The City of Celina's 2026 Friday Night Market calendar has nine dates, starting March 6. Tomorrow night, Friday, November 6, is the last one. The next big night on the square is Christmas on the Square on Wednesday, December 2. That leaves 26 days with nothing on the city calendar downtown.
A year ago, a gap like that would have meant a quieter square. This November it doesn't. Since July, downtown Celina has added a burger restaurant, a real coffee bar inside a bakery that used to offer self-serve coffee, and a coffee shop a few blocks off the square at Preston and Ash. A neighborhood bar also passed its first anniversary. These businesses carry downtown between the city's two big events, and the buildings that would add the next round of restaurants have deadlines that run to 2030.
Friday Night Is the Season Finale
The final market runs 6 to 9 p.m. Friday in Downtown Celina, with 141 N. Ohio St. as the listed address. SBG Hospitality is the host on the event listing. The fall season was just three dates: September 4, October 9 and November 6.
The City's Friday Night Market page describes a free event with more than 60 vendors selling homemade, handmade and homegrown goods. That includes seasonal produce, pastries, fresh eggs and free-range meats, plus a different local musician each month. The City's description also says downtown restaurants serve ready-to-eat meals alongside the food trucks. So the market has always relied on the restaurants around the square, and that list has grown since spring.
The same page tells the history of "Saturdays on the Square" drawings from the 1940s and 1950s. Local businesses donated prizes and families stayed downtown all day waiting for the drawing. The idea then was the same as now. Events bring people downtown, and the businesses give them a reason to stay.
The Square's Newer Regulars
Here's what has opened or changed downtown and nearby since the last holiday season, in order of when it happened.
| Spot | Address | What changed | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granny's Bakery | 401 W. Pecan St. | Added a full coffee bar | July 27, 2026 |
| 1418 Coffee | 565 S. Preston Road | Soft opening near downtown | July 28, 2026 |
| LSA Burger Co. | 218 W. Walnut St. | Opened its third location | Aug. 13, 2026 |
| Nowhere Bar | 501 W. Walnut St. | Passed its first anniversary | September 2026 |
Granny's Bakery replaced its self-serve coffee with a coffee bar, owner Mikala Everson told Community Impact. The flavors are based on the bakery's own pastries: banana bread, birthday cake, cinnamon roll and cookie butter are on the permanent menu. You can order drinks hot, cold or "frosted," which is Everson's version of a frozen coffee. "I just wanted to do something that was fun," she told the outlet.
1418 Coffee sits just off the square at the corner of Preston Road and Ash Street. Co-owner David Bryant described the plan to Community Impact back in January. The shop soft-opened July 28. It serves handcrafted drinks, house-made cold brew and pastries from the chain's off-site bakery in Prosper. The Greater Celina Chamber held its ribbon cutting there on October 27. The same company also runs Ramble Coffee House at 2287 N. Preston Road, which opened June 27. That's a separate shop on the north side of town.
LSA Burger Co. opened on Walnut on August 13. It's the company's third restaurant, after the original in Denton and a 2022 location at Grandscape in The Colony. The menu names burgers after Texas music legends. The Waylon is a classic burger with mayo and mustard, and the Chili Willie comes topped with Fritos and Texas chili.
Nowhere Bar, a few blocks down Walnut, turned one in September and serves burgers, wings and drinks, according to Community Impact.
Taken together, downtown now covers morning coffee on Pecan and near Preston, lunch on Walnut and evenings at Nowhere Bar, every week.
Priism Golf Studio is also planned for November in the same center as 1418 Coffee, at 565 S. Preston Road, Ste. 130. It would offer two Trackman simulator bays with 24-hour member access, but Community Impact reports that the opening depends on construction.
Then Comes One Busy Week in December
When the calendar picks up again, the two biggest dates fall within four days of each other.
- Wednesday, December 2: Christmas on the Square, 5 to 9 p.m. on the Downtown Square, per the City of Celina calendar.
- Saturday, December 5: Celina Gift Tour, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Downtown Celina, run by the Greater Celina Chamber.
Use the City calendar for the Christmas on the Square date. The City's seasonal "Countdown to Christmas" page still shows last year's schedule.
The Gift Tour is where the downtown businesses take center stage. Tickets are $65 and went on sale November 2. Each ticket includes a shopping tote and a map. You walk to participating downtown Gift Stops to pick up gifts, with photo spots and other seasonal extras along the way. The Chamber hasn't published the list of stops. Its event page does list Apricot Lane Boutique, Honeysuckle Rose, Nowhere Bar and Toasted Walnut Table and Market among its in-kind sponsors.
So the holiday week depends on the same group of businesses that keep downtown going the rest of November. The event gives them a big Saturday, and they already have the other days covered.
The Last Empty Corners Are on a Longer Timeline
The next restaurants planned for the square won't be open this holiday season. On September 9, the City approved an economic development agreement with Celina Real Estate, LLC covering two properties.
- 102 N. Ohio St., at the corner of Ohio and Walnut, is planned as a new two-story building of about 12,400 square feet. Its historic-style front is modeled on the gas station that used to stand there. Plans call for about 7,200 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 5,200 square feet of office space.
- The Mayer Building at 313 W. Pecan St. would be renovated to hold at least 5,000 square feet of restaurant space.
The City's announcement calls these "some of the last remaining underutilized buildings around the Square." The deadlines are long. Construction on the Mayer Building has to start by January 1, 2028, and finish by June 1, 2029. At 102 N. Ohio, work has to start by October 1, 2028, and finish by March 1, 2030. Those are the latest dates the agreement allows, not a construction schedule. The incentives total up to $2.3 million, paid only after the developer builds and verifies its investment, and the money comes through Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone No. 11.
"Downtown is the heart and soul of Celina, and maintaining its vitality as our community grows remains one of our highest priorities," Mayor Ryan Tubbs said in the City's announcement.
So this November, the square's recent additions are a coffee bar on Pecan, a burger restaurant on Walnut and a coffee shop at Preston and Ash. The gas station corner and the Mayer Building have construction deadlines in 2028. The market on Friday, November 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. is the last one this year, and Christmas on the Square starts at 5 p.m. on December 2.
If you live near the square and want to know what the Ohio and Walnut project and the Mayer Building renovation could mean for your block over the next few years, Alex Maloney follows downtown Celina closely and is happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.
