All summer, a Saturday at the St. Philip's Plaza Weekend Market ended at noon. So what fills the Foothills weekend once the heat breaks and the market stops running on morning hours?
For residents of La Paloma Country Club, the honest answer is that the whole day moves later. The market's fall schedule, a new afternoon series at Tohono Chul, and a Champagne-focused restaurant headed for La Encantada all point the same way this October. They take the weekend away from the 8 a.m. heat-dodging pattern and toward long afternoons and real evenings.
The Market Gives Up Its Early Hours
The St. Philip's Plaza Weekend Market at 4280 N. Campbell Avenue runs Saturdays and Sundays all year. Its hours follow the thermometer.
| Season | Saturday and Sunday hours |
|---|---|
| May through September | 8 a.m. to noon |
| October through April | 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
The October schedule pushes the market back two hours and adds an hour overall. The summer version was a four-hour morning window. The fall version is a five-hour midday stretch that ends mid-afternoon. The market's own description centers on Tucson artists, makers, and food businesses, set among sycamores, cobblestone paths, and fountains. That kind of setting suits browsing in 75-degree air better than racing the sun.
On the calendar, the change takes effect the first weekend of October. A Saturday that once had to start by 8 a.m. to be worth it can now start at 10 and still have a full afternoon behind it. The next question is what fills the hours after 3 p.m.
What Moves Into the Living Room Space
The biggest answer sits at La Encantada, 2905 E. Skyline Drive. Frida American Brasserie is moving into the space that used to hold The Living Room. The owners are Charles Hunt and Frida Hunt, who also own Villa Peru with their family. Villa Peru is a Tucson restaurant that Frida's parents, chefs Walter and Frida, started in August 2017.
The concept leans hard into evenings. When Tucson Foodie first reported on the project in March 2026, the plans included a custom two-story Champagne display anchoring the dining room. Upstairs, a private second-floor room would hold red wines in a wine-cellar setting. The plans also called for a 30-foot indoor-outdoor bar with a backlit marble base and a climate-controlled patio built to stay comfortable through Tucson summers. Guests in booths would be able to press a service button to call for the Champagne cart. The look is black and white throughout, from branding to uniforms to the interior, inspired by Carolyn Bessette Kennedy's minimalist style.
The same March announcement said the restaurant would host DJs during Sunday brunch and on weekend evenings, so the room carries from daytime dining into nightlife. The September update didn't repeat the brunch plan, and the restaurant hasn't published service hours. Until it does, treat the DJ brunch as an intention, not a schedule.
A first look at the dinner menu came out September 29. The team calls it a work in progress that could change before opening. As previewed, it runs:
- Garden & Pot: Crab Louie Salad with blue crab, avocado, and shaved egg, plus French onion soup finished with melted Gruyère
- Small plates: crab cakes with Old Bay remoulade and mini lobster rolls on toasted brioche
- Fire & Sea: a 32-ounce tomahawk, a 12-ounce rib-eye, and a Chardonnay-poached lobster tail
- Mains and pastas: a wagyu Brasserie Burger, a Heritage Roasted Half Chicken, and Gnocchi Pomodoro with fresh basil
- Sushi: about five rolls using ingredients like spicy tuna, yellowtail, and mango, with names still expected to change
The wine list sets the tone. Bottles start with Veuve Clicquot at $120 and go up to Krug Grande Cuvée at $500. Several rosé Champagnes are listed alongside still wines from France, Italy, Spain, and the United States. By the glass, the preview includes Veuve Clicquot, a Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuissé, a Giovanni Rosso Langhe Nebbiolo, and a Torres Celeste Tempranillo. The preview cocktails include a Veuve French 75, a Veuve Cucumber Spritz, a Whistle Pig Old Fashioned, and a Mango Mojito, though the list is still expected to change.
Lunch matters for the afternoon gap the market leaves open. Frida Hunt said lunch will include panini along with brasserie staples like burgers, steak frites, and a French dip. A market morning followed by a late lunch on Skyline Drive becomes one continuous outing.
The Opening Date Is a Window
The timing has already slipped once. The March announcement targeted August 2026. In the September 29 update, Frida Hunt said the team hopes to open October 22 and called the end of October the safer estimate until the date is confirmed. The restaurant's listing on La Encantada's directory, posted a few days earlier, gives a grand opening "around the 16th or 23rd" of October. It also says the team is collecting emails for its launch and lists a phone number, 520-977-8576.
Those dates span about two weeks, and none is confirmed. For anyone planning a late-October dinner with guests, the restaurant's own email list at fridaamericanbrasserie.com is the most direct way to hear when the doors actually open.
The Afternoon Fills In Around It
Frida isn't the only thing moving the Foothills weekend into the afternoon and evening. Tohono Chul, at 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, starts its Arboretum on Tap series this month. It runs first Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m., October through May, in the garden's new Adaptive Arboretum, with local beer, pizza, and DJs. The first one lands October 3. That's also the day Tohono Chul's shops and Desert Corner Nursery reopen from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. after a sales-system changeover that closed them September 27 through October 2.
La Encantada's own fall calendar fills in the rest. Taken together, the season looks like this:
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| October 1–5 | Eileen Fisher "New to Renew" | La Encantada |
| October 3 | Arboretum on Tap, noon to 3 p.m.; shops reopen | Tohono Chul |
| October 10 | MIXFM Women's Wellness Event, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | La Encantada |
| October 16–18 | Fall Plant Sale, Friday members only | Tohono Chul |
| Mid to late October | Frida American Brasserie target opening | La Encantada |
| October 31 | Chiles, Chocolate & Day of the Dead Festival, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Tohono Chul |
| November 8 | Terruño: Flavors of the Desert, 4 to 7 p.m. | Tohono Chul |
| November 21–22 | La Encantada Fine Art Festival | La Encantada |
The November entries make the point most clearly. Terruño brings Tucson chefs, Arizona winemakers, and live music to Tohono Chul from 4 to 7 p.m., an evening slot a garden would have trouble filling in July. The La Encantada Fine Art Festival runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 21, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 22. That's nearly the same span as the market's fall hours a short drive down Campbell. La Encantada also has a Halloween 2026 event on its calendar, though the listing doesn't yet give a time or program.
Upstairs at La Encantada, Still Pending
One more La Encantada arrival has a season but no day. Sephora announced a "fall of 2026" opening and still lists itself as "Opening Soon." Its store listing places it on Level 2. That announcement dates to April, and no specific day has been published since. Frida will sit on Level 1, which puts both of this season's headline arrivals in the same center, one floor apart.
Other recent additions have arrived with less waiting. Eileen Fisher, whose "New to Renew" event opens the month, is new to La Encantada. The center also added a We Whiten profile to its directory on September 24.
For La Paloma residents, the first Saturday of October is the first day of the new pattern. The St. Philip's market opens at 10 instead of 8, Tohono Chul pours beer from noon to 3, and Frida's Champagne room is two to four weeks away.
As Frida's opening date firms up and the fall calendar fills in, our family is happy to talk through how the Skyline and Campbell corridor fits into everyday life at La Paloma Country Club. Kate Herk and Judy Smedes offer a complimentary neighborhood valuation and personalized consultation whenever you'd like one.
