Tucked away on the left-hand side of downtown Redwood City’s well-known Courthouse Square this Friday was a plethora of artist booths, with works ranging from handmade jewelry to photographs of the California wilderness.
ART on the Square, an event founded and produced by photographer Beth Mostovoy, has been running for 18 years. The project began as a way to bring more art into and around Redwood City. Mostovoy began working with Parks and Recreation of Redwood City in the 2000s, reflecting on how the revitalization was for the city to become the “main destination of the Peninsula.” However, there was a significant detail the governors forgot.
“I kept saying to them, ‘Where’s the art?’” Mostovoy said. After the governors kept dancing around this inclusion, Mostovoy decided that she would have to bring art to the city herself. She worked alongside her close friends Julie Goodenough, Jodi Paley, and Chris Beth of Redwood City’s Parks and Recreation to eventually form Art on the Square.
Today, the event occurs four times from June to August, and once for a holiday event in November. 33 booths take up the entire street, with local artists and business owners lined across it displaying a vast variety of products.
Many of these small businesses are special passion projects for the owners, like Eden & Zoe, a clothing company for adults and children created by Melissa Wang.
“They’re named after my two daughters, Eden and Zoe,” Wang said. “This is my eighth year running the business.”
Another booth held delicate flower pressings by Emily Chin. “This is my retirement project, actually.” she said. “The flower pressings are all made from my garden.” Chin works alongside her husband, who grows the flowers, and pointed out that she is just “the flower picker.”
After the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, many local artists and businesses suffered from a lack of face-to-face customer interaction. Events like ART on the Square are working hard to bring that experience back. “In person interaction is definitely important,” Redwood City local Liz Brown said. “It’s always nice to hear a personal story behind something you buy because there’s so many things that you can buy online that are just so impersonal.”
You can continue supporting local artists at ART on the Square’s holiday fair this November.
