A New Art Fair and Restaurant Opening Put Bde Maka Ska in Focus

Ask someone who has lived near Hennepin and Lake for the past decade where to find the Uptown Art Fair this October, and most will still point toward that old intersection. The habit is understandable. For years that corner was the address. After construction forced a temporary relocation, the Uptown Association rebranded the event as the SoMi Art Fair and moved it permanently to Bachman's on Lyndale. A different event, the City of Lakes Art Fair, launched on the northwest shore of Bde Maka Ska in October 2025 and returns there this October. Its location is near where the neighborhood's most significant new restaurant opening also landed this summer.

That overlap is worth more than a passing note if you live in the Wedge, CARAG, or East Isles and have spent the past few months watching familiar storefronts change hands while wondering where the foot traffic actually went.

Where the Art Fair Actually Went

The event most people still call the Uptown Art Fair does not run in Uptown anymore. After construction forced a temporary relocation, the Uptown Association rebranded it as the SoMi Art Fair and moved it permanently to Bachman's on Lyndale, a location outside the neighborhood it was named for.

Into that calendar gap stepped a different organizer entirely. Homespun Events, the group behind the long-running Edina Art Fair, launched the City of Lakes Art Fair on the northwest shore of Bde Maka Ska in October 2025, drawing more than 140 artists in its debut year. The fair returns for its second installment this year on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11, running 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, with more than 170 artists set up along the lake between West Lake Street and West 32nd Street. Jill Hayes, co-director of Homespun Events, described the goal plainly when the fair was announced: to launch a brand new tradition at Bde Maka Ska.

The Uptown Association's SoMi Art Fair now takes place at Bachman's, while the separate City of Lakes Art Fair is held on the shore of Bde Maka Ska.

The Restaurant Map Redrew Itself This Summer

Around the same stretch of months, a separate but connected shift was happening along the neighborhood's restaurant row. Here is what changed between June and July of this year:

Read as a list, this looks like ordinary churn. A burger chain closes a location, a taco chain opens one, a Thai restaurant slides into a vacated storefront. Restaurants along any commercial strip in a growing city turn over at roughly this pace, and Hennepin Avenue in particular has absorbed closures and openings for years without any single one of them meaning much.

One opening in particular stands out from the list.

Why a Food-Court Chain's First Storefront Matters Here

Bussin Birria Tacos had operated exclusively as a Mall of America food court concept before this year. Opening a standalone restaurant, on its own lot, with a full patio, indoor seating, late-night hours, and expanded catering capacity, is a different kind of commitment than a restaurant simply changing addresses.

That block sits on Excelsior Boulevard, directly across from Bde Maka Ska. It is not a coincidence of geography that this happens to be the same shoreline where Homespun Events chose to plant a fall art fair the year before. Both decisions, made by two unrelated organizations roughly a year apart, point at the same stretch of water rather than at the historic Hennepin and Lake core.

Meanwhile, the Hennepin corridor saw a closure and an opening: Red Cow's Uptown location closed, and Arizona Taco Co. opened a second location. On Lyndale, Aurelia's Mexican closed and is reopening as Even Keel. Bussin Birria Tacos opened its first standalone restaurant on Excelsior Boulevard, across from Bde Maka Ska.

If You're Headed to the Fair on October 10 or 11

For residents planning around the art fair weekend, the geography actually works in your favor now that both the event and a strong new option sit on the same side of the neighborhood:

• Bussin Birria Tacos at 3100 Excelsior Blvd is close enough to walk to from the fair entrance, with patio seating if the October weather cooperates.
• Tom's Thai at 1601 W. Lake St. is a reasonable stop if you're coming from the east side of the neighborhood and want something more substantial than a food truck plate.
• Arizona Taco Co. at 3001 Hennepin Ave works if you're arriving from the Hennepin side and want a meal before making the walk over to the lake.

None of these require driving between stops. The distances that used to separate a Hennepin Avenue evening from a Bde Maka Ska afternoon have gotten shorter simply because the newer businesses opened closer to the water than the older ones ever needed to.

The Bigger Pattern

These two changes show different parts of the neighborhood's event and restaurant scene: the City of Lakes Art Fair is at Bde Maka Ska, and Bussin Birria Tacos opened its first standalone restaurant across from the lake. The restaurant openings and closings also include addresses on Hennepin and Lyndale.

If you have lived here long enough to remember when the art fair really was on Hennepin, this is the kind of change that happens gradually enough to miss until you compare a June map to an October one side by side.

We pay attention to shifts like this at The DesMarais Team, because a neighborhood's businesses usually notice where momentum is heading before any pricing data catches up to it. If you are curious about how a specific block or corridor near Bde Maka Ska is actually behaving, whether you're weighing a move sometime down the road or just want to understand what you're seeing on your own street, reach out. We are happy to walk through what we're tracking, no transaction required.