For years the Southern Highlands Fall Festival was the one fixed event on the October calendar. It's a Saturday afternoon at Goett Family Park, hosted by the HOA. It's back on Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Friday the 16th, a few minutes away at 3375 St. Rose Parkway, Henderson Sport & Social holds its grand opening. It's a 180,000-square-foot indoor sports and entertainment complex that cost $70 million.
Both events raise money for children's causes in the area, and they fall within the same 48 hours. Several restaurants that opened this year sit between them. One is inside Southern Highlands, and the rest are along St. Rose Parkway and Cactus Avenue. Here's what's actually on that weekend.
Saturday at Goett Family Park
The festival's own website lists the Southern Highlands HOA as host. The HOA's 2026 event listing says proceeds go to the Southern Highlands Boys & Girls Club. The venue is Goett Family Park at 10950 Southern Highlands Parkway, and the HOA's event page lists:
- A pumpkin patch
- Inflatables and a climbing wall
- Face painting
- Bingo
- Food trucks
- A raffle
- Live entertainment
At least one third-party events calendar has the festival on October 18. The organizer's site and the HOA both say Saturday, October 17, so go by those. It runs only four hours and ends at 3 p.m. That leaves the rest of Saturday open, and the new building on St. Rose fills that time easily.
Friday and Saturday on St. Rose Parkway
The Las Vegas Sun reported on September 3 that the city of Henderson set up Henderson Sport & Social as a public-private partnership. It's meant to keep up with growth on the city's west side, where new subdivisions have outpaced recreation space. KemperSports, a sports facility management company based in Chicago, runs it. You don't need a membership.
According to that announcement, the venue planned to start welcoming guests with a soft opening on October 5, open for limited hours on October 7 and 15, and hold the grand opening on October 16. On grand opening weekend, October 16 and 17, a silent auction benefits the Cure 4 The Kids Foundation. The Sun describes the foundation as Nevada's only nonprofit treatment center for pediatric cancer and rare diseases. That puts the fieldhouse's charity auction and the festival's Boys & Girls Club fundraiser on the same Saturday, a few minutes apart.
The building has two levels. Here's what's inside and what the venue has published so far:
| Inside the fieldhouse | What's published |
|---|---|
| Bowling | 20 lanes, 6 of them VIP lanes |
| Laser tag | Double-decker arena |
| Minigolf | $12 per person Mon–Thu, $15 Fri–Sun |
| Krazy Darts | $55 per bay, up to 8 people |
| Family entertainment area | 30,000 square feet, plus an arcade |
| Sports | 4 convertible basketball courts, indoor turf fields |
| Fitness | Full gym, listed 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily |
| Food and drink | Restaurant and full bar in the Social House |
Bowling and laser tag prices are linked from the venue's site, but they weren't readable in the page text we checked. The posted gym hours are the only hours the site publishes. It doesn't list hours for the Social House or the attractions, so check those before you go.
The discount fine print
The venue's membership page lists a 20% "Henderson Local" discount and says you'll need a valid ID on your first visit. The city's West Henderson fieldhouse page says Henderson residents get 20% off "all recreational programming and activities." The Sun's September story described it as 20% off "select" programming. Neither source says which addresses qualify. The city's general recreation registration rules ask for a government-issued photo ID and a physical address, and they treat a P.O. box as nonresident. That policy covers the city's own recreation system, though, and the venue hasn't said it uses the same rule. Ask at the front desk whether your address qualifies before you count on the discount.
Where to Eat Between the Two
The festival has food trucks and the fieldhouse has the Social House. Three other spots opened nearby in 2026, so you don't have to pick one of those.
Mama Tess Artisan Kitchen, 11350 Southern Highlands Parkway, Suite 125. This is the one inside the community, a short drive down the parkway from Goett Family Park. It's Stephanie "Mama Tess" Richter's restaurant. She's a longtime Las Vegas hospitality professional, and she and her husband, Stephen Staats, are connected to the Pioneer Saloon. The menu is comfort food done well: artisan sandwiches, soups, salads, smash burgers, house-made desserts, and loaded milkshakes. The Review-Journal covered the launch on August 28, and KLAS reported that the grand opening was that Saturday, August 29. Eater Vegas's updated map, refreshed October 1, highlights the hot-honey ham sandwich, the smash burgers, and about a dozen elaborate shakes.
China Mama, 2550 St. Rose Parkway, Suite 110. It opened Friday, June 5, 2026. It's the eighth restaurant in owner Ivy Ma's family group, and the menu includes crispy beef, shrimp, chow fun, mapo tofu, and dim sum. Since it's on the same parkway as the fieldhouse, it's an easy sit-down dinner after an afternoon of bowling or laser tag.
Aroma Café and Maxie's, 1695 E. Cactus Ave. Maxie's Restaurant Group runs the original Maxie's on the Linq Promenade. In August, the Review-Journal reported that the group was putting a new Maxie's at one end of this building and a sister Aroma Café at the other, with a 130-seat event space between them. Aroma Café's own site lists Suite 100 as open every day from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. for coffee, pastries, breakfast, and lunch, with online ordering. Maxie's Henderson's site lists Suite 150 with hours and takes reservations. Neither business has published an opening date, so check the hours on their sites before a Saturday morning visit.
You could cover all of Saturday this way: coffee at Aroma in the morning, the festival from 11 to 3, then the fieldhouse and dinner on St. Rose.
What the HOA Has Planned After the Festival
The festival is the HOA's biggest October event, but the season continues after it. The calendar from here through early December:
- Now through Saturday, Oct. 31, 11:59 p.m.: entries are open for the Haunt Your House decorating contest for residents.
- Tuesday, Oct. 27, 5 p.m.: open-session board meeting, according to the HOA calendar.
- Nov. 16 through Dec. 7: holiday toy drive for Operation Warm Heart, with donations taken at the Olympia Management Services office.
- Friday, Dec. 4, 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.: the Winter Festival and Tree Lighting at Southern Highlands Corporate Center, 11411 Southern Highlands Parkway, with the tree lit at 5:30 p.m.
When we checked, the HOA's November calendar had no events listed, so the toy drive is the only community event on the books between Halloween and the tree lighting. The calendar may fill in later. The fall yard sale and the free shredding and donation day at the Corporate Center already took place on October 3 and 4.
The Corporate Center, which hosted the shredding day, also hosts December's tree lighting. Goett Family Park holds the October festival. All three restaurants above opened this year, and the fieldhouse opens October 16.
If you're planning a weekend like this with family in town, or you'd like to know which new places are coming to the St. Rose and Cactus corridor, I'm glad to talk it through in English or Spanish. Cintia Ayala | Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
