Browse: June 2007

Parrot Jungle Island is now officially Jungle Island. The 71-year-old South Florida institution renamed itself last Thursday in honor of its recently expanded animal collection and fourth birthday on the MacArthur Causeway. Parrot Jungle opened in 1936 in PInecrest and moved to its current location just off Miami Beach in 2003.

Get down and dirty in the sand today with sandcastle artist Rocio Flor. Flor hosts a kid and adult friendly workshop at the Miami Children's Museum exploring the history and techniques behind creative, long-lasting sand art.

The details: Miami Children’s Museum; 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.; $10; 305-373-5437; miamichildrensmuseum.org.

The US Fencing Summer Nationals roll into town today, bringing ten days of lunging, attacking, thrusting and saluting to the MB Convention Center. Among other things, entrants in this year’s competition will be qualifying for September’s World Veterans Championships in Sydney, Australia and October’s 2007 World Championships in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The tournament is traditionally US Fencing’s largest event of the season. We broke it down by the numbers.

• 3,000 fencers
• 6,000 spectators
• 78 individual events
• 18 team competitions
• 115 referees
• 49 states represented
• 7-88 is players’ age range
  

Do some good: The USFA and DKMS Americas (the world’s largest nonprofit bone marrow donor center) will be holding a dive to register potential bone marrow donors from June 30 - July 2. Stop by a table and register – it shouldn’t take more than five minutes.

Tonight's change of rain is down to 40 percent. Take advantage of the increasingly rare dry (ish) evening and catch local singer/songwriter Carlos Bertonatti's poolside performance at the Biltmore.

Bertonatti's music is said to be an eclectic blend of instrumentation, percussion and hip-hop. Tonight kicks off his month-long stint of Thursday evening performances at the hotel.

Sweeten the deal with discounted cocktails and a ringside seat to the continent’s largest resort pool (700,000 gallons).

The details: July 5, 12, 19 and 26 at The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables; 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Free; 305-445-1926; biltmorehotel.com.

Happy hour might be the best corporate invention ever. Celebrate the end of the workday with our picks for ice-cold cocktails and tasty snacks on Lincoln Road.

• Billed as “pure refreshment,” Münchner Weisse arrives nice and frosty at Hofbrau Beer Hall Miami. Dig into a giant pretzel, imported from Munich and baked fresh daily, and you'll be singing dankeshane like a local.

It's the big iPhone day...

• Will it be crazier than Black Friday at Wal-Mart?
• Will techies take over SoBe?
• Will it be a total bomb?
• Is this the end of cell phones as we know them?

Phones go on sale at 6 p.m. We'll be at the Lincoln Road shop to capture the mania. Where will you be?

Happy 80th South Miami – you don’t look a day over 30.

The 2.5-square mile city celebrates its 80th tonight with a community wide celebration at Murray Park. Join the crowd for birthday cake, refreshments, giveaways and speeches by mayor Horace Feliu, select city commissioners and more.

Incorporated in 1927, South Miami is one of the county’s oldest municipalities. Approximately 10,500 residents call “the city of pleasant living” home, as do two major hospitals and several shops and restaurants.

Florida's biggest dance jamboree is underway in Miami and the Beaches. The 29th annual Florida Dance Festival started last Wednesday and continues through the end of June.

Gourmet goodies, pulsing music and dominos were top draw at the 10th Annual ING Miami Celebrity Domino Night on Saturday, June 16.

A reported 2,000 of Miami’s “movers and shakers” turned out to support Amigos for Kids, a 16-year-old Miami nonprofit founded to help South Florida’s abused, abandoned, neglected and less-fortunate children.

The good times flowed until 2 a.m., inspired by live music (featuring Latin Grammy Winner Jorge Moreno), dance performances, a silent auction and heated dominos play.

Several local celebs threw their hats in the domino ring, including singer El Puma, television anchors Jackie Nespral and Tom Llamas, City of Miami Beach Commissioner Simon Cruz and City of Miami Commissioners Joe Sanchez and Marc Sanorff.

Amigos For Kids executive director Rosa Maria Plasencia said the organization was “delighted with the turnout and support.”