On or not? Updates on 10 major fall events
On Tuesday, the calendar flips officially to fall, in South Florida a season typically rich with a bounty of cultural festivals and open-air entertainment. These days, still gripped by COVID-19 concerns, not so much.
Here’s where things stand on10 signature events scheduled through the end of the year, from the Tortuga Music Festival, Moonfest and the Miami Book Fair to the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and rescheduled Delray Affair.
TortugaMusic Fest
There will be noTortugaMusic Festival in Fort Lauderdale in 2020. The popular springtime country-music beach bash originally set for April 17-19 was postponed to Oct. 2-4 and then canceled altogether. The next edition of Tortuga is now slated for Nov. 12-14, 2021. The lineup will be identical to the one planned this year, led by headliners Miranda
Lambert, Luke Bryan and Tim McGraw. Your 2020passes will be honored on the new dates, but if youwanted a refund, the deadline already passed on Sunday. If you want tickets for 2021, they are on sale now, starting at $239 for a three-day pass. Visit TortugaMusicFestival.
Delray Fall Affair
When virus concerns scuttled the 58th annualDelray Affair, set to take over downtown Delray BeachApril 3-5, organizersmade the best of things, moving the event to October and rebranding it as the Delray Fall Affair. Similar in scope — a celebration of food, art, music and community rolling over 10 city blocks — the inaugural fall event was set for Oct. 17-18. But now that gathering, too, has been canceled. The Delray Affair will return April 9-11, 2021. Visit DelrayAffair.com.
Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show
The show will go on at the Fort Lauderdale InternationalBoat Show, amajor display of the marine industry’s economic might that last year drew100,000 visitors. Approved by Broward County Commissioners earlier this month, the Oct. 28-Nov. 1 show will be smaller and operate with Broward County COVID guidelines in place. Visit FLIBS.com.
Moonfest
Downtown West Palm Beach’s massive fusing of Halloween-themed mayhem, live music and moodenhancing refreshments on Clematis Street may be no match for the actual fear providedbyCOVID. Organizers were weighing their options this week, with a more scaled-back event under consideration. For updates, visitMoonfest.me.
Day of the Dead
Fort Lauderdale’s nationally recognized Day of theDeadcelebration willbe produced in a skeletal version (yes, we said it) onNov. 2, due to safety, timing and tone, organizer Jim Hammond says. For his 11th annual Dia del los Muertos party the Fort Lauderdale puppet master has created a lineup of socially distant and virtual events, beginning Oct. 4 with a monthlong ofrenda exhibit at History Fort Lauderdale. Visit Facebook.com/DayOfTheDeadFlorida.
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
Coronavirus is the mother of invention, or something like that. The 35th annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival will run Nov. 6-22 with reduced capacities in
theaters, in-home viewing, intimate dinner-and-amovienights at local restaurants, drive-in movies and, as you may have heard, boat-in screenings. For updates on films, screenings and celebrity events, visit FLIFF.com.
Miami Book Fair
The 2020 Miami Book Fair will be a virtual gathering, Nov. 15-22. We’ll miss rowdiness of the physical experience, of course, but not much may be lost in livestreams with more than 200 authors signed up so far — Margaret Atwood astutely atop the list. What’s more, it’s free. For information on authors and creating a personal schedule of
livestreams by your favorites, visit MiamiBookFair.com.
RiptideMusic Festival
The November/December festival has carved out a following over its first three years at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park with lineups that have ranged from nostalgic party-starters such as Earth, Wind & Fire and the B-52s to youthful eclectics including the Killers, Panic! at the Disco, ColdWar Kids and Judah & the Lion. The 2020 Riptide Music Festival has been canceled, but organizers are said to be plotting a 2021 festival. For updates, visit RiptideFest.com.
ArtBasel Miami Beach
The event that for a few days every year makes South Florida the center of the art world and Kardashiancliché, Art BaselMiamiBeachhascanceledevents set forDec. 3-6. With a business model built of a lot of international travel and plenty of intimate cocktailing and elbow rubbing, this makes sense. Art Basel Miami Beach 2021 will take place Dec. 2-5. Visit ArtBasel.com.
WinterfestBoat Parade
The canceled 2020 edition of the Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade on Dec. 12 would have been the 50th sailing of the festive flotilla of yachts in their seasonal layer of lights. Organizers of the downtown Fort Lauderdale parade cited safety concerns for the thousands of onlookers gathered along the 12-mile route on the NewRiver and Intracoastal Waterway. On Dec. 12 WSVN will offer a telecast of greatmomentsin the history of the parade going back to the inaugural event in1971.
Visit
.com.
WinterfestParade