public lots within easy walking distance of the festival footprint. The event is walkable from the Venice public beach parking area on the west end of town.
