Tim Aten Knows: Celebration Park celebrates major refresh 

Q: Do you know if Celebration Park on Bayshore is going through a change? It hasn’t been open much (if at all) lately. We drive by there a lot and, while their summer hours have often seemed sporadic, I can’t remember the last time I saw it open. And then the other day there was a big dump truck in its parking lot and it looked like they were dismantling it. Anyway, if you know anything I’d love to read about it! – Julie Agnew, Naples 

A: Celebration Park relaunched Oct. 17 after closing for more than six weeks for a $1 million makeover. 

While it has been customary for the casual, open-air destination to temporarily close during September, this year was something entirely different. Owner Rebecca Maddox, the local entrepreneur who also owns Rebecca’s and The Maddox directly across Bayshore Drive in East Naples, decided that her waterfront spot on Haldeman Creek needed a refresh seven years after its November 2018 launch. 

“It was not our typical seasonal hiatus,” Maddox said. “I decided the park was looking tired and worn, so I updated the bathrooms, sound system, lighting, stage, new more comfortable furniture, all new bar equipment, all new railings, landscaping and a whole bunch of other things.” 

Although Celebration Park has been known as a food truck park since its inception, Maddox wants to distance the destination from that perception. The re-envisioned business has half as many food trucks now. 

“I do not want to be a food truck park anymore, even though we do have four trucks,” Maddox said. “So, you’re not going to walk in and see eight trucks. My hope is that people begin to experience Celebration Park as a gathering place for sunsets and dancing. We’ve got all kinds of furniture now down on the water with a lot more emphasis on the water and sunsets and dancing.  

“It’s just going to take on a different flavor than just a food truck park. The bar menu is completely changed and updated. We are going to focus a lot more on events and catering parties. But, for me, it will be the premier place to have a cocktail, watch the sunset, listen to some good music and dance.”  

The remaining food trucks are parked near the venue’s entrance off Becca Avenue, but the space between the trucks and the waterfront bar is open with a new stage area for live music, more seating and an open area for dancing and socializing. 

“We moved the stage from off the water to kind of in the center of the park,” Maddox said. “We brought in some people from New York who have done all the sound system work, so all of that is just going to be a whole bunch better.” 

Celebration Park even sports a bright new logo. “I think it’s much more contemporary and the primary difference is there is no food truck on or in the logo,” Maddox said.  

The new stylized logo features four forest green leaves fanning from a bright orange star cross that seems to indicate that “you are here,” a destination at the center of it all. The bright orange color theme also pops on modern Adirondack-type resin chairs and patio umbrellas over high-tops and picnic tables near the center of Celebration Park. 

“It’s not completely done, as you might expect, but people will definitely see and experience a different feel in Celebration Park,” Maddox said. “We will have a grand opening probably early November after the final touches are completed.” 

The park’s chef-driven food trucks feature: 

• Authentic Greek with favorites such as gyros, spinach pie, souvlaki, salads and baklava;  

• Gigi’s Chicken Coop with chicken tenders, wings, wraps, ribs and mac and cheese;  

• GoGo Gourmet with Wagyu Philly cheesesteaks, New Zealand lamb chops, grilled cheese sandwiches and hot dogs; 

• OCN Seafood Co. with grouper bites and sandwiches, lobster rolls and seafood baskets and bowls; and  

• Rick’s Taco Cartel with tacos, quesadillas, nachos and Mexican street corn. 

The full bar overlooking the water on the western end of the property includes craft cocktails such as margaritas, mojitos, espresso martinis and mocktails, as well as specialties that feature a Banana Colada with rum, banana, coconut and lime; Maple Mai Tai with rum, curacao, lime, almond and maple; Cucumber Mule with cucumber vodka, mint, lime and ginger beer; and The Last Straw with tequila blanco, strawberry, lime and ginger. 

Maddox feels as if her Rebecca’s public venue and The Maddox private club continue the transformative progress being made in the heart of the Bayshore Arts District, but Celebration Park needed to keep pace. 

“The progress that’s happening on Bayshore encouraged me to spend a million bucks to redo the park. It just needed a total refresh,” she said. “We had thousands, tens of thousands, 50,000 people a month go through there. I don’t care what it looked like. It was tired and worn and, had I not been involved in Rebecca’s and The Maddox, I probably am a year behind the curve. I should have done it two years ago instead of this year. But, I don’t want people to come and go, ‘Aw, this is tired and worn and that’s Bayshore.’ I want people to come and say, ‘Wow! They redid this. This is fantastic. Bayshore is a happening place.’ Bayshore is on a roll. It won’t stop.” 

One thing she still wants to do is to erect a flagpole with an American flag and have “Taps” played every night as the flag is lowered, for a patriotic experience. 

“I’m not 100% done yet, but enough that people will see the difference,” she said. “I just want to turn it into something else. By the first of November, we’re going to have a midway that will look a little bit different.”  

The Tim Aten Knows weekly column answers local questions from readers. Email Tim at Tim.Aten@NaplesPress.com.