On a few Saturdays this fall, the best food in Bellville was only for sale until noon, and most of it was on Palm Street. The Bakehouse Texas, Joy Wilson's walk-up bakery behind her house at 310 E Palm St., opens only on the first Saturday of the month. Its hours are 9 a.m. to noon or until the baking sells out. The farmers market at Bishop Pavilion, at Bell and Palm Streets, runs on the same morning and stops at noon too.
Two first Saturdays remain in 2026: November 7 and December 5. Stephen F. Austin State Park has something on its calendar for each, and each one is different. This guide covers how to plan both mornings so nothing runs out before you get there.
Two Noon Cutoffs on One Street
Bellville's Chamber of Commerce lists the Bellville Market Day and Farmers Market for Saturday, November 7, and again for Saturday, December 5. It's really two events with different hours. The Farmers Market runs 9 a.m. to noon at Bishop Pavilion. Market Day runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the downtown Square. Admission to both is free.
The market was a regular Saturday thing before the bakery came along. What's new this fall is a second noon deadline down the street. Wilson's posted schedule for The Bakehouse Texas lists September 5, October 3, November 7 and December 5. Every one of them falls on a market Saturday. Both close by noon, and the bakery may sell out sooner. That means the order you visit them in matters more than it does on any other Saturday.
The Bakery Behind the Leaning Victorian
Wilson writes and bakes as Joy the Baker. She started The Bakehouse NOLA in 2016 in her double-shotgun house in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood, where small groups came over to make pies and decorate cakes. When she moved to Bellville, she bought a Victorian house built in 1888. Out back was a garage workshop with big worktables left by the previous owners. She put an oven in one corner, added a small sink with butcher-block counters, and pictured customers standing outside the roll-up door with cookies and coffee.
The ovens went quiet this summer. Her August 20 post, The Bakehouse Texas: How I Ended Up With a Bakery in My Backyard, announced a September 5 reopening with a simpler setup:
"No preorders. Just walk up, see what came out of the oven, and point at what you want."
You find it by looking for the big leaning Victorian and walking down the side driveway into the backyard. She takes cash, Venmo and Zelle. If you bring your own mug, she'll fill it with a free cup of Bellville's Interstellar Coffee.
The September menu shows the range:
- The Bakehouse Texas chocolate chip cookies, crisp at the edges and gooey in the middle
- Big buttermilk biscuit jammers with pockets of jam
- Pork, cabbage and ginger sausage rolls
- Brown butter cornbread cookies
- Olive oil polenta cakes with raspberry
- Cheddar scallion scones
She bakes everything fresh that Saturday morning and sells it first come, first served until it's gone. This is a small operation run by one owner, so the November and December dates come from her own published schedule. Her Instagram, @thebakehousetexas, is the place to confirm a date or catch a last-minute change.
The same post mentions plans that could make first Saturdays bigger. She wants to turn an old horse trailer into a coffee cart, bring baking classes back inside the big house, and invite cookbook authors, bakers and chefs to come bake in Bellville. She is also starting to look for part-time baking help.
After Noon, the Square Is Still Open
The Farmers Market closes at noon, but Market Day on the downtown Square keeps going until 4 p.m. So the morning can go in a set order. Start at the backyard bakery. Next, buy produce and pantry goods at Bishop Pavilion before the noon close. Leave the Square for later in the day, since it's the one stop that doesn't end at lunchtime.
That gives you room for a trip out of town in the middle of the day. Each remaining first Saturday has a different reason to make that trip.
The Park Has a Different Event Each Month
On November 7, Stephen F. Austin State Park in San Felipe hosts the BigTex Backyard Ultra: Last Runner Standing, organized by Trail Racing Over Texas. 2026 is its fourth year. Runners start a 4.17-mile loop at 7 a.m. and again at the top of every hour until only one is left. Anyone who finishes 24 loops earns a 100-mile buckle. This year the race adds a Last Rucker Standing division on a shorter loop. Ruckers carry 20 pounds if they weigh under 150 pounds and 30 pounds if they weigh more. The free Lil Tex Kids run starts right after the noon lap on a loop of about 1 kilometer. If you're going for the runners, the noon lap is a good target. It comes right after the bakery and farmers market close, and the kids' run follows it.
December 5 is quieter. The park lists a guided First Saturday Hike from 10 to 11 a.m., starting at the RV Loop Restroom. The listing calls it a one-hour walk for all ages and experience levels. It's included with park admission: $5 for adults, free for children 12 and under, and free for Texas State Park Pass holders. The 10 a.m. start overlaps with both noon cutoffs in town. Visiting all three means getting to the bakery right at 9 or making a second trip downtown in the afternoon for Market Day.
The park's calendar lists the hike as a repeating event, but the only date checked for this post was December 5. The park's number for questions is (979) 885-3613.
| Time | Saturday, Nov. 7 | Saturday, Dec. 5 |
|---|---|---|
| 7 a.m. | BigTex Backyard Ultra first lap, SFA State Park | |
| 9 a.m. | Bakehouse Texas, Farmers Market and Market Day open | Bakehouse Texas, Farmers Market and Market Day open |
| 10 a.m. | First Saturday Hike, RV Loop Restroom | |
| Noon | Bakehouse closes or sells out sooner; Farmers Market closes; Lil Tex Kids run after noon lap | Bakehouse closes or sells out sooner; Farmers Market closes |
| 4 p.m. | Market Day on the Square closes | Market Day on the Square closes |
The park has a few more November dates that aren't first Saturdays. Forest Bathing on Sunday, November 1, is a guided, mindful one-mile hike from 10 to 11 a.m., meeting at the Amphitheater, with no advance registration. A Night Hike follows on November 14 from 6 to 7 p.m. at the RV Loop Restrooms. That one requires registration.
What December's Calendar Doesn't Show Yet
December 5 could end up as the busiest first Saturday of the year, but nothing published so far says so. The Bellville Small Town Christmas website still lists a 43rd annual celebration on Friday, December 5, and Saturday, December 6, with no year given. The site's vendor application gives those same dates and a November 21, 2025 deadline, so they belong to last year's festival. Austin County News Online's 2025 preview described a Friday courthouse tree lighting at 6 p.m. followed by the Lighted Christmas Parade, plus Breakfast with Santa at Newman's Bakery on Saturday. That year's Saturday Market Day ran alongside it.
As of October 7, no 2026 schedule has been posted. The Chamber's calendar for December 5, 2026 shows the regular Market Day and Farmers Market and the Brenham run of Unity Theatre's A Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play, which runs December 3 through 20, but no Small Town Christmas. The festival website and the Chamber calendar are the places to watch for the parade and tree lighting dates. One December date is set: the Bellville Chamber of Commerce Annual Christmas Party, which doubles as its annual meeting, is December 10 at Newman's Castle. The time hasn't been announced.
At Bill Johnson Real Estate, we've watched Bellville's Saturdays change for more than fifty years from our office in town, and we're glad to see a new reason to be on Palm Street early. If a morning on the Square has you thinking about a place nearby with room for a garden, a workshop or an oven of your own, talk to a local land expert today.
