The Crest Theatre auditorium at 51 N. Swinton Avenue has hosted no performances since 2022. The campus website lists it as closed for renovations and gives no reopening date. In September, a city consultant recommended that Delray Beach formally make Old School Square its "town square." The campus calendar from now through New Year's shows it already works that way. The lawn, the Vintage Gym, the Cornell Art Museum, the Amphitheatre and the classrooms inside the Crest building are all booked this fall. The one room missing from the schedule is the auditorium.
Saturday, October 24 Fits the Whole Campus Into One Day
October 24 shows the pattern most clearly. Here is the published lineup for that Saturday:
- 8 to 11 a.m.: the 15th annual Witches of Delray Witches Ride. It's a costumed bike ride with Halloween activities at Old School Square, and it raises money for local children and families through ACCF.
- 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.: opening day of the Delray Winter GreenMarket on the Old School Square campus. Dozens of produce, gourmet food and plant vendors set up every Saturday from here on.
- 10 a.m.: day one of the Delray Beach Orchid Society's 36th annual Orchids on the Square show and sale inside the Vintage Gym, with blooms, supplies and raffles. It runs through 4 p.m. Sunday.
- 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Halloween Kidsfest, put on by the City of Delray Beach Parks and Recreation Department, with food, vendors, arts and crafts and entertainment.
That's four separate organizers on one Saturday. A nonprofit ride, a weekly farmers market, a hobby society that has run its show for 36 years and a city department are all sharing one block of Swinton Avenue, and none of them needs a stage. Many of the events on this fall's calendar are built the same way.
What Each Building Is Doing This Season
If you've lost track of what goes where on the campus, here's the fall lineup by building:
| Venue | What's on | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Old School Square Lawn | Delray Beach Police National Night Out | Wed., Oct. 7, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. |
| Cornell Art Museum | Ron Garrett: Impressions & Expressions opening | Sun., Oct. 11, 3 to 5 p.m. |
| Old School Square Campus | Delray Winter GreenMarket | Saturdays from Oct. 24, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| The Vintage Gym | Orchids on the Square | Oct. 24 to 25 |
| Delray Beach Amphitheatre | Coco Market Wellness Festival | Sun., Nov. 1, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Amphitheatre, museum lawn and Swinton Avenue | Art on the Square Fine Art Show | Sat., Nov. 7, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| The Vintage Gym | Veterans Day Ceremony | Wed., Nov. 11, 9 to 11 a.m. |
The Vintage Gym takes both the Orchid show and the Veterans Day ceremony this fall, so the campus has a large indoor room even with the auditorium closed. Coco Market is a monthly event with free yoga, meditation, reiki, a drum circle and a sound bath, plus wellness vendors and food that includes vegan options. Its October date is today, October 4.
The Cornell Handles the Arts Side Until the Crest Returns
With the auditorium closed, the Cornell Art Museum and the city's own art school are carrying the arts programming. Four exhibitions are up at the Cornell now. Ron Garrett's printmaking retrospective is one, alongside Marleen De Waele-De Bock's "Blooming in Color!," "River of Grass" and the ongoing "Icons of Art: Italian Mosaic Portraits." The Garrett show has more than 100 works from four decades of his career, and its opening reception is October 11.
The October First Friday Art Walk on October 2 included lantern-pumpkin making and portrait sketches by artist Paul Hosch. The next one is Friday, November 6, from 6 to 9 p.m.
The Creative Arts School is a city program at Old School Square. Its student and faculty exhibition opened October 2 with 31 artists and more than 50 works. The school reopened in fall 2024 and holds classes in the Crest Theatre building itself, in ceramics, drawing and painting, printmaking, digital media and youth programs. So the Crest building is in use every week. Only the auditorium is closed.
The biggest arts weekend of the fall is November 7 and 8, when Art on the Square returns. The Cornell describes it as a juried outdoor fine art show on the museum's front lawn and along Swinton Avenue. The calendar listing says about 100 artists from around the country will take part. The show's own event page says more than 50 juried artists. Admission to the show and to the Cornell is free. The weekend also includes live music, live painting by muralists, a Kids Zone, and booths from Art Connect, the Creative Arts School and Urban Sketchers. Judging runs from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday. It also lands on the third Saturday of the Winter GreenMarket, so a morning at the market and an afternoon at the show can be one trip.
Why the Crest Auditorium Is Still Closed
The campus website lists the Crest Theatre as closed for renovations. On August 10, 2021, the City Commission voted 3 to 2 to end its lease with the nonprofit that had run Old School Square. In September 2021, WPTV reported that a city audit presented after the vote found the organization out of compliance with its lease. The former operator says it moved out on February 7, 2022. According to the architect's proposal, the auditorium and backstage areas had sat unused for years, and the performance equipment left with the prior tenant.
Since then, the plan has moved forward in recorded steps:
- August 12, 2025: the commission hired Mills+Schnoering Architects to design the renovation and oversee construction. The first phase was three restoration concepts for $236,862.
- February 3, 2026: the city picked Option Two. That option calls for a tension wire grid instead of a catwalk and an exterior side addition for accessible stage access instead of an interior ramp. The city also named an elevator and better back-of-house loading as priorities for attracting a wider range of acts. Boca Magazine reported the options at $3.4 million for a basic reopening, $7.4 million for the middle option and $8.8 million for the most flexible one.
- May 19, 2026: the commission approved an amendment that brought the architect's agreement to $1,509,909. That figure covers design and construction administration only, not construction itself. The staff report lists $500,000 in CRA funding and $3.29 million in the city's FY2026 to 2030 capital program.
The city expected design to start in June 2026 and take about eight to nine months. The architect's proposal then allows four months for bidding and contracting. The proposal's draft schedule has the construction contract awarded by April 6, 2027, with permit review running into May. That schedule was written before design began, and no public source has confirmed a construction start or named a reopening date. Whatever the Crest page's "Under Construction" label means, it doesn't put the auditorium back on this season's calendar.
The Town Square Plan Describes What the Campus Already Does
Consultant Duncan Webb presented the first phase of his needs assessment to the City Commission in September. He recommended three things: formally designate Old School Square as Delray Beach's town square, expand arts education across the campus, and build the staff and systems to run events and festivals. He estimated that about 1.35 million people live within a 30-minute drive of the campus. Commissioners pushed for faster, more specific next steps, and staff said a follow-up business plan would cost about $50,000 per phase.
Compare that list with this fall's schedule. Arts education is already running in the Crest classrooms and filling the Cornell for a student show. Festival use is already on the calendar most weekends, and the Amphitheatre is booked as a working performance and festival venue. Most of what Webb recommended is happening already. The plan would make it official and figure out who runs it.
The season peaks on Tuesday, December 1, with the 100-foot Christmas Tree Lighting and Yuletide Street Fair from 6 to 9 p.m. The city lists more than 60 vendors, food trucks, entertainment and Santa, with a holiday village that includes skating, a carousel and mini golf. According to Downtown Delray, Santa lights the tree at 7 p.m., and the tree and Santa's Holiday Village are scheduled to stay up through New Year's Day. After that, downtown's attention shifts east to the Delray Beach Open. Legends and ATP 250 qualifying run February 12 to 14, 2027, and Tour matches run February 15 to 21. The opening Legends session lists Andy Roddick, Tommy Haas and the Bryan brothers.
Event pages can change, so check the Old School Square calendar before you head over on any given Saturday.
At The South Ocean Group, we live and work a few blocks from Old School Square, and we keep track of what happens on that campus the same way our neighbors do. If you're wondering how a home near Swinton and Atlantic fits into your plans for the next few seasons, whether that means a GreenMarket walk or a front-row view of the Crest's eventual reopening, give us a call. We can talk through what it's worth now with a Free Home Value, or show you what's available within walking distance.
