Osprey Has Four Bayfront Parks Most Neighbors Drive Right Past
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
At Selby Gardens' Historic Spanish Point campus on North Tamiami Trail, a bay view is part of a ticket. Adult admission is listed at $20, the grounds are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Bayside Cottage Café looks out over the water. Visitors aren't allowed to wade, fish or swim on the site or in the water next to the Gardens.
Osprey also has four free spots on Little Sarasota Bay. You won't see a big sign for any of them from US-41. They are Webb Street Park, the Osprey Fishing Pier, Bayview Park and West Bay Street Park. Sarasota County manages them together as the Osprey Waterfront Parks. The four are separate pieces of land that came into public hands at different times, and as of the county's October 6, 2026 update, each one is at its own point between a vacant lot and a finished park. Which one is worth your evening depends on how far along it is.
| Park | Address | Hours | Status as of Oct. 6, 2026 | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webb Street Park | 200 Webb Street | 6 a.m. to sunset | Open; bench at the end of the road | Sitting, birds, sunset |
| Osprey Fishing Pier | 130 Main St. | 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. | Open except the storm-damaged far end of the pier | Fishing, kayak launch |
| Bayview Park | Bayview Lane | No posted hours in county listing | Open, with new picnic tables and cleared views | Picnic, open bay view |
| West Bay Street Park | 133 W. Bay Street | No posted hours in county listing | New parking open; dock and shoreline in design | Watching it take shape |
The two simplest spots on the list are the ones that have been around longest. The two that are changing are the newest.
Webb Street Park is about as small as a park gets. It sits at the west end of the Webb Street right-of-way and has a bench facing Little Sarasota Bay over a riprap shoreline. The county's facility listing names wildlife viewing as its one amenity and gives hours of 6 a.m. to sunset. The neighborhood group Friends of Osprey's Bayfront Parks recommends coming on foot or by bike, since parking is limited, and calls it a good place to catch a breeze and watch birds, boats and sunsets.
The Osprey Fishing Pier, at 130 Main St., is the older and more built-out of the two. The county lists it for fishing, birding, wildlife viewing and launching a canoe or kayak, open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. It has one ADA-accessible parking space. The far end of the pier took storm damage and stays closed until it's repaired. The rest of the site is open, including the shoreline and the kayak launch onto the bay. So the launch works this fall even though the full pier doesn't.
Neither spot is waiting on a big project. Most of the change in Osprey's bayfront is happening at the other two.
The county bought Bayview Park in 2016 through its Neighborhood Parkland Acquisition Program. It covers 1.12 acres overlooking Little Sarasota Bay. Friends of Osprey's Bayfront Parks says it has more than 200 feet of bayfront and sits between the Sarasota Crew rowing club and the Hidden Bay condominiums.
Getting there has always been a little unusual. In 2024, the Friends group described the route as a county public-access easement through the Sarasota Crew property, south of Evie's on the Bay. The easement covers the main drive into the rowing club, which is signed at US-41 as Sarasota Crew Way. At the time there was no parking at or next to the park, so people came on foot or by bike.
Since then, the county has added new picnic tables, cleared vegetation and opened up the view of the bay. Its October update says the park came through the 2024 storm season without major damage and is open to the public. More work is planned. County updates from June and July 2026 describe plans to improve the open grass parking and expand access to the water. As of September 30, 2026, those improvements were still under review. For now, Bayview is the best of the four for a picnic, and parking there is still being worked out.
West Bay Street Park is the newest of the four and changing the fastest. The county bought it in 2023. The Friends group described a half-acre lot with 100 feet of bayfront, two former homes and a newly rebuilt dock. At that point the land was fenced off from the public, though you could walk the Bay Street right-of-way down to the water.
The county's project timeline shows how a private waterfront lot becomes a public park over about a year:
The October summary says one house has been removed, the main building has been repaired, the parking has been expanded, and fencing and utility upgrades should be done in the coming months. The county confirms the parking area is open to visitors. It doesn't say outright whether the whole site is open, so check the signs at the entrance when you go. If you live near Bay Street, the next steps will happen close to home: shoreline and pier work starting in 2027, after a design phase that runs through the rest of this year.
The fishing pier is the only one of the four with a listed kayak launch. Two larger parks nearby are there for days when you want more room:
Both parks have the restrooms and parking the four bayfront parcels don't have yet, along with launches set apart from the fishing crowd.
Historic Spanish Point charges admission, and you're paying for programming, not just the view. Selby's fifth annual Lights at Spooky Point runs nightly through October 31, so counting Thursday, October 22, ten nights remain. Entry is at 6:30 or 7:45 p.m. Tickets are $34 for adults, $24 for members and $19 for ages 5 to 17, and kids 4 and under get in free. Food and drinks are sold on site.
The bigger event of the season comes next. New Feet Within My Garden Go: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson runs at Spanish Point from November 21, 2026, to August 29, 2027. Dickinson poems will be placed around the campus with illustrations by Abby Wright and images of pages from Dickinson's herbarium. Selby has scheduled a preview, Cocktails at the Cottage, for November 19, with details and tickets still to be announced.
The two kinds of bayfront fit together well. Spanish Point is a curated garden where the water is for looking at. The four county parcels are where you can fish, launch a kayak or sit on a bench without a ticket, and over the next year they'll keep adding what they're missing now.
If you want to eat on the way home from the pier or Blackburn Point, try Five Nine Grill & Tavern. According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, it soft-opened August 10 at Blackburn Point Plaza in Osprey, its first Sarasota County location. Owner Mike DeGrirolamo told the paper, "We're a classic cocktail, classic food kind of restaurant." The Business Observer lists the address as 1092 S. Tamiami Trail.
For more local outings like this one, see our Osprey neighborhood page and our guide to Venice's quieter shark tooth beaches.
Have a favorite bench, launch or sunset spot on Little Sarasota Bay, or questions about how Osprey's bayfront is changing near your street? I'd be glad to hear from you. Julie Shaw has lived on the Gulf Coast since 1999 and keeps up with projects like West Bay Street the same way her neighbors do. Let's Connect.
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