Every Wednesday this season, a free tour of the restored Keith Farmhouse starts at 11 a.m., in the middle of the Phillippi Farmhouse Market's hours. That makes market morning the one regular time each week when you can see both of the county's projects on this property. One is finished and open to walk through. The other is still under way on the creek.
The Phillippi Farmhouse Market opened its season on Wednesday, October 7. Siesta Sand calls this its 16th year. Hours are the same as always: every Wednesday, October through April, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 5500 S. Tamiami Trail. By the time this post goes up, the market is three Wednesdays into the season. The next one is October 28.
Who runs the market now, and why the tours are on the schedule
For more than a decade the market belonged to Fred and Grace Whitehouse and the Friends of Sarasota County Parks. Over 13 years they grew it from 19 vendors to more than 50 a week. They retired in 2024, and Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources took the market over.
The market is still built around the same things: produce, flowers, prepared foods, baked goods, artisan goods, live music and food trucks. What the county's market page adds is the park itself. Every Wednesday there's a free docent-led tour of the Edson Keith Mansion at 10 a.m. and of the Keith Farmhouse at 11 a.m. The county runs the park and now the market too, so the buildings are part of the market morning.
That timing is handy. Stay for both tours and you're done by noon, which still leaves an hour before the stalls pack up.
The farmhouse tour is new to most market regulars
The farmhouse may be the stop people know least. For years it sat on the grounds as a building you walked past. The county finished restoring it in spring 2025 and held a ribbon-cutting in April 2025. Sarasota County's project page lists Hall Darling Design Studio as designer and Tandem Construction as contractor. The county's Phillippi Estate Park page says the work covered refinished floors, new electrical and plumbing, fire protection, security systems and accessibility improvements.
The money came from several places: North County park impact fees, Surtax 3, the Friends for Sarasota County Parks of Phillippi Estate Park and a State of Florida historical grant. In January 2026 the county announced that the restoration had won a 2026 Heritage Award for Historic Structure Adaptive Reuse and Organizational Achievement.
On a market morning, that award-winning restoration is a free walk-through, an hour after you've bought your tomatoes.
A Wednesday morning, hour by hour
The market's hours overlap three other schedules this fall:
- 7 a.m. The dredge crew on the lower creek is allowed to start. That work runs Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- 9 a.m. The market opens.
- 10 a.m. Docent tour of the Edson Keith Mansion.
- 11 a.m. Docent tour of the Keith Farmhouse.
- 1 p.m. The market closes. Out on the creek, the crew still has four hours of its workday left.
The dredge stays on that weekday schedule through the end of the year. That means every market Wednesday left in 2026 lands inside its working hours.
What's happening on the creek behind the market
Phillippi Creek is a 7.2-mile tidal creek that empties into Roberts Bay. The park covers 60 acres along its bank. Sediment has been building up in the creek for years. Sarasota County and the West Coast Inland Navigation District are clearing it in separate pieces, and the piece beside the park is the one still under way.
According to the county's Phillippi Creek Dredge project page, here's where each piece stands:
| Stretch of creek | Who's managing it | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|
| South Tuttle Avenue to South Beneva Road | Sarasota County | Complete |
| Creek mouth to about a quarter mile east of U.S. 41 | West Coast Inland Navigation District, with Sully's Marine dredging | Under way since May 2026, expected to run through the end of the year |
| U.S. 41 to South Beneva Road, including the Mineola Drive and River Ridge Drive oxbows | Sarasota County | Permit applications filed June 30, 2026, still under review |
The county's September 30 update said the navigation district's crew was working just north of U.S. 41. From there, Sully's Marine will keep moving south toward the mouth of the creek. The plan calls for a cut 30 feet wide and 4 feet deep at mean low water along the center of the navigation channel. That removes an estimated 8,000 cubic yards of sediment. The navigation district pays for it through County Navigation Improvement Funds.
That upstream stretch is much bigger than the one by the park. The county reports that the first phase, from Tuttle to Beneva, removed roughly 60,000 cubic yards of sediment. That sediment carried an estimated 40,000 pounds of nitrogen and more than 200,000 pounds of phosphorus. By comparison, the work beside the park is a smaller job in the stretch nearest the bay.
What the work means for a park visit
The park stayed open through the dredging. In May, WWSB reported that construction fencing had gone up at Phillippi Estate Park and that the park remained open. County officials asked visitors to keep away from construction areas because of extra construction traffic near the park entrance at Constitution Boulevard.
On a market morning, the entrance is where that matters. Shoppers' cars, vendor vans and food trucks all use it, and the dredge crew works the same hours. Give yourself a few extra minutes turning in from the Trail, and stay off any fenced-off ground near the water.
Paddlers should plan ahead. The county lists a canoe and kayak launch among the park's amenities. With a crew working on the stretch between U.S. 41 and the bay on weekdays, call Sarasota County Parks before you bring a kayak to the market and plan to head downstream.
For boaters, the lower channel cut runs through the part of the creek that boats use to come up from Roberts Bay. One of the places they come to is Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar, whose own site promotes its outdoor waterfront docks and arrivals by boat. After market and a tour, it's an easy place to have lunch facing the same creek the crew is working on.
What comes after the end of the year
The lower-creek work is scheduled to finish by the end of 2026. That still leaves the stretch between U.S. 41 and Beneva Road. The county calls that phase the "maximum allowable dredge." It would keep at least 10 feet away from shorelines and structures, go 4 feet deep at mean low water and include the Mineola Drive and River Ridge Drive oxbows. Resilient SRQ Program funds would pay for it. As of the September 30 update, the county had drafted the documents to put it out to bid, and those documents were under review.
The start date depends on permits. In May, WWSB reported that a county official said construction could begin late this year or early in 2027, and that a proposed contract could go to the County Commission by the end of the year. As of the county's September 30 update, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were still reviewing the permit applications. When that phase begins, the work moves upstream, away from the park and toward the oxbows. Until then, the part of the creek you can watch being dredged is the stretch beside the market.
The market runs through April. The tours are free every Wednesday, and the restored farmhouse will still be there after the crew packs up. The market, the tours and the dredge share the same Wednesday mornings only through the end of December.
I've watched Phillippi Estate Park change for more than 40 years, and I'm always glad to talk about the creek, the park and the streets around them. If you're curious how life along Phillippi Creek is changing, or you're thinking about a move nearby, reach out to Susan Phelps. Or say hello at the market some Wednesday morning.
