Snook Haven Reopening in Venice, FL: A New Riverside Park
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
Snook Haven reopens Friday, Nov. 6, with a public ribbon-cutting at 8:30 a.m. at 5000 E. Venice Ave. It has been closed since April 30, 2025. Sarasota County has said it hopes to open the park to the public later that same day. The ceremony is open to anyone, and the county will livestream it on Facebook, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
If your picture of Snook Haven is the old fish camp on the Myakka with the indoor dining room, the place you drive out to in November will look different. The county rebuilt the site as a park, and the kitchen is now one amenity among several. Knowing that changes how you plan a visit, especially in the first few weeks.
The shift was set when the Sarasota County Commission funded the makeover shortly before the old operation shut down on April 30. YourSun reported that Nicole Rissler, the county's director of Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources, told commissioners there would be no indoor dining going forward. The operation would shrink to a concession kitchen with a covered outdoor dining pavilion. In the same story, Justin Pachota of Venice Pier Group, which had run Snook Haven for about 12 years, described the county's vision as a park with a concession and other amenities. A restaurant that happens to sit in a park is not what the county had in mind.
The budget followed that thinking. When the design was 60% complete, the estimate sat between $9.5 million and $10 million. After "value engineering," the cap came down to $8.5 million, YourSun reported. The cuts included dropping a planned fireplace in the pavilion and deciding to renovate an existing cabin for storage. The Herald-Tribune gives $8.75 million as the original budget for this phase. Either way, most of the money went into the grounds: paths, a pier, a stage and a pavilion. The kitchen is one building in that plan.
The county's project page lists the work. Sweet Sparkman Architects designed it and Jon F Swift Construction built it. Funding came from impact fees, two rounds of the penny sales surtax and tourist development capital.
| Piece | What it is | What it changes about a visit |
|---|---|---|
| Concession building | ADA-compliant food service building with a kitchen | Order at a counter rather than sit down for table service |
| Covered pavilion | Accessible covered seating with a view of the river | Where you'll eat, outdoors and in the shade |
| Bandshell | Replacement ADA-compliant stage with an accessible patio and some amphitheater seating | Music has a real stage and a place to sit |
| Fishing pier | New pier with ADA-compliant parking nearby | A reason to come that has nothing to do with lunch |
| Outfitter cabin | A former cabin converted for canoe and kayak rentals and souvenirs | Launch onto the Myakka from the same visit |
| Walkways | Accessible paths tying the site to the boat ramp and the canoe/kayak launch | The whole riverfront is easier to get around |
Photos the Herald-Tribune took on Aug. 3 show the paved, lighted path to the kayak launch, the new fishing pier next to the outfitter building, and the covered pavilion attached to the concession building. The new structures were also built farther back from the Myakka than the old ones.
This is where the park-first design shows up on the calendar. In its Sept. 30 update, the county said all exterior site work was finished, pending final permit closeout. Building inspections for the bandshell and storage building were set for early October. The kitchen was still waiting on equipment. The team was coordinating delivery and installation, and final inspections could only happen once everything was in place.
The Herald-Tribune's Oct. 13 coverage said the concession area's opening is still subject to final certification. So the pier, paths and pavilion could be open on Nov. 6 before the food is.
The operator is expected but not yet locked in. The Herald-Tribune named SSA Group as the likely food vendor. SSA is a Denver-based company that runs food concessions at attractions nationwide, including The Florida Aquarium in Tampa, the Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens and Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens. A county spokeswoman told the paper the concession agreement was in its final administrative stages.
The menu plans give a good sense of what's coming. The concession building was designed with room for a smoker, so the operator can serve barbecue. Sam Burr, SSA's vice president for the Southeast Region, told the Herald-Tribune that barbecue options will be on the menu, along with a fresh catch of the day, fish and chips, and gator bites. "We know how important Snook Haven is to the community," Burr said, and he added that the menu will "respond to what the public wants and what the public gives feedback on." That means the menu you see in November may not be the one you see in spring.
Live music has always been part of what made Snook Haven Snook Haven, and it's the first regular event on the new calendar. The Herald-Tribune reports the Gulf Coast Banjo Society is scheduled to start playing there again on Thursday, Nov. 12. The stage has a link to the group. YourSun reported that a founding member of the Gulf Coast Banjo Society partially funded the new bandshell, which will have some amphitheater seating.
Regular hours and a full music schedule haven't been published yet. Neither has a start date for kayak rentals at the outfitter cabin. The county's facility listing says river boat tours have been offered seasonally in the past. Check with the county before you plan a trip around a boat tour this season.
If the kitchen isn't serving on your first visit, the pier, the lighted path to the launch and a shaded seat in the pavilion are all there. That's the design working as the county planned it.
This rebuild covers the old core of the property. The Herald-Tribune describes Snook Haven as the centerpiece of a planned 45-acre regional park, with expanded river access and new opportunities for camping and ecotourism. The county still calls the site by its history, a fish camp on the Myakka River. The new pier, outfitter cabin and launch paths are the first pieces of a riverfront meant to hold more than a dining room ever could.
For anyone in Capri Isles, the drive is East Venice Avenue all the way out to the river. Another county project is coming closer to home on that road. The Pinebrook Road and East Venice Avenue project will add signalized turn lanes at Pinebrook and East Venice and improve the Pinebrook and Ridgewood intersection. Design wrapped in spring 2026. Voluntary easement and right-of-way acquisition is expected to begin this fall, and construction dates are still listed as to be determined. If you also follow the trail and creek work at Woodmere Park, our post on the Alligator Creek restoration covers another county project that is reshaping a favorite outdoor spot.
I've lived in this community for more than 25 years, and Snook Haven coming back is the kind of news I love passing along to neighbors. If you head out for the ribbon-cutting or the banjo night on Nov. 12, I'd love to hear how it compares to the Snook Haven you remember. And if you're thinking about what's next for your own corner of East Venice Avenue, Julie Willett is always glad to talk it through. Let's find your Venice home.
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