- March 12, 2025
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Guests line up for food trucks at Ranch Nite Wednesday on Dec. 11 at Waterside Place.
Photo by Lesley DwyerLakewood Ranch's Phillip and Summer Saxton bring their children Sadie, Archer and Joelle to Waterside Place for a festive photo with Santa.
Photo by Lesley DwyerLakewood Ranch's Christine and Chris Salicco are looking for a specific food truck. It serves great chicken teriyaki, but they can't remember the name of the truck.
Photo by Lesley DwyerSarasota's Nikole Kennedy and Sam Andrea stop at the Say Cheese food truck.
Photo by Lesley DwyerWaterside's Harley, a 2-year-old French bull dog, is dressed for the chilly weather at Ranch Nite on Dec. 11.
Photo by Lesley DwyerWaterside's Joan, Connor and Nick Salerno stop by Ranch Nite Wednesday for a photo with Santa for the baby and a drink for the grownups.
Photo by Lesley DwyerVenice's Zion Redmond and Angelica Rivera relax by the lake after eating pizza cones for dinner, which they say is basically pizza in the shape of a cone.
Photo by Lesley DwyerThe Tampa Burger Company truck serves a steady line of people all night.
Photo by Lesley DwyerAmelie Rodriguez waits in line at the Mr. Bulgogi truck with her 1-year-old golden doodle Lily.
Photo by Lesley DwyerLakewood Ranch's Donna Israni walks her 3-year-old granddaughter in circles as they wait for their turn with Santa.
Photo by Lesley DwyerRanch Nite Wednesdays at Waterside Place attracts residents for all kinds of reasons.
On Dec. 11, the Saxton family attended the weekly event to get the perfect photo with Santa in front of the towering Christmas tree by the pavilion. Meanwhile, Chris and Christine Salicco arrived in search of an amazing chicken teriyaki dish.
“We’re looking for this one truck, but we don’t know the name of it,” Christine Salicco said. “We’ll find it eventually. We’ll have to come back every week and keep walking around.”
Lakewood Ranch rotates the vendors to keep the experience fresh, and during December, Santa makes his rounds.
Santa needs elves, so Summer Saxton dressed the whole family in white collars and pointy hats.
“We always go really big on Halloween,” she said. “This year, I thought we could just do it again in December, and it’s like double Halloween.”
She had to make a special black elf costume for her son Archer because his Elf on a Shelf "Pickles" wears black.
Pickles is a little bit naughty and a little bit nice. Saxton transformed a pair of black pajamas because Archer didn’t want to be any elf other than Pickles.
The hardest part of getting the family into elf gear was convincing her husband Phillip to wear a pair of solid gold tights.
"He knows what it means to me," Saxton said. "He helped me scratch my itch."
