Where do you eat after you've walked Chalktoberfest this year? The answer has changed since last October. A few of the rooms around the Square now have new names on the door, and others have paper in the windows.
October brings Marietta Square its most crowded run of weekends. It also falls in the middle of a restaurant handoff that's moving faster than the festival calendar. The newest dining near the Square is coming into existing addresses, and much of it is clustering on Atlanta Street, where one Southern, seafood-forward restaurant opened in August and a second one, from the brewery across the street, is close behind.
Three Weekends, Back to Back
The October calendar stacks up like this:
- Chalktoberfest, Oct. 10–11, on the Historic Marietta Square. The chalk art is free and open to the public. The craft-beer festival on Saturday is ticketed.
- Marietta HarvestFest, Saturday, Oct. 17, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Glover Park, 50 N. Park Square NE.
- Smyrna's Crafts & Drafts Fall Festival, Oct. 24–25, a free festival spread around City Hall, Market Village and Village Green Park. Saturday runs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday runs noon to 5 p.m.
Marietta Square Market fills in the weekdays between them. Its Fall Cornhole League plays Mondays starting Oct. 12. Live music is on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., which overlaps the first morning of Chalktoberfest. Pilates on the lawn is Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m.
The events are the same ones the Square has held before. The restaurants around them are what's changed.
Atlanta Street Is Where the New Dining Is Landing
Fin & Feathers took over Carmen's at 16 Atlanta Street
Fin & Feathers soft-opened on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 5 p.m., and its own site now lists the Marietta location as "Now Open." It moved into 16 Atlanta Street, the former home of Carmen's Kitchen & Cocktails, across from Johnnie MacCracken's Celtic Firehouse Pub.
The menu is Southern comfort food mixed with seafood and steaks. Marietta.com lists shrimp and grits, catfish and grits, chicken and waffles, honey bourbon salmon, lamb chops, wings and jerk chicken egg rolls, plus brunch dishes and cocktails. If you're planning a festival-day dinner with a group, the house rules matter. Guests must be 21 or older after 8 p.m., a valid photo ID is required, and a 20% gratuity is added to every bill automatically. A family heading in after HarvestFest will want to arrive on the early side of that cutoff.
We couldn't confirm a full day-by-day schedule from the restaurant's public pages, so check hours directly before you count on a specific seating.
Glover Park Kitchen is close, but not open yet
Glover Park Kitchen sits a short walk up the same street at 72 Atlanta Street. It belongs to the Glover Park group, which also runs Glover Park Brewery diagonally across the street. Executive Chef Lance Hagan has more than two decades of experience across the Southeast, including time at Pano's and Paul's, Table 1280, Legendary Catering Company and Vail Resorts. The planned menu covers seasonal cooking, Gulf Coast seafood, beer, wine and spirits, served in a garden patio setting.
The Marietta Daily Journal first projected a late-summer opening. The kitchen earned a perfect 100 on its first health inspection on July 28, 2026, and Marietta.com's update said raw oysters are expected on the menu. As of early October, the restaurant's own site still says "Coming soon" and gives no opening date. So for Chalktoberfest weekend, plan on the brewery being open and the kitchen still dark. If the kitchen opens before HarvestFest, it will be a welcome surprise. We wouldn't plan around it.
Taken together, these two restaurants change what Atlanta Street serves. Both lean Southern and both put seafood near the top of the menu. Fin & Feathers runs toward soul food and a nightlife crowd, and Glover Park Kitchen is pitched as chef-led and seasonal with a patio. Within a few months, this one short street will offer two different takes on Southern seafood, a few steps apart.
The Rest of the Square Is Changing Over at Existing Addresses
Atlanta Street is following the same pattern as the rest of the Square. The new names are moving into rooms that already had a history.
45 W. Park Square has changed hands more than any address here. Piastra ran in this space for a decade, and in 2026 it became Asher & Rose. The new owners now plan to turn it into Brasserie Genevieve, a French brasserie, with an opening expected between late 2026 and early 2027. That means one address on the west side of the Square could carry three restaurant names within roughly a year. For October planning, treat it as a future opening, not a festival-weekend option.
154 Roswell Street is next in line. Two Bells Burgers & Cheesesteaks is preparing to replace Boru Ramen Noodle & Poke Bar. It's joining a part of the Square that already has plenty of cheesesteaks and burgers. Marietta.com lists Woody's Cheesesteaks at 95 Church Street, Philly & Wrap inside Marietta Square Market, Two Birds Taphouse, West Park Sports Club with a bulgogi cheesesteak, Stockyard Burgers & Bones on Mill Street and Roxy's Burger in the food hall. If a festival afternoon calls for something quick in hand, you won't run short of choices within a few blocks.
Marietta Square Market at 68 N. Marietta Parkway NW added El Jalisco, which opened Aug. 14, according to the AJC's August openings roundup. The Market's own site promotes it as a new tenant. It's the same food-hall building, with a new counter inside.
Lay these out on a map and a pattern shows up. Of all the restaurant changes around the Square this year, none needed a new building. Fin & Feathers took over Carmen's. Brasserie Genevieve is taking over Asher & Rose, which took over Piastra. Two Bells is taking over Boru. El Jalisco opened in a food hall that was already running. Glover Park Kitchen is the one new concept with no previous tenant named in our sources, and even it comes from a brewery that's already across the street.
How to Plan Each October Weekend Around the Changes
Chalktoberfest weekend, Oct. 10–11. The chalk art is free, and the beer festival on Saturday is ticketed. Saturday morning also brings live music at Marietta Square Market from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Among the new spots, El Jalisco at the Market and Fin & Feathers on Atlanta Street are both open. Glover Park Kitchen is not, as of this writing.
HarvestFest, Saturday, Oct. 17. HarvestFest takes place in Glover Park itself, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Because it ends at 5, dinner afterward lands well before Fin & Feathers' 8 p.m. age cutoff, which helps if you have kids with you.
Crafts & Drafts weekend, Oct. 24–25. This weekend moves to Smyrna, around City Hall, Market Village and Village Green Park. StillFire Brewing's Smyrna taproom at 2725 King St. SE is a short drive away and has been open since its grand opening on Friday, March 13, 2026. The 25,000-square-foot building has multiple patios, the Jonquil Beer Garden, a rooftop SkyDeck and 78 taps pouring beer, cocktails, wine and non-alcoholic options. It describes itself as family- and dog-friendly. For the fourth weekend of the month, it's the newest large gathering spot on the Smyrna side.
What's Coming to Downtown Smyrna Later
Downtown Smyrna has a larger change on the way, though it's years out. In February 2026, Smyrna adopted a downtown plan whose preferred vision for the 9-acre First Baptist Church site includes 350 homes, up to 12 ground-floor businesses, a food hall with four to six restaurants and up to 120 hotel rooms, with office space as a fallback. Smyrna Local reported that the church was expected to relocate in about two years and that construction would likely start around 2028. No completion date has been given. This year's Crafts & Drafts takes place on a downtown that still looks the way it did last year. The food hall in that plan would be the biggest addition of restaurant seats to Market Village's surroundings in years, but it isn't part of this fall.
On the Marietta side, the timeline is much shorter. Over the next few months, Atlanta Street should have both of its new Southern kitchens open, 45 W. Park Square should become a French brasserie, and 154 Roswell Street should be serving burgers and cheesesteaks instead of ramen. By next October, several rooms around the Square will have new names.
If you're tracking these changes because you're weighing your own next move around the Square or downtown Smyrna, Wilson Property Partners would be glad to talk through what's opening, what's planned and which blocks are changing fastest. Start a conversation about your neighborhood or home.
