Walk past 116 N. Main Street this month and you'll find a lit storefront where, for a good while, there was just a rumor. NWI Times reported that Square Roots had opened a few doors south in the renovated former Hub Bootery space, and that another new restaurant was planned a few doors down to the north. No name, no timeline, just a gap in the storefronts waiting to be filled.
That gap is now Radius, a full-menu restaurant and cocktail bar that also operates The Book Club, a speakeasy tucked behind its main dining room, according to Radius's own Crown Point page. If you've lived here a while, you've watched this exact block turn over more than once. What's worth noticing this time isn't the new name on the door. It's who else is opening nearby, and what the reporting reveals about the restaurants on the Square.
Two Restaurants, One Manager
Square Roots wasn't Crown Point's only new addition on the Square in recent years. A short walk south, in the former Lake County Title Company Building at 208 S. Main Street, Culinary Misfits opened as a massive, two-story restaurant that seats 300, according to NWI Times coverage of the opening. At first glance, that reads like two unrelated success stories on the same block. It isn't.
A GreatNews.life feature on the Square's dining scene once described Trisha Gordon as regional manager for both Culinary Misfits and Square Roots. That shared management role offers useful context for the two restaurants' presence a few storefronts apart.
That detail establishes a management connection, not why the two restaurants are located so close together.
Restaurants and the City's Event Calendar
The same GreatNews.life piece includes a quote from Dana Frank, marketing director at Heritage Restaurant Management Group, describing how the Square's restaurants work with the city rather than around it. Frank described a city meeting called specifically to update local restaurant owners on planning, with the businesses using those sessions to shape how they support the city in return. The feature offers an example of cooperation between restaurant owners and the city, alongside this year's event calendar.
"We work together with all of the restaurants on the Square then also do some events," Frank said.
Frank's quote offers one example of that cooperation. The event calendar below provides a separate look at activity near the Square.
Why Fair Week Isn't the Square's Busiest Week
Here's where it gets useful if you already live within walking distance of Main Street. The single biggest event on Crown Point's calendar this month is the Lake County Fair, running August 7 through 16 at the Lake County Fairgrounds on South Court Street, an event with roots back to 1852 according to the fair's own site. It's the stretch of the year that pulls the most visitors into Crown Point as a whole.
It's also happening at a completely different address than the Square. The fairgrounds sit on South Court Street, while the restaurants clustered around the courthouse square are a separate walk away, with a separate parking situation and a separate crowd. If you've ever wondered why a weeknight during fair week can feel quieter downtown than a random Tuesday in July, this is why. The fair is Crown Point's biggest event, but it isn't the Square's event.
The Square's actual traffic engine is smaller and repeats every week. According to the City of Crown Point's calendar, the 2026 Car Cruise runs every Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Bulldog Park through September 29, and the Bulldog Park farmers market runs most Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through September 26. Neither event is flashy enough to make a visitors' guide. Both run for roughly four months straight, which means they've done more cumulative work filling downtown tables in 2026 than a single ten-day fair ever could.
Later this month, Bulldog Park adds Rockopelli Music Fest on August 22, and on September 12 it hosts the Crown Point Wine Fest, both at the same 183 S. West Street address that already anchors the Tuesday and Saturday routine. Those recurring events give Bulldog Park a regular schedule near the Square's restaurants.
If you're deciding when to finally try Radius's speakeasy or grab a table at Culinary Misfits, here's what's actually on the books through the end of the season:
- Tuesdays through Sept. 29 – Car Cruise, Bulldog Park, 4 to 8 p.m.
- Most Saturdays through Sept. 26 – Farmers market, Bulldog Park, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Aug. 22 – Rockopelli Music Fest, Bulldog Park
- Sept. 12 – Crown Point Wine Fest, Bulldog Park, starting at 5 p.m.
All four listed events take place at the same park, a few blocks from the restaurants. That puts the recurring event schedule close to the Square's dining scene.
Restaurants and Events Around the Square
Downtown Crown Point's restaurant scene includes Bedarra Bar a few blocks north on Grant Street, Provecho Latin Provisions in the old Tequila Restaurante space, Square Roots and Culinary Misfits, once described as sharing a regional manager, and Radius at 116 N. Main. The city's event calendar offers another point of context for the area.
For anyone who already calls Crown Point home, the calendar is one more detail to consider when a new "coming soon" sign appears on the Square. It shows which Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings have recurring events nearby, but it does not predict whether a new restaurant will survive.
If you're the kind of resident who tracks these things, who notices when a storefront changes hands or when a familiar manager's name shows up on a new menu, that same instinct for reading a neighborhood closely is exactly what Favela Real Estate brings to every conversation about buying, selling, or investing in Crown Point and the rest of Northwest Indiana. When you're ready to talk about what that local knowledge means for your own address, we're a call away.
