"SoHi is just another iteration of that belief," Van Nguyen told Food and Loathing in September. Nguyen owns 595 Craft and Kitchen, the craft beer bar near Rainbow Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, and he was describing his second location, which is headed for Southern Highlands. The belief he meant is simple. A neighborhood bar's culture can move to a new place if the steps of service and the quality move with it.
That quote helps explain this season in Southern Highlands. Between now and early December, the neighborhood's biggest community events and its newest open restaurant share the same parkway. Two operators who built their reputations elsewhere are either open here already or close to it. Below are the dates, the places, and what is confirmed versus what is still a target.
Three Addresses, One Road
Put the season's fixed points in address order and they cluster.
| Address on Southern Highlands Pkwy. | What's there | When it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 10950 | Goett Family Park | Fall Festival, Saturday, October 17 |
| 11350, Suite 125 | Mama Tess's Artisan Kitchen | Open now |
| 11411 | Southern Highlands Corporate Center | Winter Festival and Tree Lighting, Friday, December 4 |
The fourth piece is 595 Craft and Kitchen's new Southern Highlands location. Its address hasn't been published yet, so it isn't in the table, and nothing yet confirms whether it will be on the parkway. More on that below.
October 17 at Goett Family Park
The Southern Highlands Fall Festival runs Saturday, October 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Goett Family Park, 10950 Southern Highlands Pkwy. It's free and open to all ages. FOX5 Vegas reported that the festival includes a pumpkin patch, inflatables, rock-wall climbing, crafts, bingo, food trucks, a vendor village, and live performances. Proceeds benefit the Southern Highlands Boys & Girls Club.
If your family wants to catch specific moments, the published schedule gives you anchors:
- 11 a.m. Festival begins.
- 11:30 a.m. First World Acro LV performance.
- 1 p.m. Second World Acro LV performance.
- 1:30 p.m. Costume contest.
- 2 p.m. Raffle.
- 3 p.m. Festival closes.
The afternoon stretch is the tight one. The second acrobatics show, the costume contest, and the raffle fall within one hour, from 1 to 2 p.m., so a family that arrives around 12:30 can catch all three without staying the full four hours.
If you only know Goett Family Park as the place you drive past, here is what Clark County lists there: covered picnic and playground areas, outdoor basketball and volleyball courts, and walking paths. Picnic areas are first come, first served. The county's park listing is worth bookmarking for an ordinary weekend after the festival tents come down.
The Rest of October Happens at Home
The festival is the one big October gathering. The month's other community event takes place on your own front porch. The Southern Highlands HOA's 2026 Haunt Your House Decorating Contest accepts entries through Saturday, October 31, at 11:59 p.m. It's a resident decorating contest, so there's no venue to visit. The entry deadline falls on Halloween night itself, which means anyone who decorates late in the month still has time to enter.
One housekeeping note. The HOA's general community-events page says "No upcoming events to show." The association's calendar and its dedicated event pages do list October and December dates. If you're checking the HOA site, the event-specific pages are the reliable ones.
A Kitchen That Came From the Desert
The first of the two arrivals is already open. Mama Tess's Artisan Kitchen opened this summer at 11350 Southern Highlands Pkwy., Suite 125. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, it's run by Stephanie "Mama Tess" Richter, who co-owns the Pioneer Saloon with her husband, Stephen Staats. The Review-Journal describes the saloon as a 113-year-old bar in the desert about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas.
The connection shows up on the menu. The Review-Journal reported that many of the signature dishes started at the Pioneer Saloon. The lineup covers soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, house desserts, and milkshakes. Richter said in an announcement quoted by the paper that the menu "items are based on dishes that I make at home for family and friends." 8NewsNow covered the restaurant's grand-opening open house on Saturday, August 29.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. On festival day, Mama Tess's opens the same hour the festival starts at Goett Family Park, and it's a few hundred numbers up the same parkway.
A Neighborhood Bar Heading South
The second arrival isn't open yet. In a Food and Loathing report published September 25, Nguyen said he's targeting a late-October or early-November opening for 595 Craft and Kitchen's Southern Highlands location. It was the first public opening window for the project. An October 4 Las Vegas beer-news roundup repeated the same window and added no location. The restaurant's own website still lists only the original location at 4950 S. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 100. As of today, October 11, nothing published names a street address or a firm date.
What has been reported is enough to know what's coming. According to Food and Loathing, the original has been open for nine years, and the Southern Highlands space will be nearly twice its size. Nguyen plans to start with something like "595 Part Two" and grow into a more ambitious kitchen over time. The new location may also offer a larger selection of nonalcoholic drinks, teas, and tonics, partly inspired by Nguyen's first trip to Vietnam last December. That program is still in development.
The original's new weekend brunch gives the clearest preview. It opens at 9:30 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The menu includes Vietnamese steak and eggs with pork liver pâté and pickled carrots and daikon, loco moco with both hamburger and Spam, chicken and waffles, a breakfast burrito, and chilaquiles. Most breakfast dishes are in the low teens, and the steak and eggs runs above $20. Nguyen called brunch "a live exercise for the upcoming project," a way to practice rolling out a menu and service before the larger space opens. He also told Food and Loathing that many longtime regulars have since married and had kids and wanted something family-friendly during earlier weekend hours.
So the 595 coming to Southern Highlands is a bar that has already adjusted for customers with families.
December 4, and the Weeks Leading Up to It
The parkway's season closes at its 11411 address. The HOA's Winter Festival and Tree Lighting is Friday, December 4, from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Southern Highlands Corporate Center, with the tree lit at 5:30 p.m.
The HOA's event page splits activities into free and by-donation:
- Complimentary: holiday craft, letters to Santa, hot cocoa, inflatables, the tree lighting ceremony, and vendor village shopping.
- For donation: photos with Santa, photos with holiday characters, a festive train ride, the Adopt-A-Family toy drive, and holiday merchandise.
- Parking: at SH Corporate Center and at Olympia Sports Park, with an event shuttle from Olympia Sports Park.
- House rules: no smoking, no outside alcohol, no weapons, and no pets.
- Food: food vendors to be announced, plus complimentary hot cocoa.
The no-pets rule is the one to plan around. Any dog will need to stay home for the evening.
The giving that started at the October festival continues before the tree lighting. The HOA's Operation Warm Heart toy drive runs November 16 through December 7. New, unwrapped toys can go to the Olympia Management Services office Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or to the Corporate Center during the December 4 festival. Taken together, the fall's two community gatherings raise money or gifts for local causes, with the Boys & Girls Club in October and Operation Warm Heart in December.
Here's the full run in order. Festival on October 17. Haunt Your House entries close October 31. Possibly a new 595 sometime around the turn of the month. Toy drive from November 16. Tree lighting on December 4.
If you're settling into Southern Highlands this fall, or your family is arriving on orders and wants to know what the community calendar looks like before the moving truck shows up, LeJon Jenkins and our team are glad to walk you through the neighborhood we know. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
