NOVEMBER EVENTS: SOUTH FLORIDA
DO AT THE ZOO Guests will enjoy an al fresco culinary evening under the stars. Spend the evening strolling the lush tropical Palm Beach Zoo surrounded by rare and exotic wildlife. Enjoy animal encounters, holiday lights, classic cocktails and delightful bites from local, top-rated restaurants, all while supporting conservation.
Where: Palm Beach Zoo, West Palm Beach
Web: palmbeachzoo.org
MIAMI BOOK FAIR INTERNATIONAL – Come see and listen to great authors and high-profile celebrities and, of course, have them sign their books for you. Book early for the “Evening With” sessions because they tend to fill up quickly. And, don’t miss the ginormous street fair.
Where: Miami Dade College, Miami
Web: MiamiBookFair.com
FORT LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW – You’ll see more than 1,000 vessels of all sizes: Catamarans, motor yachts, superyachts, center consoles, cabin cruisers, sportfishers, runabouts, bow riders, skiffs, trawlers and inflatables. Don’t miss AquaZone, featuring live paddleboard, kayak, hovercraft and free-dive demos in a 15,000-gallon pool.
Where: Various locations in Fort Lauderdale
Web: flibs.com
SAND ART TRIO – You can’t go wrong with either of these sand art competitions: the Annual American Sand Sculpting Championship and Beach Festival on Fort Myers Beach, and the Annual Siesta Key Crystal Classic International Sand Sculpting Festival on Siesta Key near Sarasota. No matter which one you attend, you will be awed by the amazing out-of-sand creations.
Web: Respectively, fmbsandsculpting.com, and SiestaKeyCrystalClassic.com
SARASOTA CHALK FESTIVAL – Hundreds of artists use the pavement as their canvas and pastel chalk as their medium to create breathtaking oversized traditional 3D illusionistic paintings. You’re invited to participate in, and interact with the artists as they go about their work. There’s a different theme each year.
Where: Downtown Venice and the Venice Airport Fairgrounds
Web: chalkfestival.org
FORT LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL – Even though it’s now over 30, you can trust this gathering to give you a break from ordinary film and see entertaining feature-length movies, documentaries and shorts. Special guests and celebrities always abound.
Where: Mostly at Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale, but also at other venues
Web: FLIFF.com
MORE FILM FESTIVALS! – Fort Lauderdale isn’t the only SoFlo film festival game in town in November. There are four more: the Annual Naples International Film Festival, the Annual Key West Film Festival and two in Miami: the Annual Miami Short Film Festival, and the Annual Recent Cinema from Spain Festival.
Web: Respectively, naplesfilmfest.com, kwfilmfest.com, miamishortfilmfestival.com and recentcinemafromspain.com
MEDIEVAL MANIA – It’s east coast versus west coast, with Camelot Days Medieval Festival on the former and the Sarasota Medieval Fair on the latter. Either one will take you back to days of yore, with living chess games, jousting competitions, battling knights, jesters, jugglers, birds of prey and lots of good grub and grog.
Where: Respectively, T. Y. Park in Hollywood and Ringling Woods behind the Sarasota Fairgrounds.
Web: Respectively, camelotdays.com and sarasotamedievalfair.com
VENICE ART FESTIVAL – View the works of over 100 notable artists who work in every medium— sculpture, glass, photography, jewelry, paintings, mixed media and anything else you can imagine (and some you can’t).
Where: Downtown Venice
Web: artfestival.com