Coyote Drive-In Went Dark and a New Plaza Opened Upstream. Where a Fall Evening on the Trinity Goes Now.

"Fort Worth has been getting more and more boring every year," Tristan Batey told the Fort Worth Report on Coyote Drive-In's last night. "So much new stuff is coming, but it only lasts like three years, and then it's gone. But this place has held that bulwark." Batey was 19 and working as a shift lead at the concession stand. That was Labor Day, Sept. 7, and roughly 800 cars filled the 18-acre lot for the final showings on four screens.

Ten days later, at the Phyllis Tilley Memorial Bridge landing in Trinity Park, Streams & Valleys cut the ribbon on a new plaza.

Taken together, those two dates change the map of the central Trinity for the rest of 2026. The Panther Island side, just across the North Main Street bridge from downtown, is moving into construction. The larger replacements there and elsewhere along the river are 2027 projects. For this fall, the river's everyday evening space is on the Trinity Park and Clearfork side, on ground that is free to use. The Panther Island side mostly shows up on the calendar as scheduled event dates.

The Coyote Lot Was Always Temporary

Coyote Drive-In opened in 2013 at 223 NE 4th St., on land leased from the Tarrant Regional Water District. The lease ended as originally agreed. Its president, Glenn Solomon, said, "We've had a good run, longer than we expected."

The drive-in wasn't the only temporary use of that lot. For nine winters, while the screens were off, the water district ran an outdoor ice rink there called Panther Island Ice. The rink ended in 2022, and the district pointed to the growth of private ice rinks as the reason. The site has always been a placeholder for Panther Island, and the drive-in outlasted what its operators expected.

Work on two new canals and a 3-acre park on the 18-acre property is expected to begin this fall. The Fort Worth Report describes this as the first half of the bypass channel that will reroute the Trinity River as part of a $1.16 billion project. One piece of the drive-in stays. Its pavilion is set to remain as part of the future park. That is Coyote's own pavilion, separate from Panther Island Pavilion, the event venue next door.

Solomon has said he is looking at other locations for the theater but hasn't named one. General manager Chris Fortune, who ran the drive-in from opening day, said the closure leaves "a giant hole" for Fort Worth moviegoers.

What Opened in Trinity Park on Sept. 17

Streams & Valleys Plaza is the opposite of a drive-in lot. It has no screen, no gate and no admission. Here's what is there now:

• 63 trees planted in memory of Phyllis Tilley, who founded Streams & Valleys in 1969
• A native grass and wildflower meadow, plus a pollinator garden
• A 24-person harvest table and six benches
• Educational signage, a water fountain and a bike repair station

Board chair John Stevenson called the Trinity "something free and something welcoming" and said the plaza "embodies all of those things." Executive Director Lauren Deen was upfront that the plaza is young. "Streams & Valleys Plaza is just getting started, and we're excited to watch it grow into itself over the years," she said, describing a place "where you can stop for a drink of water, fix your bike, meet a friend, enjoy the shade."

The fountain and repair stand work from day one. The shade and the full meadow take years, because the trees were just planted. This fall, the plaza is best used as a meeting point and a trail stop. The Trinity Trails network it opens onto covers more than 120 miles, connecting 31 neighborhoods and 21 parks.

The Fall Calendar Runs Through Both Banks

The scheduled events show how the two sides now split. Trinity Park gets the first big weekend of the season. Panther Island Pavilion's current event listing still shows dated events as construction starts next door.

1. Sept. 24–26: Fort Worth Oktoberfest, Trinity Park. This three-day festival starts tomorrow in the same park as the new plaza.
2. Oct. 10: Beer City Fort Worth, Panther Island Pavilion.
3. Nov. 14: Breakthrough T1D Walk, Panther Island Pavilion.

The water district's fall Trinity River Trash Bash was Sept. 19, so it's already happened this year. The water district suspended Rockin' the River, its tubing-and-music series, in 2024. On the Panther Island side, the plan-ahead options are these dated events. The drive-in's nightly screenings are no longer part of it.

Where an Unplanned Evening Lands

On nights with no event, the riverfront spots that already had a following sit southwest of downtown, along the trail.

Press Cafe at the Trailhead at Clearfork. July 2026 reporting described riverfront yoga held outside the cafe, including a May session attended by dozens of people. If you want to sit down before or after a trail loop, this is the one to know by name.

Westbend. The August 2026 tenant directory lists Ascension Coffee, HG Supply Co. and Quince among its dining tenants. The Westbend Residences expansion now under construction includes a ground-floor restaurant, and the January 2026 report on it named no operator or opening date.

On the water. The Fort Worth Report has described TC Paddlesports at Panther Island as a year-round rental business. Check late-fall hours with the operator before planning a float.

For a flexible evening, the reliable route runs from Streams & Valleys Plaza along the Trinity Trails toward Clearfork and Westbend. It's all free public ground plus the businesses already open along it.

What Arrives After This Season

Several projects that will reshape the river corridor have end dates past 2026. A couple of them have already slipped.

The Heritage and Paddock row matters most for this fall. A 2022 city announcement hoped to open the renovated parks on the downtown bluff in November 2026. The current project page lists 2027. The North Bypass Channel is planned at 3,900 feet and includes pedestrian connections and maintenance trails. That trail access is part of the long-term plan and won't be usable this year.

As crews mobilize on the Coyote site, the water district's notices are the place to watch for any trail or pavilion detours. For now, a fall evening on the central Trinity means Oktoberfest this weekend, the dated events on Panther Island Pavilion's listing, and the free stretch from the new plaza in Trinity Park toward Clearfork, where the trees are still small.

If living near the Trinity Trails, or owning a rental there, figures into your next move, message Harman on WhatsApp. HXC Real Estate can walk you through which Fort Worth addresses already sit near the finished stretch of the river and which ones depend on the 2027 projects.