Welcome to this edition of The Palm Beach Weekender. In today’s newsletter I’ll be featuring a weekend events preview (full list will be sent Thursday), Weekly Scoops, a Local Spotlight, and a brand new section called Beyond The Palm Beaches.

In today’s TPBW edition:

• 🍕 New pizza spot coming to Wellington

• 🔦 Local Spotlight: a weekly event worth checking out

• 🌴 Beyond The Palm Beaches: one of the most beautiful national parks in the country

Weekend Event Preview

🧑‍⚕️Eudēmonia Summit
🧺Pioneer Family Farmstead Day
🌺Mounts Botanical Garden: ILUMINA
🧘CoCo Market Jupiter
🧑‍🎨Downtown Gardens Art Festival

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Weekly Scoop

🏗️ New apartments coming to Gardens
Arbor House, a new 302 unit luxury apartment building, is set to rise in Palm Beach Gardens. The 13 story tower will feature a mix of one, two, and three bedroom units, along with a 7,000 square foot amenity space that includes a fitness and wellness center, cold plunge, golf simulator and more. Ten percent of the units will be designated as workforce housing. The tower is set to rise at 11200 RCA Center Drive, Palm Beach Gardens.

🕺 Banko Cantina says goodbye
Banko Cantina, the popular restaurant and nightclub, officially closed its doors for good over the weekend. There’s no word yet on why, and the news seemed to come out of nowhere. Sadly, another one bites the dust in downtown West Palm.

🎶 West Palm’s Sunset Lounge is finally set to open
After years of renovations and legal battles, the Sunset Lounge in West Palm Beach is finally set to open its doors next week, with Grammy nominated saxophonist Boney James headlining the night. Tickets for the show have already sold out, but another performance is scheduled for December. You can find the details for that show here.

🧑‍💻 A new coworking center will be opening in Royal Palm
Office Evolution is opening a second location in the county, this time in Royal Palm Beach. The new coworking center will be similar to the one in West Palm Beach, featuring a cafe and lounge, 60 private offices, and several meeting rooms. It’s expected to open by mid 2026 at 11700 Okeechobee Blvd, Royal Palm Beach.

🍕 New pizza restaurant coming to Wellington
Rosie’s Pizza and Restaurant is set to open in January and will be a full service neighborhood pizzeria with both indoor and outdoor seating. It’s owned by the same team behind Mamma Mia’s on the Beach in Lake Worth, which was voted the best pizza in the county by the Palm Beach Post this year. You’ll find Rosie’s in the Courtyard Shops in Wellington, at 13860 Wellington Trace.

🚓 Lake Worth approves $500K safety program
The City of Lake Worth Beach has approved a $500,000 Park Ranger Program aimed at keeping local parks clean, safe, and family friendly. The decision comes after many residents voiced concerns about feeling unsafe in certain areas near Bryant Park.

This Week’s Local Gem

Norton Museum: Art After Dark

📍Norton Museum, 1450 S Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
🎟️ Free - $10
🕒 Every Friday from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM

If you’ve ever driven down Dixie on a Friday night and noticed the glow coming from the Norton, that’s Art After Dark, one of my favorite weekly traditions in West Palm Beach. Every Friday from 5 to 10 PM, the museum turns into a lively mix of art, music, and community.

What started as a simple after hours idea has grown into a lovely Friday tradition for many locals. You’ll find live performances from music to dance, artists leading hands on workshops, and docent led gallery tours. Each week is completely different, it could be anything from a live opera performance one night to a Tai Chi class the next, so no two Fridays ever feel the same.

I love that it’s as welcoming as it is creative. You can attend one of the Open Studio art workshops, wander the galleries, or gather under the stars for Jazz Fridays on the first Friday of every month (my favorite). It’s honestly a lovely way to wrap up the work week. There is also a restaurant that stays open for dinner and cocktails, which is perfect if you want to make it a full night out.

One of the current exhibitions, Art and Life in Rembrandt’s Time, is a landmark exhibition featuring more than 75 works from The Leiden Collection. It is the largest exhibition of privately held 17th Century Dutch paintings ever organized in the country. 

It’s mindblowing to see the masterful use of chiaroscuro up close, which is a technique that plays with strong contrasts between light and dark to create a sense of depth and drama. You definitely have to check it out. 

Admission is just $10 for adults ($5 for students), and members or kids under 12 get in free. Parking is available across the street, though it can sometimes be difficult to find a spot. Rates are $3 per hour with a three hour maximum, unless you’re a member, in which case parking is free.

If you’re ever looking for a Friday night escape, I highly recommend stopping by the Norton for Art After Dark. There’s always something new to see, hear, or create!

Beyond The Palm Beaches

Dry Tortugas National Park

📍Dry Tortugas National Park
🎟️ $15 park entrance fee to $200+ if taking the ferry or seaplane

About 70 miles west of Key West, you’ll find one of America’s most remote treasures and one of my favorite national parks, Dry Tortugas National Park. 

It’s a cluster of seven tiny islands adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, crowned by the massive brick walls of Fort Jefferson, a 19th-century fortress that once guarded the Florida Straits.

Fort Jefferson is composed of more than 16 million bricks, making it the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere. You can walk around the grassy rooftop of the fort, peek through cannon ports, and see where soldiers once endured hurricanes and watched the horizon for passing ships. The fort never saw battle, but served as a Union prison during the Civil War and even housing Dr. Samuel Mudd, the physician linked to Lincoln’s assassination.

Beyond the fort’s red walls lies a world of color. Most of the national park is actually underwater, so you’ll have to go below the surface to see the true beauty of the park. You’ll find coral reefs teeming with parrotfish, angelfish, and sea turtles gliding through crystal clear shallows. I had the chance to snorkel around the island, and it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever explored under water.

Dry Tortugas is also a bird lover's paradise. Each spring, Bush Key fills with the cries of sooty terns and brown noddies nesting by the thousands. Overhead, you’ll see frigatebirds circling with their seven foot wingspans, this is the only place in the continental U.S. where they breed.

Getting there is half the adventure. Most visitors take the Yankee Freedom III ferry from Key West, which is about a two hour ride across open water. Or you can splurge on a seaplane that lands beside the fort, and get there in like 40 minutes. Either way, once you arrive, it feels like stepping into a different world, no cell service, no cars, no noise, just the ocean breeze and pure nature.

If you’re lucky enough to camp overnight, watch the sunset from the fort’s rooftop. The sky fades pink, the sea glows gold, and when darkness settles, the stars seem close enough to touch. 

If you’re planning to visit Key West anytime soon, I highly recommend taking a day to visit this beautiful park. You definitely won’t regret it!

Thanks!
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