Healdsburg Plaza Picnic: Wine Rules, Delis & Nearby Wineries

Yes, you can picnic on Healdsburg Plaza, and it's the only city park in Healdsburg where you can drink wine you brought. Since a 2023 change to city code, alcohol is allowed inside Plaza Park during park hours, but not on the sidewalks and streets around it. The lawn is free and first-come, and lunch is steps away: Troubadour makes sandwiches on its own sourdough, and Journeyman Meat Co. sells salumi boards to go.

Rules, hours and fees below are as of September 2026.

The rules on the Plaza

• Alcohol: allowed inside Plaza Park during park hours, under city code and the city's concert rules. It's banned on the surrounding sidewalks, streets and parking areas, and in West Plaza Park across North Street. Every other Healdsburg city park is dry.
• Dogs: pets aren't allowed in Plaza Park from 5 to 8 p.m. during the summer Tuesday concerts (service animals excepted). We couldn't confirm the rule at other times, so keep a dog leashed and check the signs.
• Smoking: not allowed in the Plaza or within 20 feet of it. The city treats the Plaza and its sidewalks as a public recreation area at all hours.
• Hours: city code closes the Plaza from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
• No reservations: the lawn and benches are first-come. Organized events need a city special event permit.

The Plaza is a single block of lawn under big old shade trees, including a coast redwood planted in 1924, with a gazebo and a fountain, ringed by tasting rooms, bakeries and restaurants. Bring a blanket.

Where to buy picnic food on foot

• Troubadour, steps from the Plaza on Healdsburg Avenue: sandwiches on its own long-fermented sourdough ($20), daily 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with online ordering.
• Journeyman Meat Co., a block away on Center Street: house-cured salumi, boards and sandwiches, which you can order online or by phone for pickup. It's open Wednesday to Sunday until about 7 p.m. and Monday until 5 p.m. (a shorter menu), and closed Tuesdays.
• Downtown Bakery & Creamery, by the Plaza on Center Street since 1987: sticky buns, croissants, baguettes, focaccia rolls, cookies and its own ice cream. Tuesday to Saturday 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.; closed Mondays.
• Costeaux French Bakery, a couple of blocks north: boxed lunches (a sandwich, a sweet, fruit salad and kettle chips) ordered online two days ahead. The café opens at 7:30 a.m. and stays open until 8 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday.
• Shelton's Natural Foods Market, just off the Plaza on Center Street: made-to-order sandwiches until about 2 p.m., a salad bar, and local beer and wine. The store is open daily 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Healdsburg Farmers Market sets up at the community pavilion on North Street, a block away, on Saturday mornings from April to December (8:30 a.m. to noon) and on Tuesdays from May through September (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.). For a one-stop shop with its own parking, Big John's Market, about a mile north on Healdsburg Avenue, is open daily until 8 p.m. For the bottle, Journeyman, Shelton's and Big John's all sell wine, and tasting rooms ring the Plaza.

Summer concert Tuesdays

The free Tuesdays in the Plaza concerts run from 6 to 8 p.m., late May to late August (in 2026, May 26 to August 25), with food vendors from 5 p.m. and free children's activities during the music. On concert days:

• chairs can go out from 8 a.m., not before, and you can't rope, tape or cone off space;
• blankets and tables stay off the concrete;
• no tents, canopies or shade structures, and no barbecues, open flames or cooking devices;
• no speakers or amplified sound;
• no pets in the Plaza from 5 to 8 p.m.

Streets and parking beside the Plaza can close for the concerts. The city also runs a Sundays in the Plaza series.

Wineries you can walk to

Most Sonoma County wineries that allow your own food take walk-ins (39 of the 68 we list), and none of them allows outside wine. Three are within about 15 minutes of the Plaza on foot:

• Truett-Hurst Winery pours in a remodeled historic barn on Hudson Street. Outside food is allowed with a minimum wine purchase for groups of six or fewer. It's open Thursday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last tasting at 4), and welcomes well-behaved kids with an adult and leashed dogs (except in areas with carpets, sofas or lounge chairs).
• Seghesio Family Vineyards, on Grove Street at the north edge of downtown, runs The Grove, an arbor-shaded lawn and lounge: bring a picnic and a blanket, buy a glass or bottle, and settle in. No reservation is needed, and kids and leashed pets are welcome. It's open daily 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., though The Grove is seasonal and depends on the weather.
• Breathless Sparkling Wines, a few blocks away on Moore Lane, books a garden spot for up to six people where you share a bottle of its sparkling wine with a self-contained picnic you bring. Reservations only; Thursday to Monday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A few minutes' drive

Wineries. Bacchus Landing, about a mile from downtown, groups several small tasting rooms around a piazza with shaded picnic tables and bocce courts, and your own picnic is welcome in the outdoor spaces. It's open Thursday to Monday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with wood-fired pizza on weekend afternoons. Wilson Winery, about 5 minutes away on Dry Creek Road, encourages picnics at its deck and patio tables, and its $25 tasting is waived when you buy a bottle. For a full day among the Dry Creek and Alexander Valley picnic wineries, follow the Healdsburg picnic day.

Parks. Most Sonoma County parks allow wine (59 of the 93 we list), but around Healdsburg it depends on the park:

• Del Rio Woods, about 5 minutes east at the foot of Fitch Mountain, has a picnic area above a bend in the Russian River, with stairs down to a gravel beach. It isn't on the county's list of parks that ban alcohol, so a bottle is fine unless a sign says otherwise. Parking is $8 ($12 in summer), leashed dogs are welcome, and it closes 30 minutes before sunset.
• Riverfront Regional Park, about 15 minutes south on Eastside Road, has picnic tables in a redwood grove next to the parking lot, on the same alcohol terms.
• Healdsburg Veterans Memorial Beach, at the south edge of downtown, bans alcohol all year, and the city's own Giorgi Park, with barbecues and a playground, doesn't allow it either.

Parking and restrooms

• Parking: street parking around the Plaza is free for a limited time, so check the posted limit, and the city has several free lots downtown.
• Restrooms: the city's downtown map marks public restrooms within a block of the Plaza, including a 24-hour one by the police station on Center Street.