Monster Mash Bash at The Taurus


The hotties and the ghouls came out to party last night at The Taurus, they flowed onto the patio and into Calamari next door.

Coconut Grove Halloween 2010 -- the place to be

Fuller Street had an incredible event last night, and tomorrow, on Halloween Day, they will have goodies for all the kiddies. Stop in Cherry Green and Design Box for candy handed out in special trick-or-treat bags, only offered by Audra and Herbie! Audra is holding the unique bag above.

The Center of Coconut Grove will be where Halloween activity takes place all night, on October 31, as it does every year. This year, the police will shut the streets down early, about 8 pm and as in previous years, 45,000 people or more are expected to come out and party like gouls. We've seen a preview all over town today as to what people have planned and it will be the place to be on Halloween night and day.

Tonight, October 30, The Taurus (3540 Main Highway) is having it's Monster Mash, the graveyard smash -- come dressed as your favorite legend to Miami's legendary bar! The party is from 8 pm to midnight with a live DJ, a Costume Contest and Drink Specials. Great prizes (including a weekend for two at The South Beach Hilton) will be awarded for the best costumes.

CocoWalk is having a Kids' Halloween party, on Halloween day, October 31, from noon to 5 pm, candy, prizes fun. There will be a pet costume contest, too. And in the evening, same as last year, join the crowds for a Halloween costome contest at the stage set up in the center of the courtyard.

Trunk or Treat is a fun Halloween party in Village West, on October 31, where candy and goodies will be trick-or-treated out of car trunks in the park! This is from 1 to 4 pm at Elizabeth Virrick Park, 3255 Plaza Street. It's free and open to all.

Spooky Science Halloween is at the Science Museum, October 31, 10 am to 6 pm. There are lots of spooky paranormal activites planned. Details here.

Ironman brings another round of bicyclists through

There was a lot more bicycle excitement today through the Grove when the Ironman Miami competition, a USA Triathlon sanctioned event, came barreling through. From about 7 am to 1 pm, the roads were overtaken by the athletes. People cheered them along the way from restaurants and street corners. The riders started in downtown Miami, passed through the Grove, went down to Pinecrest and came back again. It reminded us a lot of Bike Day, but only with a lot of long distance riding athletes.

Who are those masked riders?

Last night, about 8 pm, as we were standing with friends on the corner of Fuller and Main Highway, waiting for the block party to get going, a huge swarm of bicyclists came down Main Highway. There were literally hundreds of them enmass -- many in Halloween costumes.


It was Critical Mass Miami, the impromptu bicycling group that meets at various locations and spreads out through the county all in the name of good fun and bike awareness. It was quite a site to see.


The 19-mile ride took them through Brickell, Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, Downtown, and Edgewater. If you would like to see really decent photos of the riders, you can do that here at the Beached Miami blog. And speaking of bicylists, the bicycle portion of the Ironman Marathon will be passing through Coconut Grove for most of today.

Halloween partying has already started in the Grove

Halloween started early on Fuller Street last night for Barracuda's Great Pumpkin Carving Contest. The heavy rains kept the crowds away until late, but eventually, the street was buzzing. Unfortunately, only two pumpkins were entered into the contest! Here they are, Stephen Colbert at left and Dracula.


Families cames out and enjoyed the festivities -- like the Flintstones, including Dino. At right, Skip Sanders with Matt Heiger. Skip was emcee for the night and Matt, along with his partner, Brian Davis, owners the Barracuda Bar, threw the party on Fuller Street.


The three judges for the contests were Robby Parks, Monty Trainer and Frank Zito, who has been with Barracuda for almost 15 years.


The Robby Hunter Band played from early on and well into the evening. By the end of the night people were up on the stage dancing.


They serenaded the two pumpkins for a large part of the night. Fuller Street is a perfect venue for block parties, the next one will be Snow Days coming up in December.


Zulu and Nola won first place in the pet costume contest. They paraded in front of the judges, up on the stage and the judges made their choice out of the many pets who did appear (there were more pets in costumes than carved pumpkins).


Marlito, as a chicken, came in second place. Many of us in the crowd thought Marlito would come in first place.


And Tebo came in third place, as one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Is he Leonardo or Raphael?


Back to the pumpkins -- Dana Weber at left, won first place and Gil Soto won second, for their creative work. Third place went by the wayside since there was not a third pumpkin to be awarded! Not sure what happened to all the community spirit in the Grove, hopefully it will be here tonight and tomorrow for the rest of the Halloween weekend.


It ended up being a very fun night. People heard the music and stopped by even if they hadn't known about the block party earlier. It was a great way to catch up with friends. We had beer, wine and lots of chicken fingers and fries before we ended up at Calamari for a late dinner and then after that, we came back to Fuller Street and partied more, well into the night. We won at Beer Pong, too!

Mad Hatter Arts Festival is canceled

As Art Basel is being planned, the Mad Hatter Arts Festival scheduled for November 20 and 21 this year has been canceled.

There is all sorts of reasons for this going around: not enough artists signed up, the city would not permit the streets to be closed, construction in the area was a concern and permits were not applied for in time.

Whatever the reason(s), this year's event is not to be.

The Mad Hatter may make it up to the artists who did sign up, by giving them free or a reduced rate at one of the upcoming Saturday night gallery walks, perhaps December 4. It will be tied in to a charity or two and be a Mad Hatter Gallery Walk.

Details to come. As for now, all money will be refunded to those who signed up for a booth.

Art Basel 2010 starts in Coconut Grove

Monday, November 29, Coconut Grove will put it's best art foot forward with a special Gallery Walk night in honor of the start of Art Basel week in Miami. Representatives from all the art galleries in the Grove have been working together with the BID, to bring the special night to fruition.

Mayfair is ground zero, where large two-ton sculptures by artist John Angee, will greet guests at the Atrium. The famous bull sculpture will be moved for the night, so that six large "archway" style sculptures may take over the space.

They are stainless steel and forged metal.

From 7 to 10 pm, guests will be shuttled around the Grove for the night in trolleys, sponsored by Mayfair. Each gallery, as they do on Gallery Walk nights (the first Saturday of each month), will present something special to art lovers and buyers from around the world.

Restaurants and other businesses will offer specials to the guests. There will be music throughout the Grove and lots of festivities and art to usher in the winter and arts season.

An after party will take place at the Mayfair Atrium from 9 to 11, where guests will be wined and dined after being shown an evening of what makes Coconut Grove the original arts center of Miami. Everyone is welcome, hopefully Grovites will come out and enjoy the evening, too.

Shuttle buses are being used to bring in guests from South Beach, Brickell and other areas, and of course they will return the guests to their respective hotels at the end of the evening.