Be on the look out . . .

A report from Miami Police Sgt. Garret Wing:

August 30, I observed Mr. Gonzalo Davila 09/27/1964 walking southbound on SW 27 Ave approaching Tigertail Ave.  He had just got off the metro-rail and was heading into the Grove Business District area.  He was walking with a backpack and was later found to have a brand new pair of small bolt cutters inside his bookbag.  He could not properly explain his presence in the Grove or why he was in possession of the bolt cutters other than to attempt to explain that he was merely coming into the Grove to “hang out in Peacock Park” and that he is a construction worker and that’s why he needs bolt cutters to cut wires.  Mr. Davila lied about his criminal history stating he has never been arrested.  It was later determined that he was released from prison about a year ago after serving a 10 year term for a burglary related offense.  Also he claims to be homeless though I don’t believe that to be true either.

Bottom line is Mr. Davila did not have any legitimate business within Coconut Grove yesterday and was subsequently arrested for L&P and poss. of Burglary tools.  He was not very happy about it.

Please keep an eye out for Mr. Davila as he matches the description provided of a latin male with a bald head that has been coming into the CocoWalk area and cutting bike locks, taking the bike(s), and riding to the metro-rail on the stolen bike.

Please FIVO this subject if you see him and keep an eye on him and reach out to me if you encounter him or arrest him.

Note that he is short (5’6) and he is full of tattoos from chest down to his legs.

Pajama Pub Crawl on a Blue Moon night

Did you make it to the Pajama Pub Crawl on Saturday night? It was a lot of fun, being a Blue Moon, too, made it even wilder!

 
Sign up was at the Sandbar Grill, which was packed due to the UM game, so as Richard Issa worked the sign up desk, I grabbed a bunch of flyers and worked the room, getting lots of UM fans to sign up for the Crawl, which started at 7 pm.

I had to attend a birthday part, so I didn't stick around long, but it seemed to be quite a happy crowd from what I could see, I checked out Barracuda and The Grove Spot, and Mr. Moe's, too.

4th Annual Great Grove Bed Race takes over streets

Another long, hot, but fun Great Grove Bed Race under our belts. Yesterday's event was a lot of fun, 31 beds raced up and down Grand Avenue.

 
The Grove-50, was victorious again this year. And for their third year, The Grove Spot team won overall first place! A three peat! We have the list of winners here.

 
This is the Grove Ink tattoo shop crew. Don't ask!

More photos here on Facebook, please tag yourselves and share with your friends!

We would like to thank the prize sponsors, those who were very generous, who gave us lots of prizes for our goodie bags for the winners:

In no particular order:

CocoWalk and the Cheesecake Factory
The Coconut Grove BID
Coconut Grove Arts Festival
Peacock Garden Cafe
Starbucks
Grove Ink
The Design Bar
Lokal Burgers
The Bookstore in the Grove
Palm Produce
David McBurnett

Three peat for The Grove Spot at today's Bed Race

It was a long hot, day, but when all was said and done, it ended up being a repeat, actually a Threepeat at this year's Great Grove Bed Race! The races were held today in Center Grove, it was hot, but lots of fun.

The Grove Spot team won again, three years in a row, hence the "three peat" and they used their new bed, having auctioned off their past bed. The Sand Bar girls team (shown here), won again and the Grove-50 police team won the corporate team again!

There were lots of new teams this year, but these three knew their stuff.

As for Category winners, the new Olfactory store won three out of five of the fun categories. Olfactory won Best Engineered Bed, Best Decor and Best Theme. They had an old French Marie Antoinette bed. Lots of fun and great characters.

The Funnies Bed was won by the Bomb Squad team and the Crowd Favorite, won by text votes was Barracuda, which won the nearest competition by 800 votes!

We'll have all the photos and more tomorrow. Please come back!

Woot! Today is Great Grove Bed Race Day!

Ready, set, hit the beds! It's the Great Grove Bed Race today in downtown Coconut Grove. Events start at 1pm, but come out earlier and enjoy the beds arriving on Pit Row.

Here is the schedule of today's events:

11:00 am - Beds arrive -- enjoy meeting the racers, seeing the newest beds and teams, etc.

1:00 pm - Pit Row Parade and judging of the beds. MC's take to the stage.

Starting at 1 pm to 5 pm the Text Your Vote is on. Text your favorite bed to 88588 using the codes for the bed numbers. For instance Bed #1 is BED01 to 88588, Bed #2 is BED02 to 88588 and so on. There are 30 beds racing.

2 pm - National Anthem

2:15 pm - Races start! Starting line is near the post office, finish line near Sandbar Grill
The first time trials of racers is now.

3:15 pm - Intermission - "The Manatees" Fat Guy Dance Off.

3:25 pm - Second time trial of racers

4:25 pm - Intermission - Musical Cars2Go competition

4:45 pm - Single elimination semifinals

Sometime in here there will be the Magic 102.7 Rock Band Competition

5:00 pm - All beds awards ceremony

5:20 pm - Single elimination ceremony
Theme, Decor, Best engineered bed, and Top Prize and of course Crowd Favorite.

3-11 pm is Barracuda's "Cudapalooza Block Party" with live bands (three at last count) fun, dancing, beer pong, and lots of beer specials, right out on Fuller Street.

7 pm - The Barnacle's "Up Past Bedtime Movie"

Along the way you'll find face painting and games for the kids.


And since this is Coconut Grove, nothing really runs on schedule or in order, so all of the above is subject to change, and probably will!

SEE YOU AT THE RACES!

Follow us at Twitter here: http://twitter.com/grovebedrace
Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/thegreatgrovebedrace
And we'll post photos on Instragram all day at "Tomversation" look for us! Follow us, we'll follow you back.

Sponsor a school garden this year!

To nurture the social and cultural education of ther students, a school garden was established in 2010 at Coconut Grove Elementary School, with the guidance of Slow Food Miami, the generous support of local businesses, and the hard work of dedicated teachers and parents. School gardens are a wonderful way to use the schoolyard as a classroom, reconnect students with the natural world and the true source of their food, and teach them valuable gardening and agriculture concepts and skills that integrate with several subjects, such as math, science, art, health and physical education, and social studies, as well as essential life skills, such as focus and patience, cooperation and teamwork.
  
You can help by sponsoring a grade and help support the Stingray Garden. Sponsorship is available for grades K through 5 with your tax-deductible pledge of $200. They will proudly display your support in the garden, for the community to see.  For more information, call the Garden Mom, Melodee Rodriguez, at 786.282.5710.

The Grapevine is sponsoring the 5th Grade Garden again this year! Join us.

Coconut Grove Elementary School's origins go back to the days before the incorporation of Miami. The first public school in present day Miami-Dade County, CGES has been an integral part of the social and cultural life of the community since 1887.

Check out and support their community page on Facebook here.

Gallery Walk is tonight

Tonight is the first Saturday of the month and it's September, so it should be a fun, fall Gallery Walk! Also, it's a blue moon, so why not visit Blu Moon, the gallery on the top floor at 3444 Main Highway.

All the Grove galleries will be open, the full moon will bring out the crowds. Come out, too and enjoy!

Galleries from one end of town to the other will offer refreshments and lots of art! Like it? Don't like it? It's ok, it's art enjoy the mixing and mingling.

Marianne Williamson's delicious art is at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival Gallery. Check that out if you didn't last month. Mike Tesch's art is at Frame Works. The Rodez Gallery at CocoWalk is presneting the 2nd Annual ART MACtown. This month they are exhibiting the works of over 100 of MACtown’s participants createded under the direction of artist George Rodez.

The Boswell Gallery on Commodore Plaza always has lots of great art. The gallery is quite large, with two floors and there is a mixture of paintings and sculptures throughout. The Artful Experience is a hands-on class that The Boswell Gallery is hosting next week. More on that here.

The Grove Drum Circle will set up shop at the corner of Grand Avenue and Commodore Plaza, you'll hear them, you can't miss it. Join in, dance, hula hoop, participate! They have plenty of drums to share, just show up and enjoy! Here's last month's event.

Speaking of Gallery Walks, I went to my first Viernes Culturales last night. Loved it! Here are some pics.