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The South Florida Watermelon Festival Returns This Weekend!

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SOUTH FLORIDA WATERMELON FESTIVAL RETURNS WITH SWEET FUN FOR ITS SECOND YEAR AT SOUTH COUNTY REGIONAL PARK ON APRIL 10, 11 & 12, 2026.

March 10th, 2026

Three Days Full of Kid-Friendly, Family-Fun…Rides, Inflatables, Pig Show & Watermelon Fun!

The owners from the South Florida Strawberry Festival are back, but this time with a new fruit to celebrate! Join us this April at the South Florida Watermelon Festival! This exciting event is here again at South County Regional Park (12551 Glades Road) on Friday, April 10th from 2PM-8PM, Saturday, April 11th from 10AM-7PM & Sunday, April 12 from 10AM to 7PM. The FOMO Entertainment Group is back for this 2nd year in this sweet category of the festival in Boca Raton. With more than 40 years of experience, producing the ever-popular, award-winning New England Christmas Festival, they look forward to bringing South Florida together for a Spring, outdoor Festival in the sunshine that celebrates the watermelon.

“Our goal was to create an event that includes everything for families and children! A festival that is entertaining, taste bud satisfying, adrenaline-inducing…and the whole event centers around watermelons. You name it, we have it!”

-Skyler Mendieta: -Skyler Mendieta: Head of Brand & Experience

The weekend-long festival includes: 

Watermelon Treats, Live Pig Show & Petting Zoo, Kids Activities, Thrilling Rides, Inflatable Fun & Vendor Shopping

A thrilling blend of action and education for all ages! Kids can join us for a PIG-tastic time as our bodacious barnyard family wows you with their incredible talents with amazing stunts and laughable antics for a show filled with laughter and heartwarming fun! Let’s get hog wild with the America’s Got Talent show, the Pork Chop Revue! Meet Oink, the singing pig, and his delightful crew of animal friends at the Petting Zoo—including a charming llama, playful pups, and adorable piglets—for a show filled with laughter and heartwarming fun! Savor a variety of watermelon-inspired creations, both savory and sweet, crafted by talented local chefs. From refreshing watermelon treats to classic carnival bites and hearty meals, there is something for everyone!  Dive into the fun with our Watermelon Eating Contests too! With rides for all ages, there’s fun around every corner! Spin in the Berry-Go-Round, slide down the Giant Fun Slide, navigate the Water Bumper Boats, scream in the Scrambler and many more! Little ones will adore the Watermelon Soft Play Area. Step inside a magical Balloon Bubble House, where kids can play, jump, and chase floating balloons in a giant inflatable dome filled with endless air-powered fun! The enjoyment continues with diving into a world of excitement in our unique inflatables! From giant slides to thrilling obstacle courses to delightful bounce houses by FOMO Bounce, there is endless fun for everyone!

 

Parking: Free! VIP Parking available for $10 available across the street and Premium VIP for $20 right next to the festival.

All Inclusive Ticket*: 

Friday Family Day:

Entry at $15

Entry + Unlimited Rides & Inflatables $30

Saturday/Sunday:

Entry Ticket: $18 (Adult or Child)

Entry + Unlimited Rides & Inflatables Wristband*: $35 (Adult or Child)

(Kids 2 & under are FREE)

*Includes Unlimited Rides, Inflatables & Shows. Food, Shopping and Game Trailers for extra charge.

This event is rain or shine. No need to print tickets; they can be scanned from your phone. Please note, no pets or bikes are allowed inside the event.

There is truly something for everyone!

Use code: MELON26 for $3 off each ticket.

“Florida is known for its beautiful weather in April and we wanted to celebrate with the South Florida Watermelon Festival.”

-Skyler & Jay Mendieta: Head of Brand & Experience and Head of Tech & Operations

To purchase tickets and to learn more about the South Florida Watermelon Festival: www.SoFloWatermelonFestival.com

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Palace Miami Beach Is Going All Out for LGBTQ+ History Month

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Drag brunches, rooftop parties, a Courage Wall, Halloween chaos and meaningful moments of community are taking over Ocean Drive this fall.


October 1, 2026

There are some places in South Florida that just feel like Miami, and Palace is absolutely one of them.

The drag. The music. The brunch. The people walking down Ocean Drive who suddenly realize they’re part of the show. If you’ve been, you know.

But Palace Miami Beach has also spent nearly four decades being something much bigger than a fun place to spend a Sunday afternoon. For generations of South Florida’s LGBTQ+ community, it has been a place to show up, be seen, find your people and celebrate exactly who you are.

And this October and November, Palace is leaning into all of it.

For LGBTQ+ History Month, the Ocean Drive icon is rolling out nearly two months of events that somehow manage to include drag, dating, voter registration, comedy, rooftop pool parties, Halloween, Thanksgiving and some genuinely meaningful community moments.

It is a lot. In the best possible way.

First Up: Love, Drag and a Very Palace Start to October

October 1 kicks things off with Love Is a Drag, Palace’s first singles dinner club and networking mixer.

Because apparently even dating is more fun with Palace involved.

Guests can meet over dinner, drinks and conversation before the evening rolls right into Welcome to the Family: Drag Turnabout, a three-night event where Palace staff get their own full drag transformations and compete onstage. Poizon Ivy Lords, CC Glitzer and Tiffany Fantasia will each host a night from October 1 through 3.

Already, we’re off to a very strong start.

But what we really like about this entire lineup is that Palace isn’t treating LGBTQ+ History Month as just another reason to throw a party. The parties are definitely happening, but there’s purpose behind them too.

Throughout October, Palace will host nonpartisan voter registration and civic engagement events, with Miami Beach commissioners joining Tuesday programming throughout the month. The goal is simple: make it easy for people to get registered, find voting resources and connect with local leaders in a space where they’re already comfortable gathering.

We love that.

The Courage Wall Might Be Our Favorite Part

Then comes October 11, National Coming Out Day, and this is where the calendar gets especially meaningful.

At exactly 10:11 a.m., Palace will unveil The Courage Wall, a community installation built around one sentence:

“I found the courage to…”

That’s it.

Guests get to decide how the sentence ends.

Maybe it’s coming out. Maybe it’s finally being yourself. Maybe it’s supporting someone you love, leaving something behind, starting over or speaking up when it would have been easier not to.

There’s something really lovely about taking all of those individual stories and putting them together in one place.

Later that day, Palace is teaming up with SAVE for a special National Coming Out Day Drag Brunch bringing together Palace performers, community members, supporters and local leaders. A featured cocktail during the weekend will also benefit SAVE.

And because emotional reflection and a rooftop pool party can absolutely exist on the same day in Miami, Palace will also host its National Coming Out Day Rooftop Pool Party from noon to 10 p.m. with DJs Jesus Montanez and Jrny.

Honestly, that’s kind of the whole Palace experience in one day.

 

And Then Palace Goes Full Halloween

Before we even get to Halloween, there’s Love Out Loud Weekend from October 16–18, celebrating couples, friends, allies and chosen families.

Then Tiffany Fantasia is taking over the rooftop on October 23 for the debut of Laughs on Top: Tiffany & Friends, a new monthly comedy series. South Florida comedian and actor Lisa Corrao joins the first show.

And then things get wonderfully ridiculous.

From October 26 through November 1, Palace transforms into Camp Palace: The Final Slay.

Yes, that’s the real name. No notes.

The week includes Deadly Dolls, Secrets from the Crypt, Slasher Night, Noche de los Muertos and The Final Girls before everything culminates with The Final Slay on Halloween night. Expect drag, costumes, themed entertainment, cocktails, food and exactly the amount of Halloween drama you’d hope for from Palace.

Palace isn’t even staying in Miami Beach for the night. The team is also heading to Wilton Manors to produce Halloween entertainment at Wicked Manors, complete with its own Mayhem Masquerade programming and costume competitions.

November Brings an Important Moment of Visibility

Once Halloween is over, Palace shifts the focus.

Transgender Awareness Week runs November 13–19, followed by Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, and Palace will use its programming to highlight transgender talent, visibility and community.

On November 20, Palace will host a special Transgender Day of Remembrance Brunch featuring an all-trans cast.

This one isn’t simply another themed brunch.

The event is designed to create space for performance and visibility while also making room for remembrance and reflection. A portion of the proceeds will benefit a local trans-inclusive organization.

Later that evening, Laughs on Top returns with comedian Brad Loekle.

Oh, and There’s Food. Obviously.

Palace’s fall isn’t only about what’s happening onstage.

The culinary team heads to Lummus Park on October 24 for Seafood Slam at the South Beach Seafood Festival, while Palace’s seasonal menu gets very into fall with a Pumpkin Espresso Martini, Harvest Pumpkin Margarita, Pumpkin & Burrata Arepa, Brown Butter Pumpkin Gnocchi and seasonal desserts.

November keeps going with an Official Latin GRAMMY Watch Party in partnership with Gilead on November 12 and, because Miami apparently needed this and we just didn’t know it yet, a Coffee Party with Oscar G on November 23.

Then Thanksgiving week brings the whole season back to one of its sweetest themes: chosen family.

Palace is planning Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving dining centered around turkey, traditional holiday favorites and a table meant for friends, relatives and the families we create for ourselves. Thanksgiving weekend closes with a November 27 rooftop pool party featuring DJ Oscar Velazquez.

This Is Why Palace Is Still Palace

What makes this lineup fun isn’t just that there is so much happening.

It’s that somehow it all makes sense together.

You can register to vote and then watch a drag show. You can write something deeply personal on the Courage Wall and spend the afternoon dancing on a rooftop. You can remember people the community has lost while also celebrating the people who are here.

That’s what LGBTQ+ spaces have always been capable of being: joyful and serious, loud and safe, ridiculous and meaningful, sometimes all at once.

After nearly four decades on Ocean Drive, Palace seems to understand that better than most.

As General Manager AJ Prasaguet put it, Palace has always been about more than what happens on its stage. It’s also about the people who walk through the doors and find community there.

And this fall?

They’re giving everyone plenty of reasons to walk through those doors.

Keep Up With Palace

With this much happening over the next two months, there’s a pretty good chance Palace will give us even more reasons to head to Ocean Drive.

Follow @palacesobe on Instagram and visit the Palace Miami Beach website for the latest events, reservations, performers and everything else they have coming up.

And if October and November are any indication, we have a feeling there’s still more to come.

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Free Downtown Delray Beach Craft Festival Returns September 26-27

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Big Trucks. Bigger Air. Total Chaos. Monster Jam Takes Over Sunrise

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Natalie’s Juices and The Salty Donut Announce Limited-Edition Collaboration

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West Palm Beach Beer Fest Returns

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THE _ TEQUILA FESTIVAL RETURNS TO BOCA RATON ON SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2026

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The_Tequila Festival is now fully all-inclusive: Admission includes unlimited chef tastings from 20+ South Florida restaurants, plus unlimited premium spirits, live entertainment and more.

Tickets go on sale July 24 for National Tequila Day.

(more…)

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Bikini Bar Brings Endless Summer to Wellington Green

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Cavalier Galleries Celebrates 40 Years in Fine Art

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