On November 14 and 15, Winter Park's busiest weekend is spread across more than one park. The 53rd Winter Park Autumn Art Festival takes over Central Park from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. It takes up enough space that the Saturday Farmers' Market can't stay in its usual spot. Across town, Mead Botanical Garden is running its GROWvember Fall Fest & Plant Sale on the same two days.
That means a Saturday morning that normally happens in one place, at New York Avenue and Morse Boulevard, ends up in three: Central Park, Seven Oaks Park and Mead Garden. Here is what is where and when, so the weekend is easy to plan.
Central Park belongs to Florida artists for two days
The Winter Park Chamber of Commerce runs the festival and calls it the only juried fine art festival that shows Florida artists exclusively. This year's show has 186 artists. That count includes last year's Best of Show, Award of Excellence and Award of Distinction winners, who come back as part of the lineup. Every artist works out of a 10-by-10-foot booth that can't be shared. The exhibitor fee is $425, or $600 for one of the few corner spots.
The prize money shows how seriously the festival is judged. More than $20,000 goes to artists each year. Best of Show pays $5,000, the Gerry Marino Award of Excellence pays $2,500, and the Morse Museum Award pays $1,000. Patrons add more than $6,500 in Patrons Arts Dollars on top of that. For an artist, Best of Show is worth almost twelve times the booth fee, and it can earn them a spot in next year's show.
Along with the booths, there is a beer garden in front of the entertainment stage, and official festival posters and note cards are sold along Park Avenue during festival hours. The music lineup and the children's art activities haven't been posted yet. The Chamber's page still says to check back closer to the festival. Admission is free.
The detail that affects every errand downtown: Park Avenue is closed to traffic from Lyman Avenue to Canton Avenue on both Saturday and Sunday.
The Saturday market moves for the weekend
The city runs the Saturday Farmers' Market every week from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Central Park's West Meadow, at the corner of New York Avenue and Morse Boulevard. The city says that a few times a year the market moves from the West Meadow to Seven Oaks Park to make room for big events. It names the Autumn Art Festival as one of them, along with Cows 'n Cabs and the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival.
The city hasn't posted the exact move date for November 14 yet. It asks shoppers to follow the market on social media and check back for updates. If you buy your produce and bread at the market every Saturday, check before you leave the house that week.
The market has another change this fall. In August, the city started a waste-diversion program with separate bins for trash, recycling and compost. Food scraps are turned into compost for local farms and gardens. The bins should be part of the setup wherever the market lands that morning.
Plant shopping has its own festival at Mead Garden
The city calls the Saturday market the top produce and plant market in Central Florida. On festival weekend, Mead Botanical Garden at 1300 S. Denning Dr. puts on a much bigger plant event of its own. GROWvember runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both days. Admission and parking are free, and it goes on rain or shine.
Mead's list of what's for sale covers annuals and perennials, house plants, bromeliads, herbs, succulents, ferns, orchids and medicinal plants. It also includes native plants that attract hummingbirds and pollinators. Winter Park's Urban Forestry department is giving away trees. The garden hasn't said which species, how many, or when the giveaway starts, so go early if you want a tree.
Mead's roster has 27 vendors and organizations. It includes the Bromeliad Society of Central Florida, the Tarflower Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society, the Central Florida Fruit Society and the UCF Botanical Society. These are the people to ask about what will grow in your own yard. Sponsors include AdventHealth, The Ravenous Pig Brewing Co., Bonfire at Winter Pines Golf Club, St. John Lutheran Church and the City of Winter Park. There are also children's activities, live music, food trucks and a beer garden.
Getting from one park to the other
The festival's parking information doesn't mention a shuttle. Splitting the day between the two means a short drive or bike ride down Denning Drive, and parking works very differently at each end.
- Downtown: The Chamber points drivers to nearby streets, the municipal lots, the Truist Parking Garage at 203 E. Lyman Ave. and the Canton Avenue Parking Garage at 150 E. Canton Ave.
- Mead Garden: Parking is free on site.
- By bike: The city publishes a 4.7-mile Ward Park–Mead Garden bike route that uses Denning Drive. Bring a bike basket or a cargo bike if you plan to carry plants home.
- SunRail: It isn't an option this weekend. The SunRail help page says trains run Monday through Friday only.
The weekend in order
The schedules overlap, but they don't line up exactly. GROWvember closes two hours before the art festival, so plant shopping works best early in the day. Here is the weekend in time order, starting Friday night:
- Friday, November 13, 7:30 p.m.: The Bach Festival Society's Chamber Choir performs Boston Six at Tiedtke Concert Hall, 1000 Holt Ave., on the Rollins campus. Winter Park Magazine's calendar lists 7 p.m., but the Society's own page says 7:30.
- Saturday, 8 a.m.: The Farmers' Market opens, at Seven Oaks Park if the city confirms the move.
- Saturday, 9 a.m.: The art festival and GROWvember both open.
- Saturday, 1 p.m.: The market closes.
- Saturday, 3 p.m.: GROWvember closes for the day.
- Saturday, 5 p.m.: The art festival closes for the day.
- Saturday, 8 p.m.: The Ultimate Santana Band plays Blue Bamboo.
- Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Both festivals reopen, with GROWvember closing at 3 and the art festival running to 5.
- Sunday: Central Florida Folk presents Dave Rudolf at the Winter Park Library, with a suggested $15 donation for nonmembers.
Museums with new shows near the booths
Several of Winter Park's museums open fall exhibitions in time for festival weekend. The Morse Museum's Revolt in the Parlor: Escaping Victorian Taste opens October 13. Its listed hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, so it's open on festival Saturday. The Morse also sponsors one of the festival's prizes, the $1,000 Morse Museum Award.
The Rollins Museum of Art has three exhibitions running through January 3, 2027, and admission is free. At Crealdé, 600 St. Andrews Blvd., the free exhibition Panoramic Light: The Art of Hansen Mulford runs October 16 through December 12. The opening reception is Friday, October 16, from 7 to 9 p.m. That reception is a month before the festival, so you could see Mulford's work early and then compare it with the Florida artists in the booths.
Before and after festival weekend
The Chamber has events on both sides of the festival. The Best of Winter Park celebration on October 27 honors the winners and finalists of a community vote across 50 categories of member businesses. Then on December 4, Central Park hosts Winter on the Avenue. That evening includes the tree lighting, a Chanukah menorah lighting, strolling carolers, snow slides and Popcorn Flicks in the park, and admission is free.
In Hannibal Square, there's a restaurant opening to watch for. Chef Brandon McGlamery, a two-time James Beard Award nominee, has partnered with the Foundry Group on The Reverie, an American brasserie at 533 W. New England Ave. in the space where Chez Vincent used to be. The plan calls for French and European influences and a curated wine and cocktail program. Its neighbors will include Armando's, Mynt Fine Indian Cuisine and Cafe-Boutique Piano. The latest report gives only a late-2026 opening window with no date, and the restaurant's Instagram account, @thereverie_wp, is the place to watch for an announcement.
If festival weekend has you wondering which Winter Park streets are an easy walk to Central Park or a quick ride to Mead Garden, Eric Womack and The Womack Group are happy to talk it through, calmly and with no pressure. Let's Connect.
