Two things are true about Davie in August and September 2026. On one Saturday you can eat a three-course prix-fixe dinner at a Town-endorsed restaurant, and two weekends later you can watch bareback riders in the same square mile. Very few South Florida municipalities run both a dining program and a professional rodeo out of the same downtown. Davie does, and it is worth building a weekend around.
Most roundups of the area default to a list of chain restaurants near the 595. The actual texture of a late-summer weekend here is more specific than that, and it clusters tightly along the Griffin Road, Orange Drive, and South University corridor rather than pulling residents toward the coast.
The September 12 date worth circling
The Weekley Brothers Davie Pro Rodeo runs a limited calendar out of the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds at 4201 SW 65th Way, and the next performance after the summer lull is scheduled for September 12th, 2026 at 7:30pm. It is one of only a handful of nights this year, with the next after that not until the RAM Southeast Circuit Finals in November.
The venue itself is not a novelty booking. For more than 40 years, the Davie Arena at the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds, located in the historical western theme downtown district, has served as Davie's main tourist attraction, an indoor and outdoor facility that has become one of the up-and-coming multi-cultural locales in South Florida. The programming reflects that range. Originally the center was established as a rodeo arena, but as the need for a more versatile activity increased, the arena expanded to meet the demands for such diverse events as top name concert entertainers and family events that include horse shows, dog shows, car shows, air boat shows, specialty shows and industrial shows.
For residents planning further out, the November dates matter more than the marquee suggests. The RAM Southeast Circuit Finals Rodeo brought to you by Air Pros, and produced by the Weekley Brothers Davie Pro Rodeo is November 14th, 15th, and 16th, with contestants competing for over $250,000 in Money and Prizes. That is not a small purse for a regional rodeo, and it explains why the crowd skews national.
Why August dinner reservations are a different math this year
The Town of Davie has launched a formal dining promotion for the tail end of summer. Through this program, the Town will promote participating restaurants that feature a multi-course meal offered at a fixed price as part of Savor Davie from August 1 to September 30, 2026.
Two details are worth understanding before you book.
First, the format is defined, not suggestive. Participating restaurants must offer a three-course prix-fixe meal consisting of a first course, a second course, and a third course (dessert or an approved substitute such as a specialty non-alcoholic beverage, side, or chef-selected small plate).
Second, the pricing rules are stricter than the typical restaurant week you may know from Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Restaurants understand that the multi-course meal shall constitute the total price charged to customers, and shall not charge customers any additional fees, surcharges, or upcharges, though taxes, gratuity, and beverages may be charged separately. No stealth cover, no bread charge, no forced pairing. That is the mechanism worth knowing about, because it changes what "prix-fixe" means as a comparison shopper.
The stated goal, in the Town's own framing:
The goal of Savor Davie is to spotlight small business owners, family-owned enterprises, and branded eateries that make up our diverse community in Davie, recognizing our Town as the best place to live, work, learn, play and eat.
If you have been defaulting to the same three places on Nob Hill Road all year, this is the window to try the independents on South University and Griffin.
The new opening actually worth walking into
The most concrete new-business news in Davie this cycle is not another franchise. Golf Vault, a new golf simulator lounge from Chris Flores and Gil Martin, is targeting an end of June or July 1 opening at 4900 S. University Drive, Suite 205, and the locally owned concept will combine golf simulators, lounge seating, food and drinks, and event space in a roughly 4,000-square-foot second-floor location above Pinza 104.
Two things distinguish it from the national simulator chains that keep landing in West Broward strip centers. It is locally owned rather than franchised, and it is stacked above a working pizzeria, which turns a dinner-and-a-round evening into a single-address plan. For a rainy August evening in Davie, that is a useful piece of information to have.
The outdoor half of the weekend
Tree Tops Park at 3900 SW 100th Ave remains the anchor for anyone who wants a real morning outside before the heat lands. The specs that matter for a weekend visit, cross-referenced against event-planning listings for the park:
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total acreage | 243 acres |
| Trail network | 7 miles, connecting into Pine Island Ridge Natural Area |
| Boardwalk | 1,000 feet over restored freshwater marsh |
| Observation tower | 28 feet, at the end of the Live Oak Trail |
| Water | Fifteen acres of lakes, with paddle boat rentals at the marina |
Tree Tops Park's 243 acres boast an impressive array of scenic natural settings, and guests can explore three richly landscaped nature trails, ascend the 28-foot observation tower at the end of the Live Oak Trail, and continue on the 1,000-foot boardwalk that overlooks 23 acres of restored freshwater marsh. The park is also famous for its immense 7-mile network of trails that run through the connected Pine Island Ridge Natural Area.
The number that reframes the park is the trail mileage. Seven miles inside a municipal park in West Broward is not a common figure, and it is the reason Tree Tops functions as a legitimate horseback and hiking destination rather than a playground with a walking loop.
A Saturday-morning circuit that stays inside town limits
There is a plausible three-stop morning that does not require getting on the Turnpike.
Start at the Davie Farmers Market, which the Town runs on the grounds of the Old Davie School Historical Museum at 6650 Griffin Rd, for a morning of hometown family fun, where you can purchase fresh produce and food from local farms. The setting itself is the reason to go. The Old Davie School, built in 1918, is the oldest school building in Broward County and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The architect on record is August Geiger, and the school opened its doors in 1918 to 90 students and was in continuous use as a school until 1978. Very few Saturday markets in South Florida run on a National Register site.
From there, two adjacent stops make the loop feel like a proper morning rather than a single errand:
- Marando Farms and Ranch, a working farm-to-table market inside the town, with a petting zoo and pony rides for families.
- Flamingo Road Nursery's Butterfly Pavilion, which is a genuine butterfly garden rather than a garden center gimmick.
None of the three requires more than a fifteen-minute drive between stops, which is the practical difference between a Davie Saturday and a Saturday spent commuting to Yellow Green in Hollywood.
What the calendar actually says between now and Thanksgiving
Pulling the dated items together into one place, so you can plan around them rather than stumble into them:
- Now through September 30: Savor Davie prix-fixe menus at participating restaurants
- September 12: Weekley Brothers Davie Pro Rodeo, 7:30 p.m., Bergeron Rodeo Grounds
- November 13 through 15: RAM Southeast Circuit Finals, three performances at Bergeron
- Ongoing: Davie Farmers Market Saturdays at the Old Davie School
The through-line worth noticing is that Davie's public identity is being reinforced on a schedule this year rather than left to the general "cowboy town" branding. A dining program with a fixed window, a rodeo season with published dates, a new locally owned business opening on South University, and a historic downtown campus running weekly programming all point in the same direction. This is a town investing in its own weekend calendar.
For residents who moved here for the acreage and the pace and the western character rather than the beach, that is the point. The reasons to stay in town on a Saturday are getting more specific, not less.
If you own a home in Davie or Southwest Ranches and you're thinking about what your property is really worth in a market where the town itself keeps building this kind of infrastructure, Alex Fernandez is available to schedule a private consultation.
