La Encantada's holiday season starts tonight, and nothing on the center's published calendar for its first nine days is a sale. Thursday evening has a ribbon cutting for a family that recently took over a spa. On Saturday and Sunday, a juried fine art festival fills the lower-level walkways, and ten of its artists work in public on a posted timetable. The day after Thanksgiving ends with free yoga in the courtyard. The festival weekend is the anchor of that stretch. Its demonstration schedule tells you when to arrive better than the festival hours do.
A 2021 promise, showing up on the calendar
The current events-first approach goes back to the center's last change of ownership. In September 2021, Macerich announced that it had sold La Encantada for $165.3 million. According to Real Estate Daily News, the buyers were a joint venture of Town West Realty, HSL Properties and Iridius Capital, with Town West as managing partner. The same report quoted HSL chairman Humberto Lopez, who described a center offering experiences and events that shoppers cannot get online. Town West said at the time that it was recruiting retailers new to Tucson, Warby Parker and LoveSac among them.
This November's calendar puts that plan into practice. Everything worth the drive to Skyline and Campbell in these nine days happens at a set time and in person. The fine art festival is the biggest of them.
The festival, set out by the clock
The La Encantada Fine Art Festival runs Saturday, November 21, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, November 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The presenter is Art State Arizona, the nonprofit formerly known as SAACA. It began in 1997 as the Greater Oro Valley Arts Council before becoming the Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance. Each festival has 50 juried artisans working in sculpture, painting, jewelry, glass, fashion and mixed media. Booths are on the center's lower level, in the covered walkways.
Fifty booths take a while to browse. The live demonstrations, though, run in two-hour blocks, and Art State has published who is working when.
| Day and time | Artist | Medium on display |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, 10 a.m. to noon | Debra Sieloff | Painting on leather, with intricate designs and bold patterns |
| Sat, 10 a.m. to noon | Elizabeth Iverson | Agave leaves and rocks in jewel-tone and granulating watercolors |
| Sat, noon to 2 p.m. | Gillian Allard | Mosaic built from glass, ceramic tile and found objects |
| Sat, noon to 2 p.m. | Rodney Casebier | Balanced, suspended mobiles |
| Sat, 2 to 4 p.m. | Mernie Buchanan | An acrylic dog portrait |
| Sat, 2 to 4 p.m. | Lisa Johnson | Earrings made from reclaimed tin and sterling silver |
| Sun, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Julie Newcome | Fused glass |
| Sun, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. | Eric Black | Metalpoint sketching with a metal stylus |
| Sun, 1 to 3 p.m. | Theresa Poalucci | Sgraffito in layered oil pastels |
| Sun, 1 to 3 p.m. | Caryn Stedman | Hammered, stamped and wire-wrapped jewelry |
The timetable shapes each day in a few ways.
Saturday has six demonstrators in three back-to-back slots, so someone who arrives at opening and stays until 4 p.m. can watch all six. The last hour of Saturday, from 4 to 5 p.m., has no demonstrations and is open for browsing.
Sunday is shorter at both ends and has four demonstrators in two slots. Demonstrations end at 3 p.m., an hour before the festival closes.
The two days differ in emphasis. Saturday morning centers on desert subjects and surface work: Iverson's agave watercolors and Sieloff's painted leather. Sunday leans toward technique. Black's metalpoint is described by Art State as a centuries-old drawing method in which a fine metal stylus replaces the pencil. Poalucci's sgraffito starts with layers of oil pastel and scratches them back to reveal the colors underneath.
Two kinds of visitor can plan a weekend around this. Anyone shopping for a gift can watch a piece being made and then buy from that same artist's work. Anyone weighing a larger purchase for a wall, a niche or a courtyard can see how the work is built before deciding.
Arriving on a festival weekend
Art State says the festival draws thousands of visitors each season, and it recommends allowing extra time to park during peak hours. Parking is free in several lots around the center, and Art State suggests using both the upper and lower lots. Valet may be offered on festival weekends, so check the center's website for availability. Accessible spaces are near the main entrances. Rideshare drop-off is at the east entrance off Campbell Avenue, which is the closest approach for anyone headed straight to the lower-level walkways.
The demonstration blocks help with parking as well. A visit timed to a single slot, such as Sunday's 11 a.m. glass and metalpoint pairing, needs a parking space for about two hours instead of a whole afternoon.
The first nine days, in order
- Thursday, November 19, 6 to 8 p.m. The center hosts "A New Chapter Wrapped in a Bow," a holiday ribbon-cutting celebration welcoming new owners Dan, Justin and Karen, with holiday bites and shopping. Those are the first names of the Verwiel family, whom Fuchsia Spa introduces as the new owners of Fuchsia Spa La Encantada. The spa describes it as a family-owned business that will keep its existing team and add new treatments.
- Saturday and Sunday, November 21 and 22. The Fine Art Festival, with demonstrations on the schedule above.
- Sunday, November 22. Extended holiday shopping hours begin and run through January 2. Daily times are not listed on the page, so check individual stores before a late visit.
- Friday, November 27. The day after Thanksgiving is the last Friday of the month, the slot for Moon Glow 520. This free evening session in the courtyard combines yoga with meditation and breathwork. The center thanks lululemon and participating local yoga studios for hosting it.
One store event runs alongside all of these. EILEEN FISHER is holding a holiday feature of new arrivals and gift ideas from November 12 to December 14.
A new name in the former Living Room space
On festival weekend, people will be looking for somewhere to sit down between demonstrations, and the dining options at the center have changed. Frida American Brasserie, from owners Charles and Frida Hunt, has taken over 2905 E. Skyline Drive in the space that was formerly the Living Room. Tucson Foodie reported that the owners first planned an August debut and then moved it to late October.
The early dinner menu Tucson Foodie previewed was labeled a work in progress. It included a Crab Louie salad with blue crab, avocado and shaved egg, a French onion soup finished with Gruyère, crab cakes with Old Bay remoulade, and mini lobster rolls on toasted brioche. The center's directory listing describes a courtyard bar. Before building a festival afternoon around it, check Frida's website for current reservations and hours.
If this weekend doesn't work
The November dates are the first of the season. The La Encantada Fine Art Festival returns January 16 and 17, 2027, at the same center, with the same Saturday and Sunday hours.
Marta Harvey's background in construction and design means she looks at how a piece of art will sit in a room. That includes the light on a courtyard wall, the depth of a niche, and how a mobile reads against a high ceiling. If something at the festival gets you thinking about how your own home shows its best rooms, Marta Harvey is glad to walk through it with you, starting with a current valuation. Get My Valuation.
