President’s Corner – September 2026 – Event Requests for Lakeside at Viera Town Center

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Grand Opening weekend at Lakeside at Viera Town Center and Lakeside Social! Despite the rain and the tornado warnings, we all had a great time. Since then, the park has become a great place to sit, listen to music, enjoy good food, and good friends. I can already tell that I will be a regular – especially when it gets a little cooler!!

We have been swamped with requests to use the park and put on events at the performance pavilion and the lawn. As I mentioned previously, we built this park to be a community resource. We want to see the community come together at this location and we are working with many local businesses and non-profit organizations to keep the lawn busy. I think there will be something for everyone – family, adults, pets…

An event that I am personally excited for is our 80’s Halloween Party! On October 24th, we will have an 80’s Hair Band, Planet Hairspray, playing on the stage in the evening. But, before that, we will have dancing coaches there to teach us all how to dance the Thriller dance!! There will also be a cart decorating contest and parade and a costume contest. So, do your 80’s best and come out for some Halloween fun!! More details will follow so watch the calendar at https://www.lakesidesocial.com/events/.

We also have a Pumpkin Patch on October 10th, courtesy of the Burgman Group, the Last Call Band will be on the stage on Friday, October 30th, and the Melbourne Orchestra is giving a Christmas concert on December 20th. We are also really looking at our health and wellness offerings and are working with The Lab Studio Gym to bring you the Lakeside Bootcamp starting on October 17th. There are also some pop-up exercise events being planned to stay tuned for more information.

Finally, as we move into the cooler weather, we have some markets planned that are sure to bring you to the lawn. We have an evening farmer’s market planned called Lakeside Night Market that starts on September 30th and will be the 2nd and 4th Wednesday after that. We are also working on Sunday Brunch and Market which will start on October 11th and will be held the 2nd Sunday of each month.

In order to make the process of planning an event and reserving the park as easy and painless as possible, CVCA has developed an online form to submit your ideas. Then, someone will contact you to dig deeper into the details of what you are looking to do. You can find the form and park information here: https://www.cvcaviera.com/lakeside/

Some facts about the park to keep in mind:
• This form only requests the use of Lakeside at Viera Town Center, not Lakeside Social. Lakeside Social is just the food truck/beverage pavilion side of the park and is operated by Rogue Wave Hospitality – a completely different operations and management entity. So, if you want to reserve any space on their side of the park, you would need to complete their reservation form. Here is their website/request form page: https://www.lakesidesocial.com/private-events/
• No matter the event, you cannot bring any food or drinks to the park. No additional food trucks, no food/drink vendors, etc.
• Keep it fun and welcoming for all. When planning your events, remember that people like to bring their entire family, even their furry friends, when they spend the day or afternoon at special events. Think about fun stuff for kids, music, games, and other activities that keep people engaged with you and your event.

I hope everyone has had the chance to visit Lakeside at least once since it has opened. If not, you need to check it out! This gathering space is an amazing asset for our community and will continue to entertain us for a very long time.

So, until next time, remember, “Instead of merely livable, I think we need to start thinking about how we make our cities more lovable.” – Peter Kageyama.

Eva M. Rey, President
Central Viera Community Association, Inc.