North of 285, Sandy Springs Has Its Own Fall Calendar Now

On Wednesday, October 14, at 2 p.m., the City of Sandy Springs will cut the ribbon on the renovated Morgan Falls Dog Park at 100 Morgan Falls Road. The work finished ahead of schedule. Yeager, a Sandy Springs Police Department K-9, is on the guest list to give the park what the city's announcement calls the sniff test.

The dog park lot is also the city's official parking spot for the Springway. Down Roswell Road, River Springs Shopping Center at 8610 Roswell Road now hosts a monthly evening market that the city says it built for the north end. City Springs still holds most of the city's big fall dates. This fall, though, the north end has a week of its own: a trailhead, the river, a Thursday market and new places to eat.

One Parking Lot, Two Jobs

The dog park sits on 3.4 acres inside Morgan Falls Park, overlooking the Chattahoochee. According to the city's ribbon-cutting announcement, the renovation started with community input and a practical fix. The crew graded a drainage channel so dogs and their owners have a dry place to play. The finished park includes:

• Two fenced areas, one for small dogs and one for large dogs
• Shade structures, benches and picnic tables
• Waste stations, wash stations and drinking fountains
• Boulders for dogs to climb and look around from

The more useful detail is on a different city page. The Springway Morgan Falls Connector page tells drivers to park at the dog park to reach the trail. That's the 1.88-mile paved segment running from Morgan Falls Overlook Park to Roswell Road at Cimarron Parkway. It's open dawn to dusk, it bans gas-powered vehicles and golf carts, and it asks walkers to keep pets on a short leash along the right shoulder. The upgraded dog park and the trailhead share a lot. Every improvement at 100 Morgan Falls Road serves trail users too.

The city wants to extend that trail. On October 6, City Council voted to apply for a $3 million state grant for Morgan Falls Loop/Springway Segment 2C, Rough Draft Atlanta reported. The vote was only to apply. The state hasn't picked any projects yet, and the city's Springway page still lists the segments next to the finished Segment 2A as in design.

A Thursday Market Built for This End of Roswell Road

The city's own wording is the clearest sign of a deliberate shift. When it announced the new Sandy Springs Night Market in August, it described it as an evening version of the Saturday morning outdoor market. The goal, in the city's words, was an after-work shopping experience "on the north end" of the city.

The market runs on the first Thursday of September, October and November, 5 to 8 p.m., at River Springs Shopping Center, 8610 Roswell Road. The city lists more than 30 local farmers, food producers, artisans and specialty vendors, and it frames the market as a place to pick up dinner or a hostess gift on the way home. October 1 has already passed, so Thursday, November 5 is the last date this year.

The same shopping center already had a sit-down option before the market arrived. Crave Kitchen & Bistro operates at 8610 Roswell Road, Suite 140, serving a Mediterranean, European and American menu, according to an update on its opening from March 2026. A little south, Arabian Cafe & Cocktails opened July 24 at 8347 Roswell Road. The AJC's roundup of July openings describes it as a Middle Eastern restaurant and cocktail lounge.

Put a market, a bistro and a new cocktail lounge within a short stretch of Roswell Road and the north end has a weeknight evening that doesn't need City Springs. On the first Thursday of the month, it also has an event.

The River Side Picks Up the Weekend

Weekends on the north end tend to start at the river, and the river trails grew this summer. On July 1, the National Park Service reopened the Island Ford trail system after restoration work. The project added about 2 miles of new trail, taking the network from 4.8 miles to nearly 7. The Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy raised more than $400,000 from individual donors and the wider community to pay for the design and construction. The new routes include defined loops and out-and-back options that reach areas that used to be hard to get to. Anyone who last hiked Island Ford before this summer will find a different trail map, with better surfaces and new signs.

Upstream at Morgan Falls Overlook Park, the season's water access is still running. Murph's Surf lists Overlook Park rentals Wednesday through Sunday for its 2026 season. The operator says that depends on weather and staffing, and it points customers to its booking calendar instead of naming a closing date. On the park's October calendar, the one special event is a bird walk on Saturday, October 17, from 8 to 11 a.m. Birds Georgia lists a field trip at Morgan Falls Overlook Park the same day.

October 17 Shows Both Calendars at Once

That Saturday makes the split easy to see. City Springs has its busiest weekend of the month, and the north end has a full day of its own.

OktoberFEAST offers Bavarian food and beer and live music. The rest of the season splits the same way. The south end has the big-ticket dates: Spooky Springs on October 24, a Veterans Day Tribute on November 11, and Sparkle Sandy Springs on December 6, which the city says will include a nighttime parade, a holiday market and tree and menorah lightings. The north end has a routine that repeats every week: trail, river, dog park, dinner.

The Gap North River Is Meant to Fill

The north end's routine still lacks a public gathering space with a lawn, restrooms and room for a band. The city's plan to add one sits farther up Roswell Road from River Springs, at 8830.

On August 18, Sandy Springs approved incentives for Woodfield Development's redevelopment of North River Shopping Center at 8830 Roswell Road. The city's announcement includes a 0.71-acre public park that Woodfield would build and then deed to the city. Plans call for native landscaping, two playgrounds, open turf for recreation and community events, shaded porch seating, public restrooms and flexible space for live music and other neighborhood programming. The city notes the site is within walking distance of the Chattahoochee River and nearby trail connections. Mayor Rusty Paul called it "the vision we've had for the north end for years." The city's North End planning work dates back to a 2018 task force.

The park is still a plan. In August, Urbanize Atlanta listed a handful of remaining tenants, including Dollar General, a gaming store, a salon and a liquor store. Rough Draft Atlanta reported at the end of that month that partial demolition was visible on the southern part of the site. It also reported that Woodfield expected to close on the property in October, with construction tentatively later in 2026. Full clearing of the site depends on the remaining tenant leases ending. No firm date for full demolition or groundbreaking has been announced. The incentives, valued at just over $4.3 million, depend on Woodfield demolishing the center and building both the project and the city park.

For now the north end's main gathering spots are a dog park lot that doubles as a trailhead and a shopping center that hosts a market once a month. The next market date is Thursday, November 5, at 8610 Roswell Road.

Neumann & Co works with homeowners across Sandy Springs, including the streets between Roswell Road and the river, where nearby trails, the river and future plans like North River all shape what a home is worth. If you live north of 285 and want to know where your home stands this fall, start with a home valuation.