"We know how important Snook Haven is to the community." Sam Burr, SSA Group, to the Bradenton Herald
Snook Haven has been closed since April 30, 2025. Sarasota County has set a public ribbon-cutting for Friday, November 6, at 8:30 a.m. at 5000 E. Venice Ave., and the county will livestream it on Facebook. County officials hope to open the park to the public later that day.
The old fish camp you remember is changing. The restaurant building, the bandshell, the seating and probably the company running the kitchen will all be new. Each change goes back to the river at the end of the dirt road and how often it came over its banks. One Snook Haven tradition is coming back on its old schedule.
The river set the floor plan
Snook Haven's old restaurant building went up in 1958. It sat close enough to the Myakka to flood again and again. After Hurricane Ian in 2022, the river rose until the park was under about 4 feet of water.
The rebuild answers that history. The first phase replaced the old restaurant and seating area with a new concession building, covered seating and a bandshell. Those structures were raised and moved farther from the riverbank, on an original budget of $8.75 million. Sarasota County's project page lists what visitors will find:
- An accessible food service building with a smoker built into its design
- An accessible pavilion with covered seating and a view of the river
- A new bandshell with an accessible patio, replacing the old one
- A new fishing pier with accessible parking
- One of the existing cabins converted into a canoe and kayak rental outfitter with a public restroom
- Accessible walks connecting all of it to the existing boat ramp and canoe/kayak launch
The money came from impact fees, two rounds of the county's infrastructure surtax and Tourist Development capital funds. Sweet Sparkman Architects designed the project and Jon F Swift Construction built it. In the county's September 30 update, all exterior site work was finished, pending final permit closeout. Building inspections for the bandshell and storage building were set for early October, and kitchen equipment for the concession building was being delivered and installed. Parks staff and volunteers also spent September 10 pulling invasive plants along the shoreline.
A new building brought a new kitchen operator
The flooding shaped who runs the kitchen as well as where it sits. After the river damage, the county extended Venice Pier Group's lease so the company could recover what it had spent renovating and reopening the old restaurant, the Herald-Tribune reported in July. Venice Pier Group operated Snook Haven from mid-2012 through the end of April 2025. The county canceled the company's bid for the new concession. The Venice Gondolier reported a co-owner's account of why: the county said a neighboring campground it had just acquired could change the project's scope. When Snook Haven closed, its staff were offered jobs at the group's Sharky's on the Pier and Fins at Sharky's.
The likely next operator is SSA Group, a Denver company that runs food concessions at attractions around the country, including The Florida Aquarium in Tampa. As of mid-October, a county spokeswoman said the concession agreement was in its final administrative stages, and the concession area still needs final certification before it can open.
SSA's Sam Burr told the Bradenton Herald the menu will include several kinds of barbecue, a fresh catch of the day, fish and chips and gator bites. "The menu, we're going to respond to what the public wants and what the public gives feedback on," Burr said. The company's other Florida restaurants give a sense of its range. Cafe Seventy-One at The Florida Aquarium serves a blackened fresh-catch fish sandwich. At the Jacksonville Zoo & Botanical Gardens, Trout River Grill serves hand-breaded redfish bites and a redfish BLT.
Ninety years on the same dirt road
| Year | What happened at the river |
|---|---|
| 1931 | A movie crew cut a dirt road from River Road to the Myakka for a film about a French Indochina prison colony |
| 1930s | The site also served as a bootlegger outpost |
| 1936 | A wealthy Michigan resident built a retirement house there |
| 1948 | Snook Haven opened as a fish camp |
| 1958 | The original restaurant building went up |
| 1988 | The property sold at auction for $400,000 |
| 2006 | Sarasota County bought it for $2.6 million and made it a park |
| 2012–2025 | Venice Pier Group ran the restaurant |
Over those years the park became home to the annual Myakka River Blues Festival and to regular shows by the Gulf Coast Banjo Society. The county's original purchase covered a 2.5-acre fish camp with its restaurant and cottages. The rebuild turns one of the site's existing cabins into the canoe and kayak outfitter.
The banjos come back on their old night
Almost everything at the waterline has been replaced, and the Thursday banjo show is the main thing returning as it was. The Gulf Coast Banjo Society played Thursday shows at Snook Haven for 38 years, from 1987 until 2025. Its first show back is scheduled for Thursday, November 12.
The bandshell is new and now sits higher and farther from the river. The night of the week is the same as before. Nothing has been published yet about weekend music or the Myakka River Blues Festival under the new setup, and the county hasn't announced reopening hours or who will run the canoe and kayak rentals.
The next three weeks, in order
With about two weeks to go before the ribbon-cutting, here is the schedule as it stands:
- Friday, November 6, 8:30 a.m. The public ribbon-cutting at 5000 E. Venice Ave., livestreamed on Facebook. The county hopes to open the park to visitors later that day.
- Opening day for the concession. This depends on final certification and the finished SSA Group agreement, so the kitchen may open later than the grounds.
- Thursday, November 12. The Gulf Coast Banjo Society plays its first Snook Haven show since 2025.
The opening date has already moved once. An August report in the Sarasota Record set a mid-October reopening. The county's later updates moved the ceremony to November 6. Before you drive out, check the county's project page, which has carried each construction update.
Upriver from the restaurant
The restaurant and bandshell are the first phase of a larger plan. The longtime Venice landmark will anchor a 45-acre regional park with more river access, along with new camping and ecotourism. Under the county's long-range vision, Snook Haven would serve as a hub and trailhead for nearby protected land, including Sleeping Turtles Preserve South, Deer Prairie Creek Preserve and Jelks Preserve. Trails would link the sites, and a planned River Road multi-use trail would form part of the Florida Gulf Coast Trail, the Venice Gondolier reported.
In the near term, the new fishing pier and the accessible walks down to the existing boat ramp and canoe/kayak launch will open with the rest of the first phase. That means you can launch a kayak from the same spot as before and walk up to a covered pavilion overlooking the river.
Snook Haven is one of the places that make East Venice Avenue feel like home, and the team at Stone & Coast Realty Group will be glad to have it back. If you'd like to know which nearby neighborhoods put you a short drive from the river and these preserves, we're happy to talk it through.
