The first Melrose Open Studio Tour, in 2017, had 27 artists in total. This year's map lists 47 artists at 20 stops, and 13 of them show at one address, the Big Yellow House at 647 Main Street. No other stop on the map has more.
The tour runs Saturday, November 14, and Sunday, November 15, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. It is free and self-guided, and you can visit as many or as few stops as you like. This is also its tenth year. Over that decade the tour's center of gravity has moved onto Main Street, and that shift changes how you should plan the weekend.
From 27 Artists to a Main Street Circuit
The Melrose Open Studio Tour started in 2017 with 27 participating artists. It grew out of MelroseArts, the group that runs the Melrose Arts Festival each spring. By its ninth year in 2025, The Melrose Messenger counted nearly 40 artists. The 2026 map lists 47 artists at 20 stops, so the roster has grown by roughly seven artists in one year and has close to doubled since the first tour.
More important is where the new growth sits. Melrose Town Guide describes this year's stops as a mix of home studios, shared studio spaces and several Main Street businesses. Alongside Follow Your Art, it names Paper & Clay, Lilah Rose, The Underground Collective, Firefly Bicycles and Residence Senior Living. On the published artist roster, five of those businesses together host 21 artists, close to half the tour. Four sit on Main Street and one is a short walk away on Pleasant Street.
What you'll find covers pottery and ceramics, painting, printmaking, jewelry and metalsmithing, mosaic, fiber and textiles, photography, sculpture, woodworking and furniture. A handful of student artists are taking part too.
Why 647 Main Carries 13 of Them
Follow Your Art Community Studios is a nonprofit arts center. It has operated out of the Big Yellow House at 647 Main Street since it launched in 2019. On June 30, 2026, FYACS announced that it officially owned the building. Community donors had raised $200,000 in less than a year, and a Mass Cultural Council Cultural Facilities Fund grant matched that total. The organization calls the house a home for the creative community, a place where artists work and share what they make.
So the size of the stop is no coincidence. In its 2024 tour preview, The Melrose Messenger explained that the tour mixes home studios and FYACS workspaces because some artists work out of the arts center while others work in smaller spaces or at home. That year the Messenger counted about a dozen artists at Follow Your Art. This year there are 13, at a building the organization now owns.
The variety under one roof is wide. On the roster, the 647 Main group includes abstract acrylic painter Carol Farese-Viola, mosaic artist Alissa Onigman, sterling silver and fabric work from Marta Diaz, fiber and crochet from Natalie Isbitsky, painting and printmaking from Kerry Pegoraro and Sara Gravante, and bridal alterations and redesign from Tamara Kenney. Add Jennifer Blesso, Kristen Byrne, Sally Bowman Gordon, Kimberley Kent, John Maciejowski and David Winkler, and one stop covers most of the tour's mediums.
The Rest of the Main Street Spine
Start from the Big Yellow House and the other business stops run south and north along Main Street, with one detour onto Pleasant. They are spread out, so walk the southern stops together and save Paper & Clay for its own trip north.
| Stop | Address | Artists on the 2026 roster | Background |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Underground Collective | 427 Main St., rear entrance | Karim Badwan, Erin Leigh Ann Browning, Greg O'Brien, Shelley O'Brien | Light, furniture, photography, acrylic and mixed media |
| The Annex at Lilah Rose | 488 Main St. | Emily Aliski, Alex Van Meter | The shop began as a children's store, has been downtown for more than ten years and recently expanded into the Annex |
| Follow Your Art | 647 Main St. | 13 artists | Nonprofit arts center, building owner since June 2026 |
| Paper & Clay | 953 Main St. | Potter Lesley Keegan | Creative gift shop and co-op that says it is home to more than 55 small businesses |
| Firefly Bicycles | 423 Pleasant St. | Jonas Mikolayunas, sculptural relief in wood and resin | Custom bicycle maker, cofounded in 2011 |
Paper & Clay shows how a tour stop can grow out of the same scene. The Melrose Messenger's third-anniversary profile traces it from a pop-up that started three years earlier to an artisan shop. Today it runs pottery classes and uses a commission model built to favor creators. Firefly is the stop that may surprise you. Kevin Wolfson, Tyler Evans and Jamie Medeiros started the custom bicycle company in 2011, and this year one of its rooms holds sculpture.
Then Leave Main Street
The other half of the tour is still the original version: artists opening the rooms where they actually work. Most of the remaining roster shows in home and shared studios across residential streets, and many of those addresses host two or three artists at once. That clustering saves you time. A single stop on a side street often covers more than one medium.
- Printmaking and painting under one roof. Printmaker Agusta Agustsson, oil painter Catherine Bertulli and painter Jacqueline Sokol share a Vine Street stop.
- Two ceramicists together. Danielle and Miles Chouhan show ceramics at a shared stop on Sears Avenue.
- Jewelry, enamel and photography. Lorrie Dicesare, Lorraine Diemer and Gail Hamm share a Willow Street stop.
- Wood alongside paint. Furniture maker Paul Cornacchini shows with multimedia artist Jenna Allwood on Boardman Avenue.
- Pattern and color. Annie Damphousse, who works in mixed media and fabric and wallpaper design, shares a West Emerson Street stop with acrylic painter Ellen Rolli.
Ceramics fans can find more beyond those pairs. Allie Karthaus, Karen Moreau-Ceballos with functional stoneware, and Sheryl Zelten with wheel-thrown work each appear at separate home studios. Margaret Swan's painted aluminum sculpture is another stop of its own. Exact addresses for every stop are on the MelroseArts tour map, which comes as a printable version and on Google My Maps.
You don't need to bring a shopping budget. According to the Messenger's 2025 preview, some artists have work for sale and others simply display it, and "there is no expectation that visitors purchase anything." If a piece does catch your eye, Melrose Town Guide notes that visitors can buy directly from the person who made it.
Fitting the Weekend Around It
Because so much of the tour sits on Main Street, you can plan the rest of the day around it on foot. The closest lunch is in the middle of the route. Slurp Noodle opened in the former Comella's at 478 Main Street with a soft opening on September 19, between The Underground Collective and the Annex at Lilah Rose. Melrose Patch reported that it sold out on opening day and briefly closed to restock. It offered dine-in and takeout seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Those were opening hours, so check before you go.
Saturday evening has its own Main Street event. The Food Drive's Harvest fundraiser runs November 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Memorial Hall, 590 Main St. It's listed with local food tastings, live music, cocktails and raffles, with an $85 ticket option. The studios close at 4, so the timing works for anyone who wants to stay downtown.
Memorial Hall also opens the weekend before. The Melrose Symphony Orchestra starts Season 109 on November 7, with Melrose resident violinist Charles Dimmick as soloist. Doors open at 7 p.m., and tickets are listed at $32 general admission and $15 for students.
The next big downtown weekend is Home for the Holidays. The Melrose Chamber of Commerce's event page lists it for Friday, December 4, through Sunday, December 6. The listing describes a tree lighting at City Hall and Santa's downtown arrival on Friday, free shopper trolleys and Cedar Park activities on Saturday, and a children's party at the Mount Hood Golf Clubhouse on Sunday. The schedule and map posted on that page are still labeled 2025, with a note to stay tuned for this year's, so check the Chamber's event page for final details.
If you're curious how Melrose's Main Street is shaping the town beyond tour weekend, Debbie Caniff would be glad to talk it through with you. Request a complimentary market consultation.
