The City of Homestead switched on DiscoverHomestead.com on Friday, November 6, a new website built to gather the city's attractions, restaurants, arts spaces, outdoor destinations and upcoming events in one place. It went live the same weekend as the NASCAR finale at the speedway and two weeks before downtown's holiday season begins.

The launch is the latest step in Discover Homestead, the city's destination and local business initiative. That effort began in November 2025 with the first Winter Wonderland in Downtown Homestead, followed by a community calendar where residents can look up local activities. The new site pulls both of those pieces together with guides to what the area offers.

Two national parks, one starting point

The site opens with a pitch that few cities in the country can make: Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park each sit roughly 20 minutes from downtown. The Outdoors and Nature section notes that the Everglades covers about 1.5 million acres and carries three international designations: International Biosphere Reserve (1976), World Heritage Site (1979) and Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention (1987). Biscayne, on the other side of town, is about 95 percent water and protects living coral reef and a chain of island keys.

Closer to home, the same section points to the Redland's farm and garden stops. Fruit & Spice Park is listed as a tropical botanical garden with no counterpart elsewhere in the United States. Schnebly Redland's Winery makes wine from tropical fruit. Robert Is Here, a fruit stand dating to 1959, carries hundreds of tropical varieties, and Knaus Berry Farm, run by the same family since 1956, opens from November through May and closes on Mondays.

For anyone planning a camping trip, the site flags that the Long Pine Key and Flamingo campgrounds in the Everglades fill up during the dry season and suggests reserving early.

History, murals and a downtown museum

The Arts and Culture page reads like a walking tour of the downtown core. It covers the Historic Town Hall Museum, built in 1917, which once kept fire trucks on the ground floor and jail cells in the back. The Seminole Theatre, which opened in 1921, burned to its shell in 1940, was rebuilt the same year behind an Art Deco facade, went dark in 1979 and reopened in 2015 after restoration.

The page also lists the Homestead Cybrarium, opened in 2021 with a virtual reality cube, a makerspace, a vintage letterpress and about 34,000 items, along with two murals added to the Seminole Theatre's exterior in July 2025. Everglades Dreamscape by AJ Davis, on the north wall, includes a blue heron, a ghost orchid and a hieroglyphic moth. River of Grass Sunrise by Kenny Maguire covers the west wall in marsh tones. The William Julius Krome sculpture in Losner Park, which honors the surveyor who routed Flagler's railroad south, and the Greetings from Homestead mural round out the list.

Attractions and places to eat

The Attractions section gathers names most South Dade families already know: Coral Castle, carved from limestone by Edward Leedskalnin between 1923 and 1951 and open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last tour at 7 p.m.); Homestead-Miami Speedway, the 1.5-mile oval that opened in 1995; and the Homestead Championship Rodeo, running since 1949 and the only PRCA-sanctioned rodeo in Miami-Dade County. It also lists Hooky Entertainment on Krome Avenue, the Everglades Alligator Farm and Pinto's Farm.

The Dining page is a searchable directory with filters for American, Asian, bakery, Caribbean, coffee, Italian, Latin and Mexican food, with grid, list and map views. Early listings include Casita Tejas and Yardie Spice on Krome Avenue, Sak Pasé downtown, Sushi Sake on Flagler Avenue, Chefs on the Run on Mowry Drive and Mamma Mia on Washington Avenue.

Getting around without the car

A Plan Your Visit section covers parking, Metro Express service along the South Dade TransitWay and the Homestead Trolley, which runs three routes free of charge, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekends. It also links to downtown lodging and to hotels along the corridor between the two parks.

What is on the calendar this month

The city's own calendar lists a Movie Night showing Minions 3 on Friday, November 20, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the William F. Dickinson Community Center, 1601 N. Krome Avenue. The next evening, Saturday, November 21, the Holiday Tree Lighting at Losner Park, 104 N. Krome Avenue, runs from 5 to 10 p.m. and opens the second season of Winter Wonderland, which continues through January 10, 2027. DiscoverHomestead.com carries the full Winter Wonderland schedule, including its themed weeks and weekly nights.

How to use it

The site is live now at DiscoverHomestead.com, and no account is needed. The community calendar sits at visit.discoverhomestead.com, where events can be filtered by category (festivals, food and dining, arts and culture, sports and recreation) and added to a personal calendar. Local businesses, community organizations and event organizers can submit their own events there to be included. Questions go to the City of Homestead, 100 Civic Court, Homestead, FL 33030, or 305-224-4400.

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