"There is a wonderful Farmers Market on Saturday that brings in hundreds of visitors to the location."
That line comes from the organizer of the Bonita Springs Fall Art Festival, in the pitch to artists deciding whether to book a booth at The Promenade at Bonita Bay this October. The organizer isn't selling the shops or the setting first. The pitch is the Saturday market crowd.
That tells you how this fall is shaping up on the stretch of U.S. 41 closest to Highland Woods Golf & Country Club. The club's entrance sits off U.S. 41 at Highland Woods Boulevard, north of Bonita Beach Road. Along that same highway, one parking lot at 26795 S. Bay Drive has become the fixed point the season is organized around. The newest openings nearby fill the hours before and after it.
The Anchor Came Back on October 3
The Local Roots market reopened in The Promenade's parking lot yesterday, Saturday, October 3. The City of Bonita Springs lists it every Saturday through May 29, 2027, from 8 a.m. to noon.
That's 35 Saturdays in a row, covering nearly the whole season.
The city's events page calls it the Local Roots Flea Market. The Promenade's directory calls it the Local Roots Farmers Market. Both names fit. The market offers produce, flowers, baked goods, seafood, prepared food, and work by local artists and crafters. The hours differ too. The Promenade's directory says 1 p.m., while the city's special events schedule says noon. Plan around noon if you want the full selection.
Every Saturday from now through late May, the organizer's "hundreds of visitors" come to this one corner of U.S. 41 for a reason that has nothing to do with the stores. Several businesses and events this fall are set up to make use of that.
Mornings Before the Market, Afternoons After It
Yonutz Donuts & Ice Cream opened at The Promenade on August 24, in Suite 162. Franchisees Matt Derr and Ted Fitzpatrick run it, and it's open every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The menu includes smashed donuts, mini donuts, ice cream and what SWFL.life called over-the-top shakes.
The 9 a.m. opening lands an hour into the Saturday market. The 9 p.m. close runs well past dinner. A single counter now covers a morning donut and a late-evening shake at the same address, and that combination wasn't on this stretch last season.
A little south, Break The Fast serves breakfast and lunch at 25301 S. Tamiami Trail, Suite 2. SWFL.life listed it among Bonita's new restaurants in July.
October 24 Is Built Around the Market
The Bonita Springs Fall Art Festival takes over The Promenade on Saturday and Sunday, October 24 and 25, 2026. It's capped at 39 artists. Setup starts Friday morning, and artists can display and sell Friday afternoon and evening.
Saturday the 24th is a market Saturday. The organizer picked the weekend knowing that and said so in the opening quote. On the 24th, the produce stalls and the art festival booths share the same lot at the same time.
The organizer's page lists two different sets of daily hours, so check the schedule before you go. The Promenade has history as a festival venue. The organizer notes that the center once hosted the Bonita Springs National Art Festival.
Evenings Have Their Own Anchors Now
The Saturday market sets the morning. Evenings near Highland Woods are filling in at two spots that work almost like opposites.
The Center Bar at The Promenade has live music lined up for this week. Happenings Magazine's October calendar lists Just Denny on Monday, October 5, and Josh Rowand on Wednesday, October 7, both from 6 to 9 p.m.
Riptide Brewing Company at 28120 Hunters Ridge Blvd., Suite 1, opened a full in-house kitchen in late September. Until then, eating at Riptide depended on which food truck was parked outside that night. Now the taproom serves its own food.
The Riptide kitchen menu sticks to beer food made in-house:
- Brined wings
- Hand-pressed crab cakes
- House beer cheddar
- Smash burgers, hot dogs and shareable appetizers
You order at the bar, find a seat inside or on the patio, and the kitchen brings the food to your table. On busy event nights, Riptide may switch to pagers. The brewery says the menu is still early and will keep growing.
Riptide describes itself as female, family-owned and operated, and Bonita is its second taproom. Its calendar already included fundraisers, pinball tournaments and live entertainment. Recent beers include a PB&J-inspired fruited sour and the Swamp Hymn Heart of Palm Lager, brewed with the Florida State Parks Foundation.
| Riptide hours | Taproom | Last food order |
|---|---|---|
| Monday – Wednesday | 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. | 8 p.m. |
| Thursday | 3 p.m. – 10 p.m. | 9 p.m. |
| Friday – Saturday | Noon – 10 p.m. | 9 p.m. |
| Sunday | Noon – 8 p.m. | 7 p.m. |
Riptide opens at noon on Saturdays, the same hour the market closes. Back in September, the gap between a morning at The Promenade and dinner somewhere else still depended on a food truck schedule. Now there's a kitchen on the other side of it.
On U.S. 41, Bar 218 opened in September next door to Cheesesteaks.com, according to Gulfshore Business.
The Rest of October, Laid Out
The Promenade sets the weekly rhythm. The rest of the month's events spread out around it:
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Mon., Oct. 5 | Just Denny, 6–9 p.m. | The Center Bar, The Promenade |
| Tue., Oct. 6 | Overnight East Terry Street lane shift, starting 7 p.m. | Imperial Parkway east to I-75 |
| Wed., Oct. 7 | Josh Rowand, 6–9 p.m. | The Center Bar, The Promenade |
| Every Saturday | Local Roots market, 8 a.m.–noon | The Promenade parking lot |
| Oct. 22–31 | Happy Haunts Halloween walk, lit 5:30–10 p.m., free | Downtown Bonita Springs |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | Boo-Tanical Evening, 5:30–8:30 p.m. | 27180 Old 41 Road |
| Sat.–Sun., Oct. 24–25 | Bonita Springs Fall Art Festival | The Promenade |
The East Terry Street shift matters if Terry Street is part of your route toward I-75. Overnight on Tuesday, October 6, lanes between Imperial Parkway and I-75 move to the south side of the road, with work expected to wrap up early Wednesday morning. It's one phase of a larger $17.82 million city project running from Old 41 east to Bonita Grande Drive. The project covers stormwater and water and wastewater upgrades, plus a new multi-use walking and biking path.
Where the Calendar Goes After October
Once the art festival packs up, the market keeps going every Saturday. The city's other big outdoor dates move to Riverside Park downtown for the winter:
- Center for the Arts Art Festivals on January 9–10, February 6–7 and March 6–7, 2027, each from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Bonita Springs Concert Band on December 13 at 6 p.m., then January 24, February 14, March 14 and April 11, 2027, each from 4 to 6 p.m.
- Stardust Memories Big Band evenings starting December 8, with more dates through April 13, 2027.
- Kris Kringle Village at the Liles Hotel, December 12–13.
The Riverside Park dates are spread across the winter. The Local Roots market runs every Saturday the whole way through, on both festival weekends and quiet ones, into late May.
Inside the gate, Highland Woods' own amenities still cover a lot of daily life. The club's $8.3 million Project '22 package added pickleball courts, resurfaced tennis courts, a café, a pool and a golf shop. The changes outside the gate this fall are concentrated in two places on this stretch of U.S. 41. One is a Saturday morning parking lot on S. Bay Drive. The other is a taproom on Hunters Ridge Boulevard that now cooks its own dinner.
Season brings more foot traffic to The Promenade, and it also brings more buyers into Bonita Springs. If you're curious what your Highland Woods home might be worth before winter, Taylor Stewart and the Luxury Links Team can put together a current valuation for your address. Get your free home valuation.
