There’s so much to do at Miami Book Fair’s Street Fair. Here are highlights
You will be immersed in books and surrounded by authors during the annual Miami Book Fair, the event Miami bookworms wait for with anticipation each November.
But aside from the packed schedule of author events, one of the favorite annual traditions of the Miami Book Fair is the street fair, which takes place Friday through Sunday.
The popular street fair once again features booksellers and publishers, a writer’s row, and an artisanal marketplace lining the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus at 300 NE Second Ave. But organizers are constantly adding new events, activations and activities to the street fair.
New this year is the Reading Garden, an outdoor area to sit back and chill between author readings, peruse through your literary purchases or hang out with friends. It is the brainchild of Lissette Mendez, executive director of the Book Fair, who found inspiration for the new area while on a trip to Milwaukee.
“I was walking around Milwaukee and seeing all the beer gardens around and when I returned, we brainstormed the idea of creating something similar during the fair and the name Reading Garden just stuck,” she said.
It is also the perfect spot to go after passing by the Bookleggers Library, a nonprofit mobile library that will be on-site, where fairgoers can grab a free book.
Also new this year is The Pavilion, created to provide an additional spot for author readings. According to book fair organizers, the new pavilion gives fairgoers a street-level spot to see authors.
The Reading Garden and The Pavilion are adjacent on the corner of NE Second Ave. and Third Street.
Looking to capitalize on the recent soccer craze in Miami of superstar soccer player Lionel Messi, organizers have also added the FIFA Experience at Children’s Alley. Kids can stop by and work on their soccer skills with drills and participate in a fun virtual reality adventure. This is happening at the lower plaza of Children’s Alley.
Other highlights of the Children’s Alley include a BattleBots Demo at 11:30 a.m. on Friday and Sunday at 2 p.m. where kids can learn about the world of combat robotics at the Learn! Canopy. Art Rocks! DIY Stone Paintings with Tori Scott, where participants transform simple stones into Jackson Pollock-style masterpieces on Sunday at noon and 2 p.m. at the Create! Canopy.
Calling it a mini music festival, Off The Shelf features a diverse line-up of live music and performances each day of the street fair. Highlights include music from The Jazz Collective (10 a.m. Saturday), Fabi World Music Trio (12:45 p.m. Saturday), the legendary Rock Bottom Remainders featuring authors Amy Tan, Dave Barry and Stephen King (7 p.m. Saturday), Stone Groove (2 p.m. Sunday), Niuver and the French Horn Collective (4 p.m. Sunday), and the Celia Cruz Allstars (5:45 p.m. Sunday).
Sprinkled in with the musical groups will be live performances by Oscar Fuentes, best known as Miami’s own Biscayne Poet (noon Saturday), and Eric Garcia who goes by Uncle Scotchy (11:30 a.m. Saturday). Both are fixtures around the city. Fuentes is best known for composing poems on the fly at his typewriter and recently published book “Relics of the Heart: Stories of My Family.” Garcia had a run of his one-man show “The Blues Opera” with Miami’s immersive Juggerknot Theater Company.
Mendez encapsulates what it means to present this annual event saying, “we are so immensely proud to continue our tradition of creating a space to celebrate books and reading, and the stories that illustrate our shared humanity. “
If you go:
WHAT: Street Fair at Miami Book Fair
WHERE: Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave.
WHEN: Gates open at 9 a.m., events and strolling begins at 10 a.m. through 7 p.m.
COST: Friday free admission; Saturday-Sunday $12 admission at the gate, $7 senior (over 62); $5 for teens (ages 13 to 18), children 12 and younger free, Miami Dade College students, faculty and staff with valid ID free. Multi-day tickets are $18, $12 and $8.
INFORMATION: miamibookfair.com/street-fair-hours-and-admission; Download the Miami Book Fair guide to map out the three street fair days: www.miamibookfair.com/downloadable-guide
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