North of Garfield Avenue, Park Avenue has new dark-sky streetlights with hanging baskets, more live oaks and repaired sidewalks, all completed this fall. South of Garfield, the blocks along Central Park look the way they did last year. Those older blocks are where Winter Park holds most of its holiday season: the Autumn Art Festival, the tree lighting and the pancake breakfast before the Christmas Parade. In January they become the next construction zone.
The city held a ceremony on October 13 at the corner of Garfield and Park avenues to mark the end of Phase 1 of the Park Avenue Refresh. The city's media alert gave the next date plainly: Phase 2, from Garfield to New England avenues, is expected to begin in January 2027. So these next two months are the last holiday season on the Central Park blocks before they are rebuilt. The finished north end also shows what those blocks are likely to look like afterward.
Webster to Garfield, Finished
Phase 1 covered Park Avenue from Webster Avenue to Garfield Avenue. It was paid for with $2.5 million from the Community Redevelopment Agency, approved on August 27, 2025. Work officially began on January 20, 2026. That puts about nine months between the first barricade and the October ceremony. This is the north end of the avenue, closer to the University Club of Winter Park and the city golf course, and it passes the Morse Museum and St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church and school.
Here is what the city lists as installed on those blocks, from its Park Avenue Refresh project page and the October alert:
- Lighting: new dark-sky streetlights with integrated smart hubs, banner arms and hanging baskets
- Shade and planting: seasonal landscaping and additional live oaks, plus decorative planter pots
- Walking surface: repaired sidewalks, curbs and raised planter boxes
- Intersections: pedestrian, guest and vehicle safety treatments built to ADA standards, with safety bollards
- Below ground: new conduit for electrical, low-voltage, fiber and irrigation lines
- Street furniture: new trash and recycling receptacles
The underground work is easy to overlook, but it explains the rest of the list. The new streetlights, banner arms and irrigated plantings all depend on the conduit now running beneath the sidewalk. When WFTV covered the completion on October 14, it described the work as sidewalk, streetlight and safety improvements.
The easiest way to see the finished stretch after dark is on a Friday. The Morse Museum sits within Phase 1 and offers free admission on Friday nights from 4 to 8 p.m., November through April. If you leave the museum at closing in mid-November, it will be fully dark under the new lights.
Where the Holidays Actually Happen
Most of the season's big public events take place south of Garfield, in Central Park, on the blocks scheduled for Phase 2. Here is the calendar as published by the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, the city and the venues themselves:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, Nov. 6, 10 a.m. | 16th annual Veterans Day Celebration; veteran resource tables open at 9:30 a.m. | Ruby Ball Amphitheater, 721 W. New England Ave. |
| Nov. 14–15 | Autumn Art Festival, free | Central Park along Park Avenue |
| Nov. 20 through Dec. 20 | A Christmas Survival Guide; previews Nov. 19 and 20 | Winter Park Playhouse, 711 N. Orange Ave. |
| Thursday, Dec. 3 | 48th annual Christmas in the Park, presented by the Morse Museum and the city | Central Park |
| Friday, Dec. 4 | Winter on the Avenue, free | Central Park along Park Avenue |
| Saturday, Dec. 5 | Leadership Winter Park Pancake Breakfast | Central Park |
| Saturday, Dec. 5, 9 to 10:30 a.m. | 74th Christmas Parade | Downtown Winter Park |
The Veterans Day Celebration on November 6 is the day after this post publishes. It is the city's own event, and the resource tables are open to the public before the 10 a.m. program, according to the city's announcement.
The Chamber describes the Autumn Art Festival as the only juried fine arts festival exclusively featuring Florida artists. It runs in Central Park with live music on the park stage, a children's art workshop, a beer garden and food vendors. Winter on the Avenue on December 4 includes the tree lighting, a Chanukah menorah lighting, strolling carolers, s'mores, snow slides, children's choirs, Popcorn Flicks in the park, and Santa and Mrs. Claus. The next morning, the Leadership Winter Park alumni and current class serve pancakes in Central Park as a fundraiser for leadership scholarships and education-focused nonprofits. Then the parade steps off. The Chamber calls it the oldest continuous holiday parade in Central Florida, with more than 80 participating organizations.
The Winter Park Playhouse holiday show is its first December in the renovated theater on Orange Avenue. The company says all of its 2026–27 performances take place there. WFTV reported a ribbon cutting and first public viewing in July.
January Moves the Work Next Door
Phase 2 is the stretch between Garfield and New England avenues, along Central Park. In February, the City Commission voted 5-0 to approve a $240,250 design contract with Stringfellow Planning & Design for this segment, Bungalower reported. The outlet also put the full three-phase project at $8.5 million. That makes Phase 1's $2.5 million a fraction of the total. The more complicated work is still ahead.
Bungalower explained why. These blocks are lined with restaurants and shops, and it named Prato, Tabla, Glass Knife and Lululemon among them. They also host major events such as the Sidewalk Art Festival, which the outlet identified as an issue construction would need to work around. Clarissa Howard, the city's communications director and project manager for the Refresh, told Bungalower that "Park Avenue is the city's crown jewel." In the same coverage, she said the team would communicate with merchants and keep pedestrian routes open to each business. She also noted that because Central Park sits on one side, the work would not affect shopping and dining along the west side of the avenue.
Bungalower also reported that the design lead expected only limited construction inside Central Park itself. The streetscape's design elements could carry into the park, possibly including benches or other seating. A June 10 update to the City Commission included the design team's proposals for this stretch: intersection bulb-outs, planter pots, bollards and wall caps. The largest segment listed handrails, about four new trees and about 38 new light poles. These were design proposals, and the finished street may differ. Still, 38 light poles on the Central Park side would bring the same kind of lighting now in place north of Garfield.
The city has not yet published a Phase 2 schedule for block closures, parking or lanes. Phase 1 is the best guide to how the work may unfold. On the north end, crews closed one to two blocks at a time. They started on the west side at Swoope Avenue, worked south to Garfield, and then came back north along the east side. Each work zone closed the right-of-way, the adjacent parking spaces and the single southbound lane, while sidewalks stayed open so people could keep reaching the shops and restaurants. The city added temporary parking on Morse Boulevard between New York and Virginia avenues. Phase 2 will need its own plan, since the Central Park blocks are busier and host more events than the north end did.
The overall order is set. Phase 2 is expected to start in January 2027, and Phase 3, from New England to Fairbanks avenues, is expected in 2028. The city's project page is the place to check for Phase 2 closures as the start date approaches.
The Refresh also changes the setting for the homes and storefronts around the avenue. Brian Teach has represented Winter Park homeowners for nearly three decades and follows projects like this one block by block. If you would like to talk through how Phase 2 might affect timing on a property near Park Avenue, Brian Teach is glad to help. Let's Connect.
