Ross Street Live ends on Saturday, Oct. 31. The eastern end of Ross Street off Mendocino Avenue has been closed to cars since Aug. 14. The block holds a stage, food trucks, cornhole, ping-pong, seating and public restrooms, and the setup runs behind The Corner Store Collective out to Mendocino. The city calls it a three-month pilot. Its stated goal is to test expanded pedestrian space in the downtown core and to "gather feedback and assess impacts."

That makes October more than the end of a season. These four weekends are the pilot's last chance to collect the feedback the city and the Downtown Action Organization set it up to gather. The pilot also sits in the middle of a few blocks on Mendocino Avenue that have added real addresses over the past year. Here's what's left on the calendar, plus the places around it that will still be open in November.

How a Fourth Street idea ended up on Ross

Ross Street started as a different plan. In 2024 the Santa Rosa City Council told staff to look for downtown spaces that could be closed to cars to support business. The first proposal was a closure on part of Fourth Street. In early 2025, city staff gathered input from downtown businesses, ran a community survey and held a council study session. They studied similar programs in San Mateo, San Jose and San Diego. Some businesses objected to testing the idea on Fourth Street, so in late 2025 the city moved to a smaller pilot on Ross Street. The DAO formed an ad hoc committee that November and reached an agreement with the city on June 4.

The Press Democrat reported that the deal took nearly a year of negotiations. The businesses behind the program were the downtown venues most invested in nightlife. The organizers include Cooperage, The California Theatre, Flagship Taproom, The Lost Church and The SoCo Market, with support from the City of Santa Rosa and the DAO. "We haven't really done anything of this scale," DAO executive director Cadance Hinkle Allison told the paper.

What the block does across a week

The schedule has three parts, each meant for a different crowd. Food trucks park at lunch Monday through Friday. Live music runs Friday and Saturday nights. Sundays bring markets and family activities. The city calendar lists weekday hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Friday and Saturday hours of 5 to 10 p.m., and Sunday hours of noon to 5 p.m. The Downtown Santa Rosa event pages list shorter windows: 6 to 9:30 p.m. for music and noon to 4 p.m. for The SoCo Market's Sunday markets. Check the individual listing before you head over.

The weekend programming is split among the organizers. The California Theatre's Argo Thompson said the theater leads Friday nights, The Lost Church hosts every fourth Friday, and Cooperage Brewing takes Saturdays. Local restaurants like Galvan's Eatery pop up on some nights. Ausiello's 5th Street Bar and Grill planned to bring a limited menu of fried food and smash burgers on select weekends and some weekdays. Leeanna Ausiello-Kane, whose family co-owns the bar, noted it has been downtown for nearly 26 years.

Here's what's posted for the rest of the run as of Oct. 4:

The lineup leans local and young, and that was the plan. Josh Walden, owner of School of Rock Santa Rosa, said the program gives student bands a place to play, including 945. Thompson tied it to a gap the theater found after moving in four years ago: "there were no other music venues downtown. It's perfect for local bands to cut their teeth."

The Halloween listing describes a noon opening with food and games, music starting at 6 p.m., and the Corberr and The Real Chamoy food trucks. Its posted time field reads 5 to 9:30 p.m., which conflicts with the description, so check the listing before Oct. 31.

The addresses that stay when the stage comes down

Most coverage misses this part. Ross Street Live is temporary, but the blocks around it now have permanent places to go, and several opened this year within a short walk of the stage.

• Capriciano Osteria, 505 Mendocino Ave. Chef-owner Baki Bekci runs it in the former Tipsy Taco space, which was once the Acapulco Lounge. The dining room has two large fireplaces, and Sonoma Magazine described the outdoor patio as "larger than most in the region." Bekci grew up in his family's restaurant in Fethiye, Turkey, worked in Four Seasons kitchens and founded Mezzeluna in Cotati. Sonoma Magazine's August review picked the risotto frutti di mare, his signature dish, at $34, and the ravioli al limone at $28. Dinner runs nightly, and lunch is served Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Sonoma Spice Queen, 404 Mendocino Ave., Suite D. Wind McAlister opened her second shop in early September, bringing her hand-ground blends north from her Petaluma store at 9 Fourth St. The shop fills a gap left in Santa Rosa when Penzeys and Savory Spice left. Her best seller is a vadouvan French curry made with nearly a dozen ingredients.
• The Lost Church, 545 Mendocino Ave. This is the venue's current address on its own site. Some older listings still show 427 Mendocino.
• Cooperage, 575 Ross St. This downtown tasting room sits on the closed block itself. It's separate from the original brewery on Airway Court.
• The California Theatre, 528 7th St., a short walk from the stage.

Across the street from the Spice Queen, the eight-story, 168-unit Felix at 420 Mendocino opened to tenants on May 15, 2025. Its developer describes a double-height ground floor designed for a future restaurant. Musician Ryan Woodard, whose band opened Ross Street Live on Aug. 14, said the block suits the pilot because it's within walking distance of restaurants. That walkability has grown since he said it in July.

Thursdays move to the square

Ross Street doesn't program Thursday nights, and this fall another event fills that slot. The Wanderlust Food Truck Festival started at Old Courthouse Square on Sept. 3 and runs every Thursday with rotating trucks and family entertainment. The city calendar lists dates on Oct. 8, 15, 22 and 29, with hours of 4 to 9 p.m. The Press Democrat reported 5 to 9:30 p.m. at launch. No end date has been posted after Oct. 29.

Taken together, downtown has programming five or six days a week through the end of the month. Lunch trucks run on Ross on weekdays, Wanderlust takes the square on Thursdays, and music fills Ross on Friday and Saturday before the Sunday markets. Saturday, Oct. 17 adds The SoCo Market's Halloween market, listed from noon to 5 p.m. with more than 80 vendors.

What happens on Nov. 1

The city's listing still shows Oct. 31 as the end date. Vice Mayor Jeff Okrepkie chairs the city's Economic Development Subcommittee. He told the Press Democrat there is no clear timeline for revisiting other locations for pedestrian space, and he called the pilot a real-life example to learn from.

"You never know until it's done. It gives people an opportunity to see what it could look like, and what it could possibly turn into." — Vice Mayor Jeff Okrepkie, to the Press Democrat

Pauline Block, who chairs the DAO board, told KRCB in August that a pilot doesn't have to become permanent to be worthwhile, and that organizers wanted to learn from audience feedback about what people want downtown. Walden hopes it could lead to a permanent downtown stage. The August coverage described what organizers hoped to learn but reported no attendance or business-impact figures.

I keep track of downtown Santa Rosa block by block, from the openings to the leasing questions. If you own near Mendocino Avenue and want to talk through what these changes could mean for your property, Daniel Casabonne is glad to sit down with you. Request a private consultation.