On a Saturday night earlier this month, Fuller Street filled up for live reggae and a poster unveiling. The King Mango Strut organizers used a block party there to show off the art and theme for the January 2027 parade, "The Weird Cup," a spoof of this summer's World Cup. Coconut Grove Spotlight reported that the poster is by Coconut Grove muralist David "DaveL" Lavernia, whose work also appears outside the CocoWalk restrooms.
The parade will go down Main Highway, as it always does. The kickoff party was held on Fuller Street. Over the past few years, Fuller has become the place the village goes when it needs a room, and that matters more now that the street has an approved redesign with a tentative construction start date.
A Short Block That Stopped Being A Road
Fuller Street is one short block running from Main Highway to Grand Avenue, next to Kirk Munroe Park. The narrow roadway was turned into a pedestrian street about five years ago, according to the Spotlight. Businesses along it, including Barracuda Taphouse & Grill, Grove Grocer, Chug's Diner, Chuggie's, Mae's Room and Drinking Pig BBQ, now spill out onto what used to be asphalt for cars.
A car-free block in the middle of the commercial core is the obvious place for anything that needs open ground. So when the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District planned its fall program, it put it there.
Halloween Week Fills The Whole Block
Coconut Grove Harvest runs Oct. 23 through Nov. 1 and is free, per the event listing on The Soul of Miami. The pumpkin patch on Fuller Street is scheduled for that whole stretch, from Friday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Nov. 1. CocoWalk adds a fall-themed photo spot from Oct. 30 through Nov. 1.
The main event is Saturday, Oct. 31, from 6 to 8 p.m., across Fuller Street and Downtown Coconut Grove:
- 6 p.m. Halloween storytelling at Books & Books Coconut Grove.
- 6 to 8 p.m. A live DJ on Fuller Street, trick-or-treating at participating local businesses, and the start of The Grove Stamp Scavenger Hunt.
- 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Fantasy Theatre Factory performs Little Monsters Tales on Fuller Street.
- 7:30 p.m. A costume contest closes out the night.
The DJ, the theater performance and the costume contest all happen on Fuller. The bookstore and the trick-or-treat stops pull people toward the surrounding blocks, but the evening keeps coming back to the same street.
The Stamp Card Is Designed To Run Past Halloween
The Grove Stamp Scavenger Hunt starts on Halloween and asks people to collect 10 Grove Stamps around Downtown Coconut Grove. Completed cards unlock perks from participating businesses, and those perks can be redeemed throughout November and December 2026. The event copy says plainly that it wants families to "return to the Grove after Halloween."
That gives a stamp card several new stops to send people to. The streets around Fuller have changed a lot since summer:
| Business | Location | What changed | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lokal | Commodore Plaza | Closed after nearly 15 years | June 28, 2026 |
| Manoli | 3540 Main Highway | Opened | July 22, 2026 |
| Miami Slice | 2996 McFarlane Road | Opened its Coconut Grove shop | Aug. 12, 2026 |
| Levain Bakery | 2979 McFarlane Road, near CocoWalk | Announced for fall, no opening date yet | Fall 2026 |
Lokal had been on Commodore Plaza since 2011. In her farewell in Miami New Times, writer Nicole Lopez-Alvar called it a place where neighbors ran into each other and dogs rested under the patio tables. At the other end of the core, McFarlane Road is getting two well-known names within a short walk of each other. Miami Slice is already open, and New Times expects Levain, the 30-year-old New York bakery, to open its first Florida location near CocoWalk this fall. Nobody has published a date for Levain yet, so stop by and check before planning a cookie run around it.
For more on Harvest and the stamp hunt, the event listing sends readers to coconutgrove.com and the Coconut Grove Harvest Eventbrite page.
The Redesign Is Built Around What Already Works
The Fuller Street block hosting this year's pumpkin patch is due for a $5 million makeover, paired with work on Kirk Munroe Park next door. The Miami City Commission approved the final designs in June, and the Coconut Grove BID gave its required approval in July. Allen Morris Company, which is building the Ziggurat mixed-use project on Grand Avenue, is leading the design and will manage construction. The company is putting in $2 million, the city $3 million, and Allen Morris covers any cost overruns.
Under the plan, the old roadway will be raised to sidewalk level, and the asphalt will be replaced with porphyry stone pavers. Trees in poor condition will be replaced with others, including a specimen chestnut, a rainbow eucalyptus and several mahoganies in planters. A suspended "silva cell" pavement system will give tree roots room to grow under the walkway. At a May community meeting, the Spotlight reported that designer Arcila summed up the brief like this:
"What we've been told is Fuller Street is great, it functions, don't overdo it. So, we tried to simplify the plan."
The schedule has moved. In December 2025, New Times reported that Fuller construction would start in summer 2026. By May 2026, an Allen Morris representative said the company was tentatively planning to break ground in summer 2027. Miami Today repeated that "next summer" estimate in August. No completion date has been published for the street work. Under the current timeline, this year's Harvest, Halloween night and the full November and December run of the stamp card all happen on Fuller Street as it is today.
Public Seating Is Part Of The Design
At the May session, attendees asked for public seating separate from the business-sponsored tables, plus a community bulletin board for meeting and event notices. The design team welcomed both ideas and credited residents with reshaping the first design, which was presented in April 2025. City officials have said outdoor seating will remain a key part of Fuller Street after the redesign, and city rules require permitted café seating in the public right of way to stay open to the general public.
Those requests describe how the block is already used. A pumpkin patch, a children's theater show, a costume contest and a parade poster party all need open ground, and so does anyone using the street as a meeting point between Main Highway and Grand Avenue. The new pavers and trees will set the street's look, and the public benches and bulletin board will help decide how it keeps working as a gathering place.
The King Mango Strut comes down Main Highway just after New Year's, a few steps from where its poster was unveiled. The stamp card's November and December perks run up to that date.
If you own near the village center and want to see how the Fuller Street redesign might affect your home's value, The Brescia Group can walk you through it. Get Your Instant Home Valuation.
