Lake Worth Beach's Bonfires Run on Friday Nights. The Beach Shuttle Runs on Weekend Afternoons.

"Come early to find a good spot," the City of Lake Worth Beach says on its page for the Bonfires & Night Market. The advice is about the sand. This season it applies to the parking lot too.

The free series runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Casino & Beach Complex on select Fridays from November 2026 through February 2027. Each night has a live band, local vendors and a fire on the beach. The season opened while the City's electric utility was boring a new conduit under the Intracoastal Waterway. That project closed part of the Casino parking lot, and the City's main parking fix for it runs only on weekend daytimes. On bonfire nights, the Casino lot and its meters carry the evening on their own.

Eight Fridays, eight bands

The City built the 2026–27 series around a monthly theme: Fall Fires in November, Fireside Holidays in December, New Year, New Flame in January, and Love & Flames in February. A different band plays each night, and DJ Chico561 handles sound. Bonfires fall on the first and third Fridays of the month. January is the exception, when they move to the second and fourth Fridays. Anyone keeping a "first Friday" habit will miss January's two nights.

Hot Gritz opened the season on Nov. 6, so the Friday, Nov. 20 show with Sekond Nature is the second of eight. The City suggests bringing lawn chairs and blankets. Each night lasts three hours of music, vendor shopping and time by the fire.

The Night Market is open to local makers. The City's vendor notice invites artisans, crafters and hand-makers, takes applications on a rolling basis, and considers one application for every Friday. A ceramicist or candle maker who wants a December table doesn't need a separate application for each date.

The lot the fire shares this fall

The bonfires sit right next to a utility project. The City's Electric Utilities Department is using directional drilling to install a new underground conduit beneath the Intracoastal Waterway, running between Bryant Park and the Casino and Beach Complex. Once it's done, new electric lines will run through it to serve buildings on the east side of Ocean Boulevard. Utility Revenue Bonds are paying for it.

The City scheduled the work for about 90 days, with mobilization in late August and completion anticipated in mid-November. That window ends right around the second bonfire. The Lake Worth Beach Independent reported in August that crews hoped to free the occupied beach spaces before Nov. 20, the same night as Sekond Nature's show. The City also notes that weekend and night work may be needed during steps such as the pilot bore and pullback, which can't easily be paused.

According to the City's project page, the project's footprint at the beach looks like this:

• About 60 spaces in the Casino parking lot are closed for the length of the project.
• No ADA spaces are blocked.
• Some resident permit spaces have moved just west of their usual location.
• Traffic in the beach lot follows a new pattern around the work area.
• Beach access from the Casino lot should not be affected.

Across the water, Bryant Park paths inside the work zone are closed. The seawall path, boat ramps, parking lots and playground stay open. On a bonfire night, the relocated permit spaces and the new traffic pattern are the changes a regular driver will notice first.

Why the shuttle doesn't reach Friday

To make up for the lost spaces, the City set up a free shuttle from the City Hall parking lot to the beach. It runs on Saturdays, Sundays and Labor Day Monday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., when the beach lot is expected to fill. The plan fits the busiest beach hours of the year. It doesn't cover a Friday that starts at 6 p.m. On bonfire nights, everyone arriving by car competes for whatever spaces are open in the Casino lot.

The Casino lot also charges at night. The City's parking Q&A says paid parking is enforced 24/7, holidays included, in metered areas and lots. The City's parking rates page lists the Casino and beach lot at $4.00 an hour on weekdays and $4.50 an hour on weekends. Friday counts as a weekday, so staying from the first song to the last costs $12 at the posted rate.

How you pay changes the math:

1. ParkMobile app. Pay by the hour through the app, the City's standard option.
2. Meter by card. Meters take Visa, Mastercard and American Express with a two-hour minimum. They don't take cash, coins or Discover.
3. Resident discount through ParkMobile. The City's resident beach parking discount program takes 20% off ParkMobile parking in beach zones 4702 and 4704. Residents reapply each year with proof of residency, and the discount doesn't apply at the meter. At the weekday rate, that brings a three-hour bonfire night down to $9.60.
4. Resident beach permit. A year-round permit costs $65 plus $4.23 tax. Permits run May 1 through April 30 and are open to City residents in ZIP code 33460 and a limited part of 33461. Permits cover 60 designated beach spaces. They aren't transferable and aren't accepted at Bryant Park or in downtown residential permit spaces.

A permit holder who parks in Bryant Park for a bonfire pays there like any other visitor. During the project, the permit spaces in the Casino lot have also moved, so the familiar spot may not be where it was.

Before the fire, and after it

The fire burns from 6 to 9 p.m., so dinner happens before or after. The closest table is on the William O. Lockhart Municipal Pier, part of the Casino & Beach Complex. Benny's on the Beach lists Friday hours at its pier location of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with live music from 4 to 8 p.m. On bonfire nights, Benny's music overlaps the first two hours of the beach show, and the kitchen stays open an hour after the last song ends.

Benny's will be on the pier for a long time. The Palm Beach Post reported in September that the City approved a lease extension running through 2043. The Post's June coverage described the terms then under discussion, including rent increases of 5% every other year after 2033.

For a later dinner, Man Ray at 522 Lucerne Ave. opened downtown in August. The Coastal Star described it in September as a retro-American spot open daily from 5 to 11 p.m. With those hours, the order can go either way: dinner on Lucerne first and the fire's last hour, or the full bonfire and a 9:30 table downtown. Moving from the beach to downtown also means leaving the Casino lot's meters. The City says downtown parking is controlled by signs.

Downtown fills the nights in between

Bonfires happen only twice a month, and the City's 2026–2027 event schedule puts its other big winter nights downtown, away from the beach lot entirely:

• Tree lighting: Monday, Nov. 30, at 6:30 p.m. at Cultural Plaza.
• Holiday parade: Saturday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m. downtown, the night after the Dec. 4 bonfire with Night Jar.
• Sunset on the Avenue: Saturday, Jan. 16, at 7 p.m. at Cultural Plaza, the first of the 2027 series.

Put together, early December has the Dec. 4 fire on the beach, the parade downtown the next evening, and Santa photos at the beach on Dec. 18. Of those, only the two bonfire nights depend on the Casino lot. On bonfire nights, plan around the Casino lot's open spaces and its 24-hour meters.

If watching the Casino lot this season has you wondering how lots, permits and seasonal crowds affect a home near the beach, Amy Awerbuch can walk you through it, from the walk to the sand to what your place might be worth. Ask for your free home valuation, and maybe we'll see you at the fire on the 20th.