If you drove Chicago Drive last October and again this August, you would not describe it as the same downtown. The stretch between Terra Square and Harvey Street has picked up an ice cream shop, a new restaurant tenant, and the final buildings of a six-building apartment project that has been under construction since 2024. The Wednesday farmers market you already know is winding down for the season. A New Holland Brewery concept you have probably read about is about to open its doors. And Post Family Farm is a few weeks from its busiest month of the year.
Put the pieces together and this is the first fall where a Hudsonville resident can spend a full Saturday inside a walkable downtown and still make it out to Bauer Road for pumpkin donuts before dark. That is new. Here is what to actually do with it.
The Harvey Street stretch you might not have walked in a few months
If your last downtown errand was picking up something at the winery in early spring, you missed a ribbon cutting. Huddy's, a locally owned ice cream shop, opened in spring 2026 in downtown Hudsonville along Harvey Street, with the grand opening and ribbon cutting on April 22 at 4:00 p.m. at 5340 Plaza Ave. The concept, from co-owner Matt VanWoerkom, was designed as a gathering spot rather than a scoop-and-go counter.
There is a nice piece of local circularity at work here. Huddy's serves Hudsonville Ice Cream, a nod to the fact that ice cream has been a staple of the community since local farmers began crafting Hudsonville Ice Cream flavors in 1926, and although the company has since moved its operations to Holland, it still carries a strong sense of pride and connection to the town. Which is to say: the flavor made under the town name is finally being scooped inside the town again, one hundred years after the original farmers started churning it.
The shop landed on a stretch that the city has been actively rebuilding. Recent investment and infrastructure improvements have made downtown Hudsonville a hub for the community, with streetscape enhancements, new development, and public spaces creating more opportunities for people to gather, grab a bite, enjoy the social district, or attend a community event. The social district piece matters if you are meeting friends. You can carry a drink between participating businesses within the marked boundaries rather than finishing it inside one door.
Wednesday mornings at Terra Square, while they last
The Terra Square Farmers Market is the piece of the fall calendar with the shortest runway. The market is a weekly community event on Wednesdays, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, June through September. Once September closes, that is it until next June.
If you have never brought kids on a Wednesday, or you have not been since June, the programming rotates week to week. Recent lineups have included:
- Bounce house, giant bubbles, live music, and a visiting fire truck
- Morning yoga with a sign-up, plus 10:00 AM Storytime with the library
- Craft sessions with Terra Square and gift card tokens at 11:00 AM
- Live music running alongside the vendor stalls
Two other things worth knowing before you go. Terra Square Farmers Market accepts SNAP, WIC, and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, so the market is a legitimate grocery stop, not only a browse. And the market has USDA Certified organic products if that is a filter you shop by.
The Pinwheel Kitchen question mark inside Terra Square
The bigger downtown story this fall is a restaurant that has not opened yet. A new dining option is set to arrive in Hudsonville fall of 2026 as Pinwheel Kitchen prepares to open its doors inside Terra Square at 3380 Chicago Drive.
If the name is unfamiliar, the parent company is not. The Pinwheel Kitchen concept emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic when owner Brett VanderKamp observed families stepping away from the busyness of everyday life to gather around a simple meal of pinwheels during a season of isolation, and the comfort-food favorite carries a sense of nostalgia for many who grew up along Michigan's lakeshore, where New Holland's pinwheels became famous. VanderKamp is president and CEO of New Holland Brewery, which is what makes the Terra Square lease more than a routine downtown addition.
"We're incredibly excited to bring Pinwheel Kitchen to Hudsonville and become part of this community. Terra Square is the ideal location for us to deliver exceptional food, service, and meaningful connections. Hudsonville's energy and events make this the perfect next chapter for the Pinwheel model."
An official opening date will be announced in the coming months as final preparations are completed, so the safe move is to keep an eye on Terra Square's channels rather than plan a specific opening-week visit.
The block behind Terra Square is filling in, too
If you have driven past the construction fencing near School Avenue and wondered when it wraps, you are close. Veneklasen Development's Terra Station project has been rolling out in phases, and apartments will be released in phases as each building is completed, with the final units opening in Fall 2026. The scale is not small. Terra Station is a $32 million mixed-use development that will help to reshape the downtown area into a more modern, walkable community.
The mix is worth knowing as a neighbor. Thirty-five units will be reserved for residents making 80% to 95% of the area median income, and the building on School Avenue will feature 4,640 square feet of ground-floor space, which can be subdivided into up to 4 individual retail spaces. Translation: the same block that opens onto Terra Square is about to add small-format storefronts that will need tenants. If you own a business in town, that is a leasing conversation opening up in the next few months.
Zoom out and this is part of a bigger arc. Mayor Mark Northrup describes Hudsonville's transformation as deliberate, and in just a few years, the city is on pace to grow from roughly 7,500 residents to more than 9,000, supported by a major increase in housing development activity. The Village Green, planned as a central open space in the heart of downtown, is intended to serve as a community heartbeat, a flexible, activated green space built for programming, events, markets, and everyday gathering. The downtown you are watching take shape this fall is the one described in the city's master plan, not an accident.
The Saturday drive out to Bauer Road
There is a point in September when the Wednesday market closes and downtown alone will not carry the season. That is when the calendar turns to Post Family Farm at 5081 Bauer Road. If you have been in Hudsonville more than a year, you already know the donuts. If you are newer, plan around what the Fall Festival actually includes.
The Fall Festival features a hayride to the U-pick pumpkin patch with pumpkins priced by size, a pumpkin or pig train ride, access to the nature trail, a covered straw play area, a rope maze, friendly farm animals, horse-drawn wagon rides when the horses are willing, face painting, a corn maze, an outdoor kiddie corral, kids crafts and games, and giant tube slides. The farm is not small. Post Family Farm is a family owned and operated 80 acre farm.
One dated event to put on the calendar now: Kids Markets at Post Family Farm Fall Festival is Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 5081 Bauer Rd, a family-friendly farmers market-style event for kids ages 5 to 17. That one requires a separate registration through Kids Markets, not the farm.
The established stops still doing the heavy lifting
New openings get the headlines. The rest of the fall still runs on the places that have been serving Hudsonville for years. A short list worth rotating through:
- Hudsonville Winery, which pours award-winning wines made in Hudsonville along with hard seltzer, craft beer, and full lunch and dinner service at 3768 Chicago Drive.
- White Flame Brewing Company, an easy pairing with the winery on the same errand.
- Hudsonville Grille, remodeled in 2019, serving American plates and breakfast Wednesday through Saturday at 4676 32nd Avenue, Suite F.
- The Derby Tavern at 3686 32nd Avenue, Suite 300, doing in-house smoked meat sandwiches, steaks, and pub food in a smaller room than you would expect from the parking lot.
- Vitale's Hudsonville at 5779 Balsam Drive for the family-style pizza and pasta the wider Vitale's name is known for.
- Pike 51 Brewing Company and Licari's Sicilian Pizza Kitchen for the nights you want the routine.
None of that is news. It is context for why the Pinwheel Kitchen opening lands the way it does. A downtown that already had a winery, a brewery, a smokehouse tavern, and a hundred-year-old ice cream brand is now adding a New Holland concept and finishing a mixed-use block within the same twelve months. That combination is the reason this fall reads differently than last fall.
What to do about it
If you already own here, the practical version of all of this is short. Get one more Wednesday market in before it closes. Walk Harvey Street on a warm evening and see what the social district actually feels like. Watch Terra Square's channels for Pinwheel Kitchen's opening date. Take the kids to Post Family Farm on a weekend that is not the second Saturday of October, when the line for donuts gets long. If a friend from out of town is coming through in October, you finally have a downtown loop worth showing them.
If you are watching the neighborhood for other reasons, the team at Jake Peterson Homes lives and works in this market and is happy to talk through what all of this changes about specific streets, price points, and timing. Contact Us when you are ready.
