Night + Day: Nine Things to Do in Broward and Palm Beach Counties This Week

Night + Day is a roundup of events happening in Broward and Palm Beach counties this week and can be found in print editions of New Times Broward Palm Beach every Thursday.

Thursday, September 17

Boasted as the "most fun networking you will have this year," the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce will host its annual Jazz in the Hall event Thursday with live music, food, door prizes, and not one but two open bars. Let's repeat that: two open bars. This well-established event has been going on for 12 years, with food catered by some of the best local restaurants, including D'Angelo, Beauty & the Feast, Joe's Seafood Shack, Ruth's Chris, the Roasted Fig, Hoffman's Chocolates, and Blue Martini. Worried that there will be not enough diverse industries? Don't be — chamber business owners come from a wide range of fields, such as manufacturing, hospitality, photography, banking, health care, and communications, just to name a few. In other words, attendees of all industries are bound to find someone to connect with.

Members of the chamber will pay $15 for admission while nonmembers will pay $20 for preregistration. Although preregistration ends Wednesday, September 16, at noon, walk-ins are still welcome, with $5 more added to their tickets. The networking takes place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, 512 NE Third Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-462-2570, email [email protected], or visit ftlchamber.com. 

Need some culture in your life? Margaret Mitchell Armand, PhD, is scheduled to discuss a lecture regarding cultural equity at the Nova Southeastern University Art Museum. Armand's lecture is titled "Cultural Equity in Photographic Representation: A View" and is part of the ongoing exhibition "From Within and Without: The History of Haitian Photography." The talk is part of the NSU Series, which is a series of lectures and performances that feature Nova Southeastern University faculty and alumni. Armand falls under the category of alumni: While attending Nova, she received a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution. Before attending Nova, however, she graduated from the University of Texas Pan American. Currently, she is a licensed mental health counselor as well as a supreme court family mediator and a lecturer. From 1980 through 1991, Armand worked at the Broward County school system. As if all that weren't enough, Armand also has a book titled Healing in the Homeland that exemplifies her ideology: "How does one decolonize the self?" She is also originally from Haiti and resided in New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas before permanently moving to Florida.

The event takes place on Thursday at 6 p.m. Admission is free. RSVP at NSUArtMuseum.org, or call 954-262-0204. The lecture is at Horvitz Auditorium at the NSU Art Museum, which is located at 1 E. Las Olas Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. 

Friday, September 18

With the Boca Raton Museum of Art tabling its popular All Florida Exhibition this summer, enthusiasts of homegrown art have been feeling culturally malnourished. That should change with the arrival of Art and Culture Center's seventh All-Media Juried Biennial, which features 88 works by 79 artists from the Sunshine State, whittled down from 1,084 entries. Jurors Marissa J. Pascucci, of the Boca Museum, and Elizabeth Carejido, an independent curator, separated the artistic wheat from the chaff, and the resulting survey spotlights first-time ACC exhibitors as well as a dependable stable of familiar names. Many of the works hug the tenuous border between the beautiful and disturbing: Don't miss Jordan Massengale's Selfie With Skull, a penetrating portrait of a businessman in which half his face has been bashed in; Justin Gaffey's Attached, in which a nude graphite figure succumbs to the pull of hundreds of invasive fibers; and Erman's Ladrones, a paper drawing of a haunted excursion tailored perfectly for a Halloween-timed run.

Eddie Arroyo's Miami landscapes, Peter Hosfeld's retro abstractions, and many more standouts will draw your eyes at the exhibition, which opens from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and runs through November 1. The Art and Culture Center is located at 1650 Harrison St. in Hollywood. Tickets for the opening reception cost $10. Call 954-921-3274, or visit artandculturecenter.org. Read the full preview in the the Arts section.

Broward's food and arts scene has truly come into its own in the past five years. What was once mostly sports bars and kitschy festival paintings has given way to new and innovative creations from a younger, more creative populous. Art walks have exploded. Restaurant offerings have expanded. And we're seeing more and more events tying together culinary and visual arts. Hardy Park Bistro's Summer Nights X HPB is the latest series to take root. In the third and final event of the series, chef Philip Darmon and his team are saying goodbye to the season with an urban picnic featuring an upscale sharing menu with all the park-friendly favorites. There are picnic baskets filled with cheddar, pickled onions, boiled eggs, cured meats, fruit chutney, and baguettes. Also included are grilled items like bratwurst with sautéed onions, brown mustard, and slaw as well as a ground meat patty sandwich inspired by the chef's homeland. The Aussie burger comes with lettuce, tomato, cheddar, beetroot, pineapple, bacon, cooked onion, and barbecue sauce. Assorted salads and other accoutrements fill it out. Homemade ice cream sandwiches finish it off. The evening begins with a specialty cocktail hour. Wine and beer pairings, courtesy of Stephen's Distributing and Stacole Fine Wines, are offered throughout the meal. Live music is included as well.

The cost to attend is $60. It kicks off at 7 p.m. C&I Studios is located at 541 NW First Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Call Hardy Park Bistro at 954-652-1475, or visit hardyparkbistro.com. 

Saturday, September 19

It might not actually feel like autumn outside, despite the fact that the official first day is just around the corner, on September 23, but we can still pretend. Crank up the AC, scatter the silk maple leaves, and set out that fiberglass pumpkin that won't spoil in the heat. Just don't bundle up when you head down to the Riverwalk Fall Festival in Esplanade Park on Saturday night; imagination goes only so far, after all. Luckily, the heat of summer has edged off enough to bring Fido to this (well-behaved) pet-friendly event. The Riverwalk Fall Festival is a new addition to Fort Lauderdale's event lineup and a great way to kick off the return of "season" and (hopefully soon-to-come) cooler weather before most of the snowbirds and tourists arrive. There will be fall-carnival-themed games and contests as well as live music from School of Rock Coral Springs and West Broward. For the kiddies, there will be train rides and face painting. Feast off food trucks and other vendors.

The event is free. Bring your lawn chairs, but leave the alcoholic bevvies at home. Esplanade Park is located at 400 SW Second St. in Fort Lauderdale. Visit goriverwalk.com. 

There is this misconception about crafty individuals — the one the not-so-crafty lot loves to perpetuate — of being the overachievers up at dawn's first light to whittle, can, collage, knit, refurbish, homebrew, and hit the markets before most of us have hit the snooze button for the third time. But there are plenty of DIY-inclined people who thrive mostly in the moonlit hours; check Saturday's Night Owl Market Street Festival for proof of their existence. The recurring Flagler Village market merges the do-it-yourself ethos of art, sustainability, community, and small business into one night with live art and music, pop-up shops, onsite crafting projects, and food. Stroll through the Independent Artist, Crafter & Designer Marketplace, dine on artisan foods from Food in Motion vendors, and pick up some early holiday gifts from the local business and boutique pop-up shops and the vintage and retro clothing, accessories, and home-goods area.

Night Owl Market Street Festival is from 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday, with free shuttle service to area parking and free admission at Peter Feldman Park, 310 NE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale. There is even complimentary beer for those aged 21 and older and picnicking options with an open playground for the kiddos. Visit facebook.com/nightowlfestival. 

Whether you want to network, mingle, make friends, or simply peruse contemporary handmade artifacts of the local sort, the Fort Lauderdale Arts and Crafts Show is one place where you can do all of these things. So far, more than 65 independent vendors have signed on to sell their artisan goods. That's not all. There will be bounce houses, face painting, live music, and food trucks onsite all day. Food options include gourmet sweets, plus vegan and gluten-free options. It's going to be fun for the whole family. Tickets to the show cost $6 for kids aged 12 and up and are free for kids under 12. Admission gets you free parking and includes a free raffle ticket. Drawings will be held on the hour. The first 100 guests to the show will receive a goodie gift bag.

The Fort Lauderdale Arts and Crafts Show will be held Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the National Guard Armory, located at 400 SW 24th St. (near State Road 84 East and Marina Mile Boulevard) in Fort Lauderdale. There is still space for more vendors. Call 561-510-0034, or visit floridaartexpo.com. 

Summer is technically almost over but never gone when you live in South Florida, the land of craft beer, outdoor barbecuing, and year-round great weather. With beach weather all the time, it may also be a good idea to get that yoga routine going again. But the question remains: Can you do yoga, beer, and barbecue all at once? The answer is yes. Yes, we can. The Craft Beer Cartel and Yoga Gangsters are putting it all together with the End of Summer Home Brew Competition. Yoga Gangsters is a Miami nonprofit that helps at-risk youth by teaching them the wisdom of yoga practice. And there's a brew-off that invites any and all homebrewers for miles in any direction. So far, only 12 homebrewers have entered the competition, according to Craft Beer Cartel owner Julian Siegel. What's the incentive to join? Besides showcasing his or her talent, the winning homebrewer gets to make a beer on Wynwood Brewing Co.'s brewing system. It costs $20 to enter the competition, which allows the brewer to enter two beer styles; each additional entered style is $10. The barbecue includes vegan options.

Admission to the event is $25 (and $15 for the brew-off only), which includes a yoga class, live entertainment, entry to the competition, and a chance to be a beer judge. All proceeds go to benefit the Yoga Gangsters. The brew-off starts at 4 p.m. Saturday at Craft Beer Cartel, located at 557 SW 12th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Email [email protected], or call 954-541-3206. 

It's the last weekend of summer. You're sick of the beach, broke, and craving some culture. Lucky for you, the Downtown Hollywood Mural Project Walking Tour is a free outdoor collection of curated murals. While on the tour, get to know the Brazilian- and Salvadoran-inspired art by Miami-based artist Tati Suarez, or discover the Dominican roots of Miami's Evoca1. Also making appearances will be international artists such as Australia's Rone and the London Police, an art collective that got its start in 1998 when a group of Englishmen traveled to Amsterdam to paint murals. Learn about the project and the City of Hollywood on this guided tour. No need to worry about finding a place to park, because there is free on-street parking downtown.

Tours run 7 to 8 p.m. starting at the Visitor Information Booth on the corner of 19th Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard in downtown Hollywood, centered at 1945 Hollywood Blvd. near Anniversary Park. It is suggested that you wear comfortable shoes. The tour is free and open to all ages. For a detailed map of the mural locations, visit hollywoodcra.org or call 954-924-2980. 

Sunday, September 20

Writer-performer Miles Allen's new one-man show was born of the existential malaise that some 10.2 million viewers collectively experienced by midnight on September 29, 2013 — a directionless sense of "What do I watch now?" that accompanies the always unsatisfying finales of the best shows on television. Allen watched the Breaking Bad finale with the rest of us, but rather than troll the fan sites and mourn its loss for the next month, he has continued to breathe the series day in and day out through his homage show, One-Man Breaking Bad. Designed as a tribute as much as a parody, Allen's high-energy romp translates all 60 episodes of Vince Gilligan's long-form epic of human depravity into one laugh-filled evening. The show premiered at the esteemed Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014 and has toured ever since in a tour de force that sees Allen transform into not only the main characters — Walter White, Jesse, Hank, and Skyler — but such key supporting players as bespectacled kingpin Gus Fring, bruising fixer Mike Ehrmentraut, and unctuous lawyer Saul Goodman. Expect appropriate costumes (a yellow hazmat suit and a Heisenberg hat, natch), an ever-changing projection screen, and some surprise pop-culture references.

Performances run at 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday at the Broward Center's Abdo New River Room, located at 201 SW Fifth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $27.50. Call 954-462-0222, or visit browardcenter.org.