The GreenMarket's last Saturday of the season
Palm Beach heads into a quieter late-May weekend, with several useful nearby options, one strong on-island culture stop, and two town decisions moving in the background.
If you're going to make one trip off the island this weekend, make it this one. The West Palm Beach GreenMarket holds its final market of the season this Saturday, May 30, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Waterfront Commons downtown. It's a quick bridge trip from Palm Beach, and the city is pitching it as a chance to stock up for summer: fresh produce, baked goods, coffees and teas, flowers, specialty foods, and local finds, with live music and family activities along the water. After Saturday, the market goes dark until it returns October 3, so this is the last call until fall. Details are on the city's event page. (One note on timing: another listing puts the hours at 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but the city's own time is the one to trust.) To be clear, this is in West Palm Beach, not on-island, but it's close enough to fold into a Saturday morning.
Flagler Museum, the on-island anchor
For something you can do without leaving the island, Whitehall is open all weekend. The Flagler Museum runs Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., closed Mondays. Admission is $28 for adults and $14 for children ages 6 to 12; kids 5 and under are free, and so are members. A visit covers the first and second floors of the mansion, the grounds, and the Flagler Kenan Pavilion. If you like a little structure, docent-led tours of the first floor run Tuesday through Saturday at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 2 p.m., and Sundays at 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. One thing to note before you go: the "May I Help You, Madame?" exhibition closed May 24, so this weekend is the house and grounds rather than a special show.
A second culture option across the bridge
If the weekend calls for something with a little more occasion to it, the Kravis Center Dream Awards land Sunday night. The show starts at 7 p.m. in the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Concert Hall and celebrates standout high school musical theater, ending with a showcase performance. Two of those students go on to be nominated for the Jimmy Awards in New York. Tickets start at $17.25, and the Kravis Center is at 701 Okeechobee Blvd. in West Palm Beach. Like the GreenMarket, this one's on the mainland, not the island.
For a bigger night out, the Dave Matthews Band is playing a two-night run at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre on Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30, at 601-7 Sansburys Way, well west of downtown. Set times weren't confirmed on the venue listing, so check your ticket before heading out.
Two town decisions to catch up on
The weekend may be light, but Town Hall has been busy. If you own a home here or work with a contractor, the bigger one for you is the building-permit overhaul. The town held an informational meeting Thursday, May 28, in the second-floor Council Chambers, where staff walked through a new way of calculating building permit fees. The change is tied to HB 803, a state law that bars municipalities from using estimated construction value to set those fees. The Palm Beach Daily News reported on May 22 that town officials were already revamping the fee system ahead of the law. If you have a project in the pipeline, this is the change to ask your contractor about.
The other is the Mid-Town Beach seawall. The town's selection committee spent Thursday, May 28, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. interviewing the top five firms competing to replace the century-old structure: Murray Logan, Kiewit Construction, GLF Construction, Michels Construction, and Superior Construction. Those interviews ran at the Public Works Meeting Room at 951 Okeechobee Road in West Palm Beach, per the town calendar. No firm has been picked yet. The Palm Beach Civic Association reported on May 8 that the town expects construction to start as early as January 2027 and run up to two years. We'll flag the selection once it's official.
One more for a slow weekend
If you'd rather stay outside, the Society of the Four Arts gardens are open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., weather permitting, at no charge. The programming calendar is in its off-season lull — the next dated event on the events page is "The Correspondent" on June 10 — so think of this as a walk through the gardens rather than a full campus day. The Sculpture Garden is open while improvements are underway, so watch your step.
That's the shape of the weekend: quiet on the island, more across the bridge, and a couple of town decisions moving in the background. The GreenMarket's fall return on October 3 is a good marker for when the local calendar picks back up.