Round Rock's Newest Fall Outings Carry Its Oldest Names

Two storefronts at 117 and 119 E. Main St. in downtown Round Rock reopened in late September with a renovated space, a new stage and two names that are more than a century old. One side is Alcove, a bar and restaurant. The other is The Fair, a country-western room with a pool table and a full bar. Both names belonged to businesses that operated in that building long before anyone in town had heard of a craft cocktail.

This fall, the same thing is happening across town. A two-room farmhouse built in 1873 reopens Nov. 7 near the farmland it started on, and a festival built on a stagecoach-era legend turns 32 this weekend. Downtown and the Old Settlers Association grounds are both reaching back to their earliest names. The calendar from now to New Year's makes the most sense if you follow those names.

Two storefronts, two sets of dates

Owners Michelle Ly and Erik Hall opened Alcove Cantina in 2016. The business reopened as Sociedad on April 10, 2026. It went back to Alcove in September after a business partnership ended, Community Impact reported. The Fair opened Sept. 25 as an expansion of the same venue. It serves the same menu and adds a stage, a pool table and a full bar.

Ly described the combined space to Community Impact this way:

"I think the biggest thing is that we can offer an elevated date night spot, live music on the patio or a country western theme—three separate feels in one location."

The history behind those names depends on which source you read. The city's Historic Downtown Walking Guide lists 117 E. Main as the "Robinson Building/The Fair (1886)." It lists 119 E. Main separately as a 1945 bus depot and says, "During prohibition it was an ice cream parlor called The Alcove." The city's Local Legends history page says William Walsh's oldest son opened The Fair at 117 E. Main in 1900. It calls the store "a company store serving the White Lime Company workers." Community Impact's 10-year anniversary story on the business gives different dates. It links the Alcove name to Alcove Ice Cream, which it calls one of the building's first occupants in 1881, and links The Fair to an 1886 grocery.

The sources don't fully agree on when each business opened, and nothing we found settles it. They do agree on the basics. An ice cream parlor called The Alcove and a store called The Fair both did business at this address, and both names were gone for decades before this September.

The Palm House returns to its farm

Downtown also gave something back this year. In 1873, Andrew J. Palm built a frame house with his wife, Carolina, and they raised eight children there. His parents, Anders and Anna Palm, left Sweden in 1848 with six sons. After Anders died, Anna and the sons settled in Palm Valley. The family later donated the house to the Round Rock Chamber, which moved it downtown in 1976. For decades it served as both a museum and Chamber office space.

In 2024 it moved again, to the Old Settlers Association property. The city announced at the time that the house would stand just northwest of its original farm site. The house is a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Its old downtown spot is now a walkway connecting the City Arts Center and the Round Rock Public Library. If you've walked between those two buildings recently, you've crossed the spot where the Palm House stood for nearly 50 years.

The restoration began in March and was expected to finish in July. The city's restoration announcement said up to $500,000 in Hotel Occupancy Tax funding was available for the project. The work list included:

• Partial structural framing
• A new front porch with an ADA-compliant ramp, plus a rear deck
• Cedar siding and a new shake roof
• Refurbished original windows, shutters and interior doors, plus a new entry door
• New electrical, lighting, HVAC and insulation

The Old Settlers Association will hold the grand reopening on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 10 a.m. at 3300 E. Palm Valley Blvd., followed by an open house until noon. According to Community Impact's report, the museum will display furniture and other household items from the years the house was lived in. When we checked, the association's own events page didn't list the reopening yet. Check wcosa.org before you go.

The 32nd Hairy Man Festival

The oldest name on the fall calendar may be one nobody can date. As Community Impact retold it, the folklore says that on a stormy night in the 1800s, a boy fell from a settlers' stagecoach and no one noticed. He survived alone in the woods, grew into a long-haired recluse who guarded those woods, and is said to haunt Hairy Man Road. The community started a festival around the story in 1994.

The 32nd festival runs Saturday, Oct. 17, from noon to 5 p.m. at Cat Hollow Park, 8320 O'Connor Drive. Admission is free. Organizers suggest a donation of two nonperishable food items or $2 per person for the Round Rock Serving Center. The festival schedule starts with the Hairy Man 5K at 9 a.m. During the afternoon there's music, food and craft vendors, carnival games, Halloween crafts, scavenger hunts, face painting, inflatables, a petting zoo, a sauce contest and a costume contest. The legend reading is at 4:15 p.m., followed by the Hairiest Man contest at 4:30.

If you have kids who haven't heard the legend yet, the 4:15 reading is the part to plan around.

Downtown keeps Wednesday nights

With Alcove and The Fair back on East Main, downtown has more reasons to stay out past dinner on Wednesdays. The city's free Music on Main series returned Oct. 7 and runs Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. at Prete Plaza, 221 E. Main St. The posted lineup goes through Dec. 23. Prete Plaza is just up the street from 117 E. Main. The Fair stage and patio music at Alcove give downtown a second music option after the plaza concert ends at 9.

In December, downtown adds lights. Hometown Holiday Lights run every night from Dec. 1 to 31 and are free to the public, according to the city's holiday events fact sheet. We couldn't find a 2026 schedule for separate holiday concerts. For now, the Wednesday series is the confirmed live music downtown through December.

Old Settlers Park takes the big gatherings

The season's larger city events are at Old Settlers Park, on the east side of town:

• Fall Fun Festival, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Lakeview Pavilion. Free, with canned-food donations requested.
• Veterans Day Celebration, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Lakeview Stage and Pavilion. Performers include the Stony Point High School NJROTC and Chamber Choir, with food afterward from Juicy Lucee's ATX and VFW Post 9078.
• Light Up the Lake, Friday, Dec. 4, starting at 6 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 5, until 10 p.m. Expect live music on the Lakeview Stage, giant illuminated balloons over Bright Lake, a light show, holiday displays, crafts and a yule log. The city calls it a walking event on sidewalks and grass.

Between the two Old Settlers events in November, the 22nd annual Rockin' Around the Holidays Bazaar fills Clay Madsen Recreation Center on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, and organizers ask for a canned-food donation or a box of Band-Aids for a children's hospital.

The fall calendar, in order

Alcove and The Fair are open now at 117 and 119 E. Main St. On a Wednesday, you can catch the Prete Plaza concert from 7 to 9 and then walk down to one of the two businesses that brought those 1800s names back.

At Four22 Realty Group, we follow these Round Rock stories because our clients live here and ask us what's happening, from the Palm House reopening to the newest stage on East Main. Whether you're planning a weekend or thinking about where you want to live next, Start Your Move Today with a team that knows both downtown and the Old Settlers side of town.