Phillippi's Market Has a New Host, and the Farmhouse Is the Point

On the Wednesday the Phillippi Farmhouse Market opened its 17th season, Danielle Ferrantino of Drift Theory gave WWSB her read on the crowd: "We've noticed that with the great weather comes also a different attitude with a lot of people shopping here locally so we just love the sunshine."

The weather comes back every October. What's different is who runs the market. For 13 years, Fred and Grace Whitehouse and the Friends of Sarasota County Parks managed the Wednesday market at Phillippi Estate Park and grew it from 19 vendors to more than 50. The Whitehouses retired in 2024, and Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources took it over.

That handoff changes what a Wednesday morning at 5500 S. Tamiami Trail is for. The county now runs the market, the 1916 mansion and the restored farmhouse on the same grounds. At Urfer Family Park on Honore Avenue, it runs the same kind of morning on Saturdays, with two Florida Cracker cattle and a 1906 house. In both places the produce or the animals get you through the gate, and the historic houses are what the county is showing you.

The Market Now Comes With a Docent Schedule

Look at the county's flyer for the market. Next to "fresh produce, prepared foods, artisanal products and live music," it lists two tours. Both run every Wednesday of the season and both are free:

• 10 a.m. A docent-led tour of the Edson Keith Mansion
• 11 a.m. A docent-led tour of the Keith Farmhouse
• 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market itself, every Wednesday from October through April, with free parking and admission

The tours fit inside market hours. Shop the first hour, walk into the mansion at 10, cross to the farmhouse at 11, and you still have an hour of market left. Shawn Yeager, the county's Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources director, put it this way in the release quoted by Your Observer: "Events like this strengthen community ties, support small businesses and celebrate local culture."

Your Observer counted about 45 vendors a week selling produce, prepared foods and artisanal goods, plus food trucks and live music. WWSB put opening week at more than 50 vendors. Drift Theory is one of them. The business works natural materials such as shells and flowers into resin jewelry and ornaments.

Why the Farmhouse Earns the 11 a.m. Slot

The two buildings have different stories, and the farmhouse's story is the newer one.

The mansion is the landmark most people already know. Chicago hat executive Edson Keith Jr. built it in the Italian Renaissance style. It went on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, and it's a frequent wedding venue.

The white two-story farmhouse next to Phillippi Creek has had a busier life. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported that Keith built it in 1916 for his servants and staff. After his death in 1939 the property passed through several owners. In 1941 it became part of a restaurant and hotel called Phillippi Creek Plantation. Later the farmhouse was split into apartments. The county bought the estate in 1986.

It reopened in April 2025 after a restoration that took years. The work added heating and air conditioning, improved accessibility and upgraded the electrical and plumbing systems. The Herald-Tribune called it one of the few wood-frame structures from that era still intact in Sarasota County. Then-Commission Chair Joe Neunder cut the ribbon.

So this is the second market season with the farmhouse fully restored, and the second full season with the county running the market. The market season works as the farmhouse's open-house season. Every Wednesday from October through April, the county has a crowd on the lawn and a docent waiting at the door at 11.

The Creek Behind the House Is Getting Work Too

The farmhouse sits next to Phillippi Creek, and the creek has been changing as well. Sarasota County's Stormwater Department and the West Coast Inland Navigation District, known as WCIND, are dredging the 7.2-mile tidal creek from its mouth up to South Beneva Road.

According to the county's project page, updated Sept. 30, 2026, the high-spot dredging phase is finished. It removed more than 64,000 cubic yards of sediment, including an estimated 40,149 pounds of nitrogen and 206,480 pounds of phosphorus. Permit applications for Phase 2 went in on June 30, 2026, and the permitting agencies are reviewing them. WCIND is dredging the lower part of the creek and, as of that update, was working just north of U.S. 41.

That puts the work right near the park's stretch of the Trail. The park lists a canoe and kayak launch and a fishing pier among its facilities. If you plan to paddle or fish after the market, check the county's project page for where the crews are that week.

Urfer Runs the Same Idea on Saturdays

Drive east to Urfer Family Park at 4000 Honore Ave. and you'll find the county doing the same thing with animals.

In May 2026, Sarasota County Government posted a short video announcing that cracker cattle are back at the park. There are two of them, CC, short for "Cookies and Cream," and Oreo.

The cattle come with a program. On the third Saturday of each month, the county leads a free interpretive walk called "Florida Cracker Cattle: A Walk Through Time." The county's description explains that these cattle descend from animals brought by Spanish explorers in the 1500s. It covers how they adapted to Florida's landscape over centuries, where the name "cracker cattle" comes from and why their return to the park matters. The walk meets at the C.B. Wilson House.

That meeting point ties Urfer to Phillippi. On Nov. 21 the cattle walk starts at 9 a.m., and an open house at the Dr. C.B. Wilson House starts at 10 a.m. in the same park. You get a self-guided tour with volunteer docents on hand to answer questions about the house, the Wilson family and county history. As at Phillippi, the two programs fit in one morning, with the animals first and the house second.

The house has its own history of being moved and saved. According to The Bradenton Times, it was built in 1906 as the home of Dr. Cullen Bryant "C.B." Wilson and his wife, Fannie Reeves. The Herald-Tribune reported in 2011 that the county moved it from Orange Avenue to Urfer in 2004, restored it and opened it as an interpretive museum.

In December the county opens it more often. The Wilson House open house runs every Saturday in December at 10 a.m., which works out to Dec. 5, 12, 19 and 26.

Urfer also has a quieter program. A free EcoWalk called "Forest Bathing in the Parks," run with UF/IFAS Extension, meets there on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m. for ages 11 and up.

The Next Seven Weeks

Here are the remaining dates for both parks through the end of 2026. Every listing below is free.

The Wednesday market dates follow the county's every-Wednesday schedule, and the county calendar lists Dec. 9 specifically. Dec. 23 and Dec. 30 fall in holiday weeks. The county's flyer gives 311 as the number to call for market information, so call before you go those weeks. The cattle walk runs on the third Saturday of every month, so the next one after Nov. 21 is in December.

I spent more than 20 years in New York construction, and a 1916 wood-frame farmhouse that has been fitted with HVAC and upgraded electrical and plumbing is the kind of work I notice. If you take the 11 a.m. tour and start looking at your own house differently, whether it's an old Sarasota bungalow or something newer that needs work, I'm happy to walk through it with you and tell you what I see. Gerry Tomchinsky is easy to reach. Let's Connect.