Carmel Arts and Design District

Charming little section of Carmel, Indiana, filled with eateries, galleries, etc. My favorite of the art & design area is the many bronze sculptures lining the street. They also have concerts is the park. There is a fantastic farmer’s market on Saturday mornings… make sure you go with an empty stomach as there are many food vendors at the market. I like to stay at the Old Towne Carmel Bed & Breakfast. Fantastic B&B within walking distance to everything.

Amazing! Beautiful
Family friendly. Many parking lot, direct connection to Monon greenway. Great festivals in main street.

The Carmel Arts and Design District has a lot to offer. I’m most impressed that the city provides free parking so that you can spend time in the Arts and Design District without the fear of a stalking meter maid in your mental rear view mirror.
Grab pizza at Bazbeau’s, Thai at Pad Thai, challenge your appetite with the «Big Ugly» at Bub’s, catch fresh seafood and meats at Joe’s, savor a guilty treat at Auntie Em’s, dive into an Italian dish at Donatello’s, go creole with some Cajun fun at Mudbugs, enjoy pressure cooked chicken and fried cheese at Muldoon’s, chips and salsa at Agave’s, brews and apps at The Library, or catch a game at Scotty’s or the Pint Room. Oh wait,. I can’t leave out a donut at Square Donuts, a chocolate at The Sweet Shoppe, or high tea at Tina’s. And. that’s just the restaurants all within a short walk. There are other retail businesses on the strip that deserve similar shout-​outs, but I’ll tailor this review strictly to the taste buds and pen one for each retailer later.
The festivals are plenty and occur annually. There’s a lot of pride in this community and the city works hard to create an experience for every season. I couldn’t recommend a stop or a road trip enough. There are plenty of things to see and do, dogs to watch, and items to take home to savor later on when shopping at the local businesses on Main St. Bring your bikes, too, and begin your exploration.

Well the wife and I were looking for something to do before dinner reservations and thought about stopping to downtown Carmel. She had never been there (I had been to Joe’s Butcher Shop) so I thought it might be fun to explore together.
Having not checked the calendar I didn’t realize it the the Saturday of the Carmel Art Festival. What a kick ass event! We checked out a lot of the vendor tents and found some great ceramic and pottery dealers we didn’t know existed. Additionally there were some watercolor dealers with very cool artwork for sale. Admittedly there was a lot of stuff way out of our price range but still cool to look at.
I really like the whole concept of the arts district in Carmel and it’s exceptionally beautiful and superbly located (and surprisingly large) but it all feels a bit… forced. I guess you have to start somewhere and over time it will take on a life of its own, but it feels Carmel sterile with the similarly shaped storefronts, natural earth tone brick, apartments, etc. Minor rub I know… I still like it and will certainly return (if for nothing else Joe’s Butcher Shop)!

Went into the art district yesterday for the art fair and had a really great time. Lots of excellent art from painting to photography to sculptures and much more. Most of it was well out of our budget but it was still cool to look at and a great time for them family.
On a more general note this area is great because it offers so much in such a little area. From the Farmers Market to shops and places to eat you can spend and entire day and get a lot of stuff done. A few of the places we love are Bubs, The Pint Room, restyled, and the antique store.

This is a good place to spend the afternoon and grab some ice cream or something. It has cute family-​owned businesses galore and can entertain teenagers to old people.

I love Carmel. It’s clean, new, and wall taken care of, aside from the massive mounds of debt, it’s a wonderful town.
The Arts District is just as terrific. With a very small downtown feel main street feel, there are high end boutiques, yummy restaurants and many art studios. It’s full of tons of culture.
The only downside is that some of the businesses just can’t keep there lease. So there are constantly empty building spaces. And they have a place for Tea but no local coffee shop? I just want to relax somewhere other than Starbucks!
But it’s conveniently right on the Monon trail and is always buzzing during warm weather. Feels like a mini-​city in the suburbs. Bring your kids, dogs, and bikes for a great time!

Places like this really have to be taken in the context of what else is available in metro Indianapolis. If you go to NYC, Toronto, Chicago, etc., this place is, at best, nothing special. There are many neighborhoods in those places that are larger, more local, unique, and interesting — and evolved organically over decades or even centuries rather than «designed». However, you are in metro Indy, where this place is a little interesting.
There are art galleries, non-​chain restaurants (yes, there are still some of those around here), Joe’s Butcher Shop, barber shop, yogurt shop, tea shop, etc. It’s a rather perfect location and is within walking distance of not only the aforementioned shops but also: Carmel High School, Carmel Library, Monon Trail, and Palladium /​Booth Tarkington (via Monon Trail).
There are several annual events that close down the District to car traffic. Carmel Artomobilia and the Carmel International Art Festival come to mind, both being excellent, high quality, well-​attended events.
This is also a fine place for people watching as it’s where the beautiful people of Carmel come to see and be seen (right Neal P?). You can see them walking their well groomed dogs on the Monon and on Main St, transporting them in their Range Rovers and Porsche Cayennes.
The only downside is that there just isn’t the population density for there to be enough foot traffic to be interesting except on absolutely perfect summer weekend afternoons and evenings. Surburbia is still car-​centric and has too much sprawl. The fact that metro Indy has the cheapest real estate of any medium-​sized or larger city in the US doesn’t help the effort to increase population density. But this is what we have.

This was a fun little district just north of Indianapolis just right for grabbing a quick bite to eat or doing a little bit of shopping. I’d echo David’s enthusiasm for Woody’s Library restaurant (in an old Carnegie Library building and furnished with some of the old book shelves and other library furnishings from the early 1900s) and Joe’s Butcher (and old-​school style butcher shop). We didn’t make Bub’s Burgers, but ate down the street at Bub’s other place along the Monon Trail for breakfast (my dining companions were all about the huge donut holes here, but I just had to try the German dill potato soup with a big bowl of fruit for breakfast-​great stuff).
The best thing about the district for me was the life-​like and life-​sized statues scattered around the district – fun to hunt them all up and take photos of them. They depicted scenes like a dad teaching his kid to ride a two-​wheeler bike along the Monon Trail, a busker in front of the music store, a woman with her bag of groceries in front of the butcher store and more.
Even being there in early November, we still saw plenty of bicyclists and walkers along the Monon Trail, and there was plenty of action at the nearby Center for the Performing Arts. Lots to do without ever setting foot in Indy itself!

I have dubbed this place «New Broad Ripple». It was originally intended to be an area for galleries/​design studios/​artists studios. It is really lots of restaurants/​offices with some galleries and no artists studios. They recently opened the Indiana Design center, so maybe some design there now.
There are lots of complaints about the parking situation. There is parking, you just need to look. There are two free underground parking garages. Just don’t expect to just park and hop out.
Two of the features in this area are Joe’s Butcher Shop and Woody’s Library Restaurant. I highly recommend both. If you don’t know about Bub’s burger’s there is something wrong with you.
The Lurie gallery is nice, the city gave him lots of $$ to make it so.
There are already several new restaurants that have just opened, that I have yet to try.
They have ripped off the First Friday Idea, making it Second Saturdays. It’s worth a look.
Beware, I call it «New Broad Ripple», but the cops are all over the place and have lots of free time. You’re in Hamilton County and they like messing with Indy folk.

It bills itself as «the Midwest’s première art and design destination.» While its recent revamp has beautified this arterial street in Old Town Carmel, its still missing a very high end designer boutique or a resident performing arts scene. Still, the area has come a long way in a short time and offers plenty to do.
Everything from a fun, upscale lingerie store to a gourmet candy shop can be found on this street. Lots of very cute boutiques, too, who specialize in eclectic, well-​chosen pieces for the home, or chic accessories, jewelry and clothing. A butcher shop and female-​centric workout outlet can be found, too.
A couple of stunning galleries – sweeping pop art by Evan Lurie or colorful Magdalena Gallery – give the street an artsy feel.