Celebration Park reopened on Thursday, October 1, after closing for all of September. It now has new tables, new chairs, a new drink menu and a dock at Marker 24 on Haldeman Creek. For anyone in Royal Harbor with a boat behind the house, that dock is the starting point for the season on the east shore of Naples Bay. Between now and early February, the Naples Botanical Garden and the Bayshore Arts District have filled their calendars with dates that sit around it.
The park is one of the few places in this stretch of East Naples that you can reach from the water and that stays open six days a week. Everything else on the Bayshore calendar runs on set dates. Put the two together and you have a fall that runs largely along Bayshore Drive, a short ride from the Royal Harbor canals.
What September changed at the Becca Avenue lot
The Naples Daily News described the refresh as a revamped waterfront bar program, more entertainment and new food truck options. General manager Robin Forbes gave WBBH a plainer summary on reopening day:
"Pretty much everything is new: new tables, new chairs, new decorations on each of the trucks to have us each look a little more alike."
The opening block party ran from 4 to 9 p.m. with free admission, live music and raffles, plus a Celebration Park hat for the first 100 guests. Forbes told the station she was hoping for about 800 people.
The trucks now look like one set. According to the park's food truck page, the current lineup is:
- Authentic Greek, Greek street food and Mediterranean favorites
- Gigi's Chicken Coop, crispy chicken, sandwiches and comfort food
- GoGo Gourmet, burgers and loaded sandwiches
- OCN Seafood Co., fresh seafood and coastal dishes
- Rick's Taco Cartel, tacos, birria and nachos
- Full Liquor Bar, cocktails, beer and specialty drinks
The park opens at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday. It closes at 9 p.m. most nights and at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and it is closed Mondays. Holidays and special events can shift those hours. Happy hour runs Tuesday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. On the music side, the events calendar lists Tuesday's With Travis on October 13 and October 20, both from 6 to 9 p.m.
The trip by water, and what the rules say about it
The park gives two ways in. By car, it's 2880 Becca Ave., Naples, FL 34112, off Bayshore Drive, with free parking on site. By boat, it's Haldeman Creek at Marker 24, with dock access on the waterfront. The site also lists the park as pet friendly.
Most of the trip is about speed. Florida's manatee protection rule for Collier County, Rule 68C-22.023, groups Naples Bay, Gordon Pass, Port Royal and associated waters, including Haldeman Creek, into one Slow Speed area. The one exception is a separately designated stretch of the marked Haldeman Creek channel. The rule also says the regulation in effect is the one posted on the water. The signs you pass on the way in govern the trip.
Here is how the trip breaks down from what's published:
- Leaving Royal Harbor and crossing the bay. You're in the Naples Bay Slow Speed area from the start.
- Entering Haldeman Creek. It falls under the same Slow Speed rule, apart from the designated channel exception, so follow the posted markers.
- Arriving at Marker 24. The park lists dock access here. Its website doesn't publish dock fees, time limits, slip sizes or a reservation process, so call ahead at (239) 316-7253 before you plan a larger boat around it.
You won't find creek depths here because no current public source we reviewed lists them. Florida DEP's waterway map calls itself an aid to navigation and suggests using NOAA charts alongside it.
The calendar that builds around the dock
Celebration Park is open almost every day. Most of what surrounds it on Bayshore Drive happens on set dates, and this fall those dates spread out evenly. The Naples Botanical Garden is at 4820 Bayshore Drive, the same road the park sits off. The Bayshore Arts District's monthly events take place at TWiST Gallery, 3570 Bayshore Drive, Suite 103.
| Date | Event | Where | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 13 and 20 | Tuesday's With Travis | Celebration Park | 6 to 9 p.m. |
| Oct. 17 | Family Planting Day | Naples Botanical Garden | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 | Día de los Muertos Celebration | Naples Botanical Garden | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Nov. 6 | First Fridays | TWiST Gallery | 5 to 8 p.m. |
| Nov. 14 | Second Saturdays | TWiST Gallery | 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. |
| Nov. 14, Dec. 12, Jan. 9, Feb. 13 | Music in the Garden | Garden, Hoffmann Lawn | 2 to 4 p.m. |
| Nov. 27, 2026 to Jan. 3, 2027 | Johnsonville Night Lights in the Garden | Naples Botanical Garden | Evenings, closed Dec. 24, 25 and 31 |
What's on each page:
- Family Planting Day is a family festival built around harvesting and planting crops.
- Día de los Muertos includes performances, dancing, arts and crafts, and local vendors.
- Music in the Garden brings local musicians to the Hoffmann Lawn. Its October through May shows run from 2 to 4 p.m.
- Johnsonville Night Lights in the Garden promises lights, live music, and holiday food and drinks.
- First Fridays at TWiST Gallery is billed as "Art, Vendors, Music, Food, Drinks, Vibes."
Taken together, the Garden accounts for a full day on four separate weekends, the Arts District for one evening and one morning in November, and Night Lights for most evenings over five weeks. Celebration Park is the one stop that doesn't depend on a date.
Saturday, November 14, three stops on Bayshore Drive
On November 14 the schedules fit together almost exactly. Second Saturdays at TWiST Gallery runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Music in the Garden starts on the Hoffmann Lawn an hour later and runs from 2 to 4 p.m. Celebration Park is open until 10 p.m. on Saturdays. That leaves time for dinner at OCN Seafood Co. or Rick's Taco Cartel after the music ends.
From Thanksgiving weekend, the same pattern works on Night Lights evenings from Tuesday through Sunday. You can eat at the park first, since it opens at 11:30 a.m., and then head to the Garden for the lights. The park is closed on Mondays, and Night Lights isn't held on December 24, 25 or 31, so plan those evenings separately.
The next venue on the corridor is still a proposal
The calendar above may not be the full extent of what Bayshore Drive offers in the future. On September 29, Marco Island Sun Times/Naples Daily News reported that plans had moved forward for Theater in the Garden. It's a proposed arts venue at 4265 Bayshore Drive from Opera Naples, Theater in the Garden Inc. and the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation, on a county-owned site of about 6.39 acres.
The proposal calls for a 700-seat indoor theater and a 600-seat outdoor amphitheater. A later phase could add a Pavarotti museum and an upscale restaurant. Talks on a land sale have started, but county approval and regulatory review are still ahead, and there's no opening date. For now it isn't on the calendar. If it's approved, it would put a theater and an amphitheater on the same road as the Garden and Celebration Park.
For this season, the published plan runs from Tuesday's With Travis on October 13 to the last Music in the Garden date on February 13. Celebration Park is at Marker 24 for the whole stretch, open every day except Monday.
If you're weighing a Royal Harbor property by how its dock connects to Haldeman Creek and the rest of Naples Bay, Anthony Caraballo can walk you through the water side of the decision in a private consultation, or give you access to private-market waterfront opportunities before they reach the public.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
