Downtown McKinney Welcomes a Wave of New Venues Ahead of Oktoberfest

McKinney's 19th annual Oktoberfest filled Historic Downtown McKinney over three days, Sept. 25-27, with free admission to the festival grounds and its Bavarian music, food, beer garden, carnival rides, and signature contests like the Dachshund Dash, stein-holding, and brat-eating competitions. The festival arrived on the heels of a notably busy stretch of openings on and around the Square.

Between March and July, four new venues opened on or beside downtown's historic Square. Shorty's, on North Kentucky Street, opened from owners Bryan and Angela McVay with a menu of hot dogs, smash burgers, and sandwiches alongside cocktails, wine, and beer. Centro on the Square, a full-service restaurant at 112 E. Louisiana St. across from the McKinney Performing Arts Center, opened from the partnership of Brian Dunne and George Stergios. Gather on the Square, a roughly 200-capacity rentable event space owned and operated by the McKinney Chamber of Commerce, has been open since June. And The Chestnut Hall, a new event venue on South Chestnut Street with 3,000 square feet of indoor space and a 750-square-foot balcony, opened from co-owner Alycia Kuehne.

A second cluster of openings has taken shape along the West University Drive corridor outside downtown proper. Barrio Tacos, an Ohio-based chain, opened its first Texas location at 9401 W. University Drive on March 5. Oak & Stone, a 6,000-square-foot, 200-seat restaurant built around a self-serve tap wall, opened at 8575 W. University Drive on May 19.

The openings haven't come without some shuffling: a nonprofit that had been a fixture of downtown McKinney for years relocated this year to a purpose-built headquarters in East McKinney, making room for some of the Square's newest tenants.

Taken together, the run of openings reflects a downtown district that's not just preserving its historic character but actively adding to it — new restaurants, a taco chain's Texas debut, and fresh event space arriving just in time to host the Square's biggest weekend of the year.