August in the Groves reads quiet from the outside. Swank Farm's Saturday market is dark until October, the sunflower field is a rumor for January, and the paving crew on N.E. Road has moved on to the next lettered lane. If you live here, you already know the summer is a working season, not a closed one. What you may not have registered is how much of the fall public calendar is being cued off a single date on the Town's agenda: the 20th Anniversary Celebration.
The anniversary is not just a party. It is the first real test of how Loxahatchee Groves plans to stage community events after two years of budget fights, a PBSO contract dispute, and a town manager transition. Read the vote and you can more or less predict the shape of the next three months.
What the anniversary vote actually decided
The original request in front of the Town Council was $20,000 for the anniversary and a Veterans Day event. The initial budget request of $20,000 for the celebrations was met with concerns about the financial burden on taxpayers, Vice Mayor Sue strongly advocated for reducing the town's contribution and seeking sponsorships from local businesses to offset costs, and the council eventually agreed to a reduced budget of $10,000, emphasizing the need for a community-driven approach to event planning. Half the money, twice the reliance on the business community that already sponsors the LGLA speaker nights and the Vinceremos tack sale.
The parade went with the budget. Given the logistical challenges and lack of public turnout in previous years, the decision was made to eliminate the parade in favor of a contest for the best-decorated vehicles. A decorated-vehicle contest is a smaller, faster, sponsor-friendlier format. It also tells you what to expect from the Veterans Day event and any future Town-run gathering: static, permitted footprint, no road closures, local businesses stitched into the run of show. If you have been wondering why the paving crews get more attention than the parade planners around here, the answer is now on the record.
The volunteer call went out in July. The Town is looking for volunteers to help make the 20th Anniversary Celebration a memorable event for the community, with a volunteer application to be emailed to [email protected] by July 31st. If you missed the deadline, the more useful move is to watch which businesses put their names on the sponsor list. Those are the same names that will underwrite the winter events and the poultry night and the water-district update at LGLA.
The fall calendar the anniversary is opening
Once the anniversary weekend passes, the public-facing rhythm resumes fast. Here is what is already dated on the fall side, from sources with actual schedules rather than tourism brochures.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 7, 7–9 pm | VAM Band, Royal Palm Beach Concert Series | Amphitheater at Commons Park |
| Oct 11 (weekly through spring) | Swank Farmers Market, Saturdays 10–1 | Swank Farm, 14311 North Road |
| Select Saturdays, Oct–Mar | Panther Ridge Twilight Hours, 6–9 pm | 2143 D Road |
| Rotating Saturdays | Coffee & Horses at Ark Farms | 6196 Ellis Lane |
| Rotating Sundays | Petting Farm Day at Ark Farms | 6196 Ellis Lane |
The Commons Park series is not technically in the Groves, but the Royal Palm Beach Commons Park concert series continues into August, with the VAM Band scheduled for August 7 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the amphitheater, and it is a ten-minute drive from most Groves properties. Treat it as an extension of the local calendar, the same way most residents treat Tractor Supply on Southern.
Swank is the one on most residents' mental map. Every Saturday from October 11th through May 2026 from 10am to 1pm, the farm hosts an open-air 8,500-square-foot barn with 25-plus bakers, growers, gardeners and other sellers alongside the produce Swank is known for. If you have been buying pink guava and quenepa at the roadside stand on Okeechobee this summer, October 11 is the day the full market rhythm comes back.
Panther Ridge, after dark
The single most under-planned reopening on the resident calendar is Panther Ridge's evening program. The most popular event, Twilight Hours, runs on select Saturdays October through March, when most of the felines prefer to be up and about after dark; after the cheetah ambassadors greet you, the format is a self-paced stroll with staff at stations, food and drinks at the bar included in the ticket, and a stop in the gift shop. Six to nine in the evening, on D Road, five minutes from most of the lettered lanes.
The scale is easy to underestimate. Panther Ridge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to conservation through education, home to 26 big cats representing 10 different species, engaging the public with feline ambassadors to raise awareness about the plight of big cats in the wild. Ten species inside a ten-acre footprint you drive past on the way to the feed store. If you have been here for years and never gone at night, this fall is the version of Twilight Hours to try, before the January show season packs the reservation list with visitors staying at the Hampton Inn.
Between now and October
The stretch from the anniversary weekend to the market reopening is the window where the small farms carry the calendar. Most of them run on their own social media rather than a printed schedule, and the useful thing is knowing which address does what.
- Ark Farms, 6196 Ellis Lane — Coffee & Horses is the Saturday morning drop-in with coffee and rescue horses; Petting Farm Day is the Sunday afternoon option for families with young kids.
- Sunflower Haven Farm — Touch a Truck ran on a June Saturday and tends to repeat. Watch the town newsletter for the fall date.
- 24 Karat Ranch, 3765 E Road — Goat yoga sessions are ticketed and small-group; the ranch also runs a walk-around where you can feed, pet and hold baby goats and piglets and take a farm tour.
- Gratitude Garden Farm, 3795 D Road — Open by appointment only, with pick-up for wholesale, and a retail shop for chef's wholesale on premises. The public-facing side is the Swank Farmers Market booth once October arrives.
- Panther Ridge daytime tours, 2143 D Road — the 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. keeper tours run year-round if you cannot wait for Twilight Hours.
The LGLA calendar picks up in the same window. The Landowners Association runs the speaker nights that stitch this community together at the civic level: Panther Ridge Conservation Center presents on their program to protect endangered big cats, the Drowning Prevention Coalition manager speaks on water-safety, the poultry night with Betty Case from Red Barn covers chicks and related topics, and the LGLA hosts a Farm & Tack Sale at Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center. These are the meetings where you actually meet your neighbors, and where you find out which contractor is currently the reliable one for gate motors, board fencing and drainage work.
If the anniversary vote signals anything, it is that the Town is asking residents and local businesses to co-write the public calendar, one sponsored line item at a time. The fall is where that experiment gets tested in public.
What Grazing the Groves is really for
The Town launched a newsletter in early 2026 that has become the most reliable single feed for these dates. Grazing the Groves is the official newsletter of the Town of Loxahatchee Groves, a monthly brief covering local government actions, community events, service changes, and stories that matter to residents, framed around the town's rural character. If you moved here inside the last two years, subscribing at loxahatcheegrovesfl.gov is the single most useful administrative step you can take.
The reason it matters more than in most Palm Beach County municipalities is that road status here is not background. A paving notice tells you whether your trailer route to WEF grounds will be smooth on Tuesday. An RV ordinance update tells you what your neighbor can legally park on the parcel next to yours. Ordinance No. 2026-01 repeals existing regulations and adopts a new section within the Unified Land Development Code governing recreational vehicles under Article 92, while also amending Part III, "Supplemental Regulations," to update and clarify local land development standards related to the use, placement, and regulation of RVs. Not exciting reading. Extremely relevant when you are considering fencing, sightlines, or an offer on the adjoining acreage.
Law enforcement coverage is the other item on that newsletter worth watching this fall. After the January nonpayment vote and the spring standoff, Loxahatchee Groves ended its contract with PBSO in 2025, town leaders began discussions about restoring dedicated patrols in early 2026, and leaders plan to continue negotiations to finalize a new contract for dedicated deputy patrols. A restored contract would change how the anniversary event, the concert nights across the border in Royal Palm Beach, and the winter market crowds are staffed. Read the September and October editions of Grazing the Groves with that in mind.
The one thing to put on the calendar this week
The anniversary weekend is the moment when the Groves' public calendar reopens. The market comes back in October. Panther Ridge flips to evenings on the same schedule. The LGLA speakers return. The concert amphitheater is already running Friday nights in Royal Palm Beach. If you have been treating the summer as a quiet stretch to get farm work done, that is the correct read. Just do not let the anniversary date pass you by; it is the calendar hinge, not a footnote.
If you own acreage in the Groves and you are thinking about how the next few years of Town decisions, road paving, and land-use ordinances shape the value of your property, that is a conversation we are happy to have on your timeline. Reach out to Kirsten Kopp Real Estate to request a private consultation.
