Coconut Grove's Fall Calendar Runs Along the Bay and Meets Fuller Street on October 10

On Saturday, October 10, Regatta Grove holds its Fall Mercadito from noon to 6 p.m. The King Mango Strut's poster and theme unveiling starts on Fuller Street at 6 p.m. the same evening. One event ends just as the other begins, and that timing shows where the Grove's fall is set this year. Most of the new dates are on the water, on Pan American Drive and Grove Isle. The tradition that has run the longest still starts on a pedestrian block between Grand Avenue and Main Highway.

Here are the fall dates confirmed as of early October, listed by date.

Of the four dates before the new year, three are on Pan American Drive. The Strut is the only one in the village center.

Afternoon at Regatta Grove

The Fall Mercadito is a one-day open-air market on the bay. It brings in emerging brands and fall goods, plus seasonal drinks and live music with Biscayne Bay in view. The vendors are visiting for the day. The food comes from Regatta Grove's permanent stalls, each run by a chef with a following elsewhere in Miami:

• JJ's Guilty Pleasures by Jeremy Ford
• House of Birds by Kenny Gilbert, listed on the venue's site as House of Birds Drop Biscuits
• The Piefather by José Mendin
• The Tackle Box by Jeff McInnis
• Phuc Yea by Cesar Zapata

The market isn't the only reason to go on October 10. Regatta Grove is open Thursday from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m., Saturday from noon to 3 a.m. and Sunday from noon to 1 a.m. It also runs a weekly lineup. There are happy hours on Thursday and Friday, a Saturday series called Sip, Savor, Celebrate, and Smooth Sailing on Sunday. The Saturday series is listed every week through May 1, 2027. That covers the whole fall season and the winter after it. The Mercadito adds one afternoon to a Saturday that already runs every week. Regatta Grove's posted calendar shows no other markets this fall.

Evening on Fuller Street

At 6 p.m. the same day, the King Mango Strut holds its free block party on Fuller Street. The Coconut Grove School of Rock plays from 6 to 7 p.m. At 7 p.m., organizers reveal the 2027 parade theme and the official poster by DaveL. The Chili Guys, a Miami reggae-fusion-funk band, play until 9 p.m.

The Strut started more than four decades ago as a parody of the King Orange Jamboree Parade, the former Orange Bowl tradition. According to Community Newspapers, organizers say more than 10,000 spectators now turn out for the parade, and Carl Levin, president of the King Mango Strut, calls the October unveiling "really where the King Mango Strut begins each year."

The 2027 parade is on Sunday, January 3, 2027, at 2 p.m., after New Year's Day rather than at the end of December. So the Grove's satirical year-end review opens the new year this time. About six weeks later, from February 13 to 15, 2027, comes the 63rd Coconut Grove Arts Festival. Both of the Grove's big civic events now fall in the early months of 2027. Until then, the bayfront has most of the calendar.

Fuller Street's place in that calendar comes from tradition. It isn't new. The center of the village has changed this year. LoKal, the burger and craft beer restaurant at 3190 Commodore Plaza, opened in 2011 and was the first restaurant from Kush Hospitality. It closed on June 28. In March, founder Matt Kuscher said its rent had gone up 50 percent and the business was "no longer sustainable." A neighborhood restaurant that had stayed for fifteen years is gone. The Strut is still here, as eccentric as ever and still free.

Grove Isle Adds a Dinner on the Water

The biggest restaurant opening in Coconut Grove this fall is also on the bay. La Sponda opened in September at Vita at Grove Isle. It's a waterfront Italian restaurant from the father and daughter behind Gioia Hospitality Group, Thomas and Kassidy Angelo, who spent three years developing it around Italy's regional cooking. Thomas previously ran Fiola Miami in Coral Gables. La Sponda is the first Italian restaurant he has built with Kassidy, who joined the family business two years ago.

Culinary director Daniel Ganem's menu starts with crudo and caviar. There's an orata crudo with citrus and Gioia Leccino olive oil, and a La Sponda tartare of Petrossian caviar, bluefin tuna and scampi, finished at the table with tomato sauce. Thomas suggests starting with a cocktail and a bar snack, such as the fried risotto topped with tuna tartare or the hash brown with uni and caviar.

Some practical details for a first visit:

1. It's open to the public. Miami New Times reported before the opening that the restaurant would take outside guests, and that Vita residents and club members would have direct access.
2. Book through Resy. The booking page says parking is valet only.
3. Dinner only, for now. The restaurant's site lists dinner Wednesday from 5 to 10 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. The site says lunch and brunch are coming in October. The Miami Herald's September preview said November. Check the restaurant's own listing before planning a midday visit.
4. The address is 4 Grove Isle Drive, according to the restaurant and Resy.

If you want to pair the Mercadito with a dinner on the bay, note that La Sponda is closed Monday and Tuesday. Saturday, October 10 is one of its open nights.

The Hangar Fills the Rest of the Season

Further along Pan American Drive, The Hangar at Regatta Harbour has the next two big dates. Sumo + Sushi Miami runs October 16 to 18, with shows Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 5 p.m. and 8:45 p.m., and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. In November, the Coconut Grove Jewelry & Watch Show is there November 13 to 15, 2026, according to the show's organizer and the venue. Another community calendar lists the show on October 18. The organizer's November dates are the ones to plan around.

With these, the Pan American Drive strip has something nearly every weekend from mid-October to mid-November: a market, a sumo show and a jewelry show, plus Regatta Grove's regular weekends throughout.

Inland, the New Openings Cluster on McFarlane Road

Inland, the summer's restaurant openings landed on a few nearby blocks. Manoli, led by Greek chef Emmanouil "Manoli" Aslanoglou, opened July 22 at 3540 Main Highway. Miami Slice opened on Wednesday, August 12, at 2996 McFarlane Road. Its team includes founder Alejandro Diaz and culinary director Jose "Chema" Cardenas.

A few doors away, Levain Bakery's 2979 McFarlane Road location still says "Coming Soon" on the bakery's own page. In late September, Miami New Times listed it among the most anticipated openings of the fall but gave no date. If it opens before the Strut steps off in January, the street where Miami Slice opened in August will also have a new bakery.

That's how Coconut Grove's fall is laid out this year. The new events and the newest waterfront table are on Pan American Drive and Grove Isle. Most of the season's new restaurants are on Main Highway and McFarlane Road. Fuller Street hosts the one free party that marks the start of the Grove's oldest homegrown tradition, and it starts at 6 p.m. on October 10, as the Mercadito packs up.

At 1428 Brickell, the afternoons look east over the same bay that frames Regatta Grove and Grove Isle. If you want to talk through how a home near the water fits your own calendar, David De Leon and De Leon Group are glad to have a quiet conversation. Contact Us.