Drive down North Road on a Saturday morning in August and Swank Specialty Produce looks closed. The pole barn sits empty. The gravel lot that fills with pickup trucks and produce bags from October through May is bare. If you didn't know better, you'd assume the farm packed it in for the summer.
It didn't. The market did.
That distinction matters more than it sounds, because it points to something true about the rest of the town: Loxahatchee Groves runs on two separate calendars, not one. A handful of the places locals mention most, the farmers market, the after-dark tours at the big cat sanctuary, the ten-course farm dinners, only operate during the stretch of the year when Wellington's horse show circuit fills the area with visitors. A second group of businesses never signed up for that calendar at all, and they're the ones worth knowing about between now and October.
The Farm Doesn't Close, the Market Does
Swank Specialty Produce grows more than 350 varieties of pesticide-free vegetables, edible flowers, and microgreens under hydroponic shade houses on its 20-acre property at 14311 North Road. That growing operation runs year round, supplying restaurants across South Florida whether or not the public is watching. What goes dark for the summer is the public-facing side: the Saturday farmers market, now in its fifth year, and the Swank Table dinner series, which just wrapped its 17th season this past April.
The 2025-26 dinner slate gives a sense of what the fall lineup tends to look like. Ten themed evenings ran from a "Dinner at the Speakeasy" in January through a "Hot Pink Tomato" Italian feast, a "Full Moon Hoe Down," a "South African Braai," a "Throwback to the '70s" night, and finally the 15th annual White Party in April, all staged under the farm's pole barn with a different visiting chef lineup each time. When the market and the dinner series return this October, they'll run on the same Saturday-through-May window they always have.
The gap in between isn't neglect. It's the farm doing the part of its work that doesn't need an audience.
Twilight Hours Keep a Different Schedule Than the Cats Do
Panther Ridge Conservation Center, tucked on D Road, is home to 26 big cats representing 10 species. Guided tours run by appointment year round, which means August is actually a reasonable time to book one without competing for a slot against the crowds that show up in January. What's paused right now is Twilight Hours, the center's after-dark program where visitors stroll the grounds as the cats become active in the evening, get greeted by the resident cheetahs, and stop by the bar for food and drinks included in the ticket. That series runs on select Saturdays from October through March.
Same organization, same address, two different clocks. The daytime tour never stopped. The evening event is the one waiting for cooler weather and a fuller town.
Two Businesses That Never Signed Up for the Season
Not everything here bends to the equestrian calendar. Buena Vista Farms & Brewery, a recently opened craft brewery and event barn on Okeechobee Boulevard, runs a full menu year round, brisket and picanha alongside a rotating beer list that includes a flagship called Station 21, named for the fire station directly across the street. It's worth mentioning that Okeechobee Boulevard itself is mid-transition: the Town Council has begun the process of restoring the road's original name, Middle Road, so don't be surprised if the brewery's address looks different in a year or two.
Big Dog Ranch Rescue expanded its campus in January with the grand opening of an 18,000-square-foot Patriot Pet Lodge, unveiled with board members and longtime supporters Ken and Elaine Langone, built around the rescue's veteran-focused programs. Adoption events and volunteer shifts there don't pause for summer any more than the dogs do.
Here's how the two calendars line up right now:
| Place | What it offers | Status in August | When the seasonal piece returns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swank Specialty Produce | Saturday farmers market, Swank Table dinners | Farm growing continues; market and dinners paused | Market and dinner series restart in October |
| Panther Ridge Conservation Center | Daytime guided tours, Twilight Hours evenings | Daytime tours open by appointment | Twilight Hours returns in October |
| Buena Vista Farms & Brewery | Craft beer, food menu, event barn | Open year round | Not seasonal |
| Big Dog Ranch Rescue | Adoption events, volunteer programs | Open year round | Not seasonal |
Why the Calendars Line Up the Way They Do
None of this is a coincidence of scheduling. Loxahatchee Groves sits close enough to Wellington's show grounds that at least one local equestrian facility markets itself as roughly six miles from Wellington International, White Fences, and the Ridge. When the winter show season fills those grounds with riders, trainers, and their families, the population passing through the western part of the county swells, and the businesses built around entertaining that crowd, the farm dinners, the market, the after-dark cat tours, schedule themselves to meet it.
The businesses that stayed open through August were never built around that seasonal traffic in the first place. A brewery serving a local crowd, a rescue running adoption events, a riding barn teaching kids to post a trot, these operate on a calendar set by residents, not visitors.
That's worth remembering if you've lived here through a few of these cycles and started to think of summer as the season when nothing happens. Riding lesson barns in the area, including ones locals mention for weekly classes and horse camp, keep running straight through July and August. Loxahatchee Groves Park on Southern Boulevard keeps its trails and picnic grounds open regardless of what month it is. The rhythm doesn't stop. It just gets quieter, and for anyone who wants a tour at Panther Ridge without a crowd or a table at Buena Vista Farms without a wait, quieter is the point.
A Town Old Enough to Have Its Own Rhythm
The Town of Loxahatchee Groves is marking 20 years as an incorporated municipality this year, a milestone the town itself is celebrating. That two-decade run predates most of the polish that's arrived in the surrounding area over the past several show seasons. The agricultural character that shows up in the farm's growing houses, the sanctuary's rescued cats, and the working stables scattered along the lettered roads isn't a theme layered on top of the town. It's closer to the town's original operating system, with a seasonal tourism economy built on top of it more recently.
Understanding which is which makes the place easier to use well. If you're planning around the farm dinners or the after-dark cat tours, October through April is your window. If you just want to eat, ride, or volunteer without checking a calendar first, that's available now.
If you've been thinking about what a longer-term move in this part of Palm Beach County might look like, or just want a conversation with someone who tracks the Groves closely, Marcus Singletary is a reasonable person to ask. Let's Connect.
