Thursday, February 11
Boca is known as a wealthy town. Seriously, there's a Tesla store in the local mall. If you want to peek in on the good life, there's no reason to look further than Palm Beach County's southernmost city. Here's your chance to get inside the inner sanctum; on Thursday, the Junior League of Boca Raton is hosting its annual culinary festival, Flavors of Boca. This year, the event is going superswank at the Addison. The 1920s estate with a banyan-covered courtyard is hosting a slew of 15 local brick-and-mortar and food-truck chefs offering their specialties. Max's Harvest and Max's Social House chef Eric Barker is executive chair of the affair. DJ/violinist Timothee Lovelock will perform live along with an artist who is doing a live painting performance. Expect raffle prizes and a silent auction during the course of the night. Junior League members Holly Meehan and Molly Powers are the event cochairs. Proceeds benefit the Junior League of Boca Raton's mission to improve hunger, child welfare, and nonprofit support. Last year, the organization collected 12,000 pounds of nonperishable goods, distributed more than 1 million diapers, and donated more than 35,000 service hours.
It takes place from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The cost to attend is $65, which includes unlimited samples and open bar. For $125, VIP tickets feature butler service, lounge seating, premium open bar, exclusive Addison chef tasting, and valet parking. The Addison is located at 2 E. Camino Real in Boca Raton. Call 561-620-2553, or visit jlbr.org/flavors-of-boca-raton.
Other than producing delicious craft beer, the one thing you should know about Cycle Brewing is that it's the birthplace of the Florida Weisse style of beer. The style is based on the Berliner Weisse. It's similar to the sour, basic style of beer that originated in Germany, except that a Florida Weisse is brewed with real fruit. Often, the fruit is tropical and grown right here in Florida. Many brewers in the state credit the style to Doug Dozark, who began whipping up batches at Peg's Cantina in St. Petersburg years ago (now the actual site of Cycle Brewing). One of the main differences between a Berliner and a Florida Weisse is that fruit is added during fermentation instead of as a postfermentation addition. In Germany, Berliners are often served with a shot of fruit-flavored syrup. It's also a fact that these beers will be available at Laser Wolf in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday during Cycle Brewing Night.
Florida Weisses may be a Sunshine State delicacy, but they're not very common in South Florida. This is because making these beers is expensive. Cycle Brewing may not be readily available throughout South Florida; however, Laser Wolf has you covered. The bar whose bartenders are all certified beer servers will be slinging Cycle brews all night Thursday starting at 2 p.m. Laser Wolf is located at 901 Progresso Drive, Suite 101, in Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-667-9373, or visit facebook.com/thelaserwolf.
Give credit to Greeks for many good things: democracy, gyros, Alexander the Great, and houses filled with rowdy college kids. You won't exactly feel like you're at a college frat party, but you will get a nice Hellenic slice of life at this year's annual Fort Lauderdale Greek Festival. And you don't need to dress in a toga to indulge in the festivities. Just show up. What should you expect? How about a festival filled with Greek culture, dancing performed by traditional Palazakia and Kamaria dancers, music, dozens of vendors, and carnival rides and games? If that doesn't impress you, maybe you're just coming for authentic food like moussaka, souvlaki, and loukaniko. It could very well be the most Greek you could possibly get in Broward County without actually being Greek. Or maybe you just need a new car; raffle tickets to win a 2016 Mercedes-Benz GLA2050 are going for $25 each. If you care only about the festival, then admission is only $5. You don't have to pay the fee if you bring a can of food for the Broward Partnership for the Homeless. There are also downloadable free admission cards on the festival's website.
The Fort Lauderdale Greek Festival starts Thursday and ends Sunday at the St. Demetrios Eastern Orthodox Church, located at 815 NE 15th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Hours are 5 to 11 p.m. Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Call 954-467-1515, or visit fortlauderdalegreekfestival.org.
If you aim to create art that's outside the box, then you'd better first know how to make a box. Before he became an adventurous modern artist in Miami, Kelley Johnson made boxes in his native St. Louis — the kind of boxes people live in. As a young man, he worked 40 hours a week for his developer stepfather, toiling on "stick-built" homes and apartment complexes in the Midwestern suburbs. This workaday immersion in architectural framing and finishing informed his later paintings, which begin as patterns, zigzags, and color fields and emerge as site-specific, three-dimensional blueprints for impossible doors, windows, and structures. They begin on canvases and splinter outward into the space around them, each one a feat of optical gymnastics. These tricky part-painting, part-installation hybrids will fill the main gallery of the Art and Culture Center this weekend, in an exhibition titled "Something That Hovers and Pulses Just Under the Surface." The exhibit opens alongside four other exhibits in the A&CC's smaller galleries: Nolan Haan's "The Futility of Envy," which explores the artist's meticulous paintings of cinder blocks; text-artist Maynard Monrow's "Still Life"; painter Kiki Valdes' self-explanatory "Cartoons, Cowboys, Abstractions, and More"; and punk-influenced print artist Rocky Grimes' "On the Run."
The opening reception for all five exhibitions is 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Art and Culture Center, located at 1650 Harrison St. in Hollywood. Admission costs $10. The shows run through March 27. Call 954-921-3274 or visit artandculturecenter.org.
Saturday, February 13
It's time to party like it's the 16th Century again as the Renaissance Festival returns to Quiet Waters Park this weekend. Festival veterans know that every weekend of the Ren Fest is themed, and the first one kicks off with "Swashbucklers & Sirens Weekend." This pirate-themed weekend will be extra long, lasting through Monday thanks to the President's Day holiday. Can't make it this weekend? Not to worry. The 24th installment of the Renaissance Festival will go strong for seven straight weekends, until Sunday, March 27. Other themed weekends include "Vikings and Valkyries," "Fantasy and Adventure," "Voyage to the Orient," "Kilts and Colleens," "Time Travelers' Weekend" and "Carnivale Masquerade." It's no wonder this year's festival theme is "Renaissance Around the World," am I right?
The Renaissance Festival takes place at Quiet Waters Park, located at 401 S. Powerline Road in Deerfield Beach. Admission when bought online is $25.05 for adults each day and $11.73 for children (ages 6 to 11 years old). At the box office, adults pay $21, while children cost $9. Children age 5 and younger get in free. Group rates are also available for 20 people or more: Adults get in for $19.50 for one day, while children get in for $10.62. The adult season pass is $84.99 online and $75 at the box office, while the child's is $40.59. Visit ren-fest.com.
Good spirits. Good food. Good music. That sounds like a good time, right? That's the sentiment behind a new event organized and hosted by the Boca Raton Magazine events team, which has created a special evening meant to showcase local craft spirits, local mixologists, and South Florida's growing craft-cocktail-culture scene. For the first time, the Boca Raton Magazine will host Mixology: The Craft Spirits Event, a four-hour drinking celebration that will showcase some of the nation's top craft spirit brands available today. The evening will present more than 30 spirit brands, each on-hand to serve samples and educate eventgoers on the growing number of local and national distilleries making some of today's most celebrated small-batch liquors. During the event, the Mizner Park Amphitheater will transform into an artisan spirits wonderland where eventgoers can rub shoulders with some of the most respected names in the South Florida spirits industry while sipping on samples from the St. Augustine Distillery, High West Distillery & Saloon, London Dry Gin, Woodford Reserve, and more. In addition to the top-shelf sips, guests will be able to enjoy free light bites prepared by nearby restaurants and live entertainment provided by Miami-based Remix as part of their ticket purchase. The event will culminate with an exciting Woodford Reserve-sponsored cocktail contest in which mixologists from South Florida will show their stuff creating the perfect Manhattan using the premium, small-batch American whiskey.
The Mixology Craft Spirits Event will take place at Mizner Park Amphitheater, located at 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $60 per person (21 and over). Tickets can be purchased online at ticketweb.com.
When the doors first opened three years ago, Makers Square was a novelty in the area. Now, after having connected with thousands and made, taught, and created a community of makers, it is — sadly — time to say goodbye, at least for the foreseeable future. According to its latest release, "for reasons including code compliance, need for more space, and the economic model, we will be closing the current location and possibly moving to a new one in the near future, depending on circumstances/space/expenses." Makers Square feels the economic tightening and city pressure, and as such, its current ad hoc pastiche of containers and incidental housing can no longer operate. There's a good chance, though, that it will reopen under better and more compliant circumstances, but for now, the 14,000-square-foot space is happy to unite its band of makers, old and new, for a farewell party with the rolling boogie of the Screaming J's.
The fun starts at 6 p.m. Saturday and runs until 3 a.m. at the Makers Square Social Club, 1142 NE Sixth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted and encouraged to assist the space during this interim period. Call 954-361-4114, or visit makerssquare.com.
Giacomo Casanova once said, "Real love is the love that sometimes arises after sensual pleasure." Are you seeking true love, or would you just rather provide it to others? Perhaps with leather, feathers, and strap-ons? Screw eHarmony and Tinder; calendars designate one day out of the year for you to stand in the flesh with like-minded lovers. And if you love animals, you've just doubled your pleasure (not that way — get your head out of the gutter). This Valentine's Day is on a Sunday, but it's better to party on Saturday, which is when Goldfinger Club brings lovers and animal lovers together for the Fetish Factory Valentine's Ball. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased online at store.fetishfactory.com. The ball is a benefit for the wildlife, and we're not talking about the partiers. Proceeds will be donated to the Flamingo Gardens botanical gardens and wildlife sanctuary for the benefit of the otters. Otters need love too.
There will be performances by Little Miss Risk, Val Vampire, and Emily Astrom. Goldfinger Club is located at 3801 N. University Drive in Sunrise. Call 954-748-6378, or visit goldfingerclub.com.
Arguably nobody has photographed the great outdoors — and especially the Everglades — as much as Florida's own Clyde Butcher. With his wide-brimmed explorer's hat and Grizzly Adams beard, the septuagenarian photographer even looks like he was born of the earthy marshlands he has been cataloging for decades in large-scale, black-and-white, ultra-high-def landscapes that can span up to five-by-eight feet. No stranger to many of the more than 400 national parks dotting the fruited plain of the United States, Butcher will appear at the Museum of Discovery and Science's IMAX 3D Theater on Saturday to discuss his imagery of these beloved sites and the conservation awareness that is central to his work, in conjunction with the theater's opening of National Parks Adventure 3D. This documentary is a soaring, plunging, hurtling immersion into 30 national parks, not limited to Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Yosemite, and Arches. Butcher will offer his insights at introductions to the 12:10 and 1:45 p.m. screenings, and he'll stick around for meet and greets and book/photo signings at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. for IMAX ticket holders. While you're there, visit the museum's permanent exhibition of Butcher's photography, which also opens Saturday, and appreciate Gaia's unspoiled gems while we still have them.
The museum is located at 401 SW Second St. in Fort Lauderdale, and IMAX admission costs $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, and $7 for children and military. Call 954-713-0930, or visit mods.org.
Sunday, February 14
Floridian runners watched the New York City Marathon this past November, as they always do, with a touch of schadenfreude. Let the other athletes clamor for medals while dodging other runners' elbows and ankles (and occasional pigeons) along frigid New York City streets as you train with practice runs along A1A while taking in the ocean views. Now it's time to put that training to work for the Publix Fort Lauderdale A1A Marathon. Known for its smooth and fast course, epic unobstructed oceanside views along A1A, and gorgeous weather, this 26.2-mile marathon presented by Colavita is perfect for runners looking to achieve Boston Marathon qualifying times. Kicking off at the start-line location (401 SW Second St., Fort Lauderdale) at 6 a.m. Sunday (5:45 a.m. for wheelchair participants), the day features the marathon, a half-marathon, a 5K, and a Kids Fun Run.
Both full and half-marathon courses will be open from 6 a.m. until noon, with a finish line at 801 Seabreeze Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale. Depending on your course, registration costs $40 to $125. Visit a1amarathon.com for registration, course maps, parking, and shuttle-bus information.
