A Year In
Florida
January
△ Art Deco Weekend (mid-Jan). A street party in the art deco area of Miami Beach.
Downtown Venice Craft Festival (late Jan). Venice spruces up its downtown streets for this popular crafts bazaar.
A Year In Florida
February
Florida State Fair (early Feb). This fair in Tampa features a range of carnival rides and big-name performers.
△ Coconut Grove Arts Festival (mid-Feb). An avant-garde art show in Miami that’s one of the country’s largest.
A Year In Florida
March
△ Carnaval Miami (early Mar). Ten days of Latino Miami festivities, with beauty pageants, sports, food, and concerts. The Calle Ocho street festival finale is the largest in the world.
Miami International Film Festival (early Mar). The Miami Film Society showcases independent American and international movies over 10 days.
A Year In Florida
April
△ Easter (Mar/Apr). Take carriage rides around St. Augustine and celebrate sunrise services at the Castillo de San Marcos.
Conch Republic Celebration (mid-Apr). Party all week in Key West with parades, bed races, and dancing – all in honor of the town’s founding fathers.
A Year In Florida
May
△ Jacksonville Jazz Festival (late May). Art and craft exhibitions mixed with three days of international jazz.
Tampa Bay Margarita Festival (late May). Performances by renowned artists and plenty of margaritas, as well as tasty bites to soak them up.
A Year In Florida
June
Fiesta of Five Flags (early Jun). Pensacola plays host to two weeks of parades, marathons, and rodeos, plus the reenactment of Tristán de Luna’s beach landing in 1559.
△ Watermelon Festival (3rd weekend). The harvest in Monticello is celebrated with barbecues and hoedowns.
A Year In Florida
July
△ America’s Birthday Bash (Jul 4). Picnics and family fun in Miami are followed by midnight fireworks at south Florida’s largest Independence Day celebration.
Hemingway Days (mid-Jul). Key West offers a week of author signings, short-story contests, theatrical productions, and an entertaining Hemingway look-alike contest.
A Year In Florida
August
△ Key West Lobsterfest (early Aug). Live music, cold drinks, and fresh lobster at this end-of-summer party, wrapped up with Sunday brunch.
Boca Festival Days (throughout Aug). A fun-filled month in Boca Raton, with highlights including an arts-and-craft fair, barber-shop quartet performances, and a sand castle-building contest.
A Year In Florida
September
△ St. Augustine’s Founding Anniversary (1st or 2nd Sat). A period-dress reenactment of the Spanish landing in 1565 is held near the spot where the first settlers stepped off their ships.
A Year In Florida
October
△ John’s Pass Seafood & Music Festival (late Oct). This popular festival attracts seafood lovers to John’s Pass Village at Madeira Beach.
A Year In Florida
November
Florida Seafood Festival (1st weekend). A blessing of the fishing fleet, oyster-shucking contests, and plenty of seafood in Apalachicola.
△ Miami Book Fair (mid-Nov). Publishers, authors, and bookworms congregate for this cultural highlight.
A Year In Florida
December
△ Winterfest Boat Parade (early Dec). Boats decked with lights cruise the Intracoastal Waterway at Fort Lauderdale in a magical night-time display.
St. Augustine Colonial Night Watch (early Dec). A torchlight parade through the old town, from the Castillo de San Marcos to the City Gate.