Thursday, September 10th, 2026 - Bull Riding in Davie Saturday, Hockey Is Back Sept 20, and Fort Lauderdaleâs Mermaid Bar Turns 70đđđ
Stuff You Wonât Want To Miss This Week:
â TOP PICK THIS WEEK: Starting TONIGHT (Sep 10 - Sun Sep 13) multiple showtimes | Disney On Ice presents Spotlight Magic!. A four-day family marquee run right as school routines settle back in.
TODAY, all day | The Poppy Project Pop-Up Living Garden at Galleria. A living-garden installation supporting Henderson Behavioral Health.
Friday Morning, 9:30am | City of Fort Lauderdale 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony. Mark the 25th anniversary of the first-responders who ran into danger that day.
Friday | The Mavericks & Friends. Part of the Cleveland Clinic Rock Series.
Friday night, 6-8pm | Community Movie Night in Pompano. E. Pat Larkins Center, but no listing for the movie choice this week.
Also Friday Night, 8pm | Movie night at ArtsPark (Hollywood). This week they are playing âThe Sheep Detective.â Bring your own blankets and chairs. Check the rain first.
Saturday Morning | Fort Lauderdale Beach Sweep. Volunteers needed. Bring water and sunscreen. The beaches donât stay clean by themselves.
Saturday | Tito Puente Jr & His Orchestra. The Music of Tito Puente, a full orchestra night.
Opens Sat Sep 12, runs through Nov 13 | Andrew Dice Clay: Live on Stage (opening). Opening-night hook on a stand-up run.
Saturday, 7:30pm | Pro Rodeo in Davie. Fun for the entire family and will include the most dangerous event... BULLRIDING.
Saturday Night, 7-9pm | Singles Travel Trivia Night. At the Fitz on 2nd Ave in downtown FTL.
Saturday Night - Date Night Idea | Colours of Time at Savor Cinema. Festival-award winning film in French with subtitles. A true Heroâs Journey.
Sunday | Seraphic Fire - Pure Imagination. Part of the Amplify Arts Series.
Sunday, 12pm-4pm | Huizenga Park Community Market. Free, outdoors, downtown â the easy-yes local market.
Mon Sep 14 - Wed Sep 16 | Dine Out Lauderdale. Prix-fixe menus across dozens of restaurants â the highest-leverage âgo eat something newâ item of the window.
Thu Sep 17, 10am-4pm | Viva Fort Lauderdale. Free heritage exhibition honoring Hispanic culture â concrete, local, timely.
Opens Fri Sep 18 | I AM WILD: A Charley Harper Exhibit (opening). Opening-day hook on a new nature-art exhibit â good family pick.
Sun Sep 20, 12pm-4pm | Flamingo Flea at Tarpon River Brewing. Our highest-keep-rate discovery source â handmade/vintage market at a brewery.
Sun Sep 20 | Florida Panthers vs. Carolina Hurricanes (NHL Preseason). First hockey of the season back in the building.
Featured Fort Lauderdale
A shipwreck⊠in a bar⊠with a porthole⊠that looks into a pool⊠to see mermaids.
Is there anything that sounds more like Fort Lauderdale than that?
On July 13, 1956, a hotel shaped like an ocean liner opened on Fort Lauderdale beach. The Yankee Clipper had a 400-foot beach as a Polynesian revue, and with one idea nobody else had ever considered. They added a bar built like a wrecked Spanish galleon, with portholes that looked straight into the swimming pool. From 1956 to 1965, swimmers performed behind the glass while the bar watched.
The hotel is the B Ocean Resort now, and the Wreck Bar is still there, aquariums and all. So are the swimmers. In 2006 Marina Anderson brought the show back as MeduSirena, with her troupe, the Aquaticats, in tails she makes by hand. She calls it a showgirl spectacle, not a mermaid act. By her count it is the last porthole pool in Florida that still runs a swim show.
Fridays and Saturdays, two shows a night: an early one for everyone, a 9 p.m. burlesque for 21 and up. Sunday brunch has swimmers too. Get there early. The portholes are the best seats in the house, and there are not many of them.
So... You Think You Know South Florida
You probably already know⊠Greater Fort Lauderdale has many amazing attractions including Butterfly World, the ten acres of aviaries inside Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek.
What you might not know is⊠that it started as a retirement hobby.
Ronald Boender grew up chasing cabbage whites on his fatherâs farm in Illinois, became an electrical engineer, moved to Florida in 1968, and after he retired started raising butterflies at his house. When he learned that zoos and universities would pay for them, the hobby became a farm turning out a thousand pupae a week. In 1985 he flew to England to meet the man who ran the London Butterfly House, and on March 28, 1988, the two of them opened the first butterfly park in the Western Hemisphere.
It is still the largest in the world: about 20,000 butterflies, fifty species, and the biggest free-flight hummingbird aviary in the country, which almost nobody mentions.
Here is the part that should stop you. There is a lab at the University of Florida with Boenderâs name on it, and Butterfly World credits it with helping save the Schausâ swallowtail, a butterfly that lives almost nowhere except the islands of Biscayne National Park. In 2012 a survey found four of them. Four. UF started breeding them in captivity, and today there are more than 1,500 in the wild.
More Treats To Try
We donât let just anyone sponsor this newsletter. Hereâs who âmade the cutâ this week:
Did you know that the AutoNation IMAX at MODS has extended the showings of The Odyssey through September 30th? If you havenât seen the film that everyone is talking about, you still have a chance. A âmust seeâ on the big(gest) screen.
If you have been looking for music lessons to start the school year, Thoven is an online music academy founded in South Florida, where we help families find 1:1 music lessons that fit their kid and their schedule, from home. We work with a hand-picked, vetted network of teachers, including musicians and educators from schools like The Juilliard School and Berklee College of Music. If youâd like a personalized match, you can reach out to keri@thoven.co to talk to our head of music education.
The Florida Renaissance Festival is once again hosting its Acting & Dance Workshops. You can attend as a Member or just $5 per workshop if you want to try it out. Classes from now until October. Use this page to register
SAVE THE DATE. Founding Families Fall Festival. Stranahan House. September 25th. Email director@stranahanhouse.org for sponsorship opportunities.
Brightline is offering $15 tickets. Book a ride in South Florida for just $15 one-way when you book by October 31 for travel through November 1, 2026. Simply book an Adult SMART fare on eligible trains running Friday, Saturday, and Sunday within South Florida with a 2-hour advance purchase. But hurry, fares this low will sell out fast, so book today.
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Quote Of The Week
âYou can choose courage, or you can choose comfort, but you cannot choose both.â ~ BrenĂ© Brown
BrenĂ© Brown is most famous for her groundbreaking research on vulnerability, courage, shame, and empathy, as well as her viral 2010 TED Talk titled âThe Power of Vulnerabilityâ.
Flotsam & Jetsam
Hereâs one that is not South Florida, but if I didnât share it I would kick myself.
We all love David Attenborough. That voice. That passion for the natural world.
And this year, he turns 100! So his work has inspired his admirers to collect and curate the best of Attenborough.
With Sir David turning 100 this year, someone built the thing that should have existed already: a searchable archive of nearly 5,000 episodes across 90 of his series, from Zoo Quest in 1954 to Secret Garden this year.
Type in any animal, a habitat, a place, or a phenomenon, and it hands you the episode and where to stream it. There is also a âsurprise meâ button, which is the correct way to lose an evening.
Word Play Of The Week
âFoot in Mouthâ
This idiom refers to someone saying something embarrassing, inappropriate, or foolish. Its origins are not precisely documented, but similar phrases suggesting someone saying something regrettable or embarrassing have existed for centuries. ~ âSource
âUnder-The-Radarâ Openings Job Board
Lots of folks offering cool positions here locally. Maybe thereâs one for you or a friend?
CHOICES Job & Community Resource Fair on Thursday, September 10, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the E. Pat Larkins Community Center, 520 NW 3rd Street, Pompano Beach, FL 33060.
Boat Detailer / Polisher â waterfront work in the Yachting Capital of the World, the kind of job that explains why every marina here looks that clean. Listing
Puppy Care Team Member â a local pet-care startup, for the reader who has been quietly hoping their job search would lead here. Listing
Cook II at the NSU Art Museum â the job behind the cafĂ© at one of Fort Lauderdaleâs best small museums. Listing
Teaching Artist at Broward Center for the Performing Arts â contract role teaching across genres and age groups through the Centerâs education wing. Listing
Animal Husbandry Specialist II at the Museum of Discovery and Science â hands-on care for the animals behind MODSâs live exhibits. Listing
Do you have a listing you would like to place here for next week? Hit reply and let us know.
Lastly⊠One Big Idea For Your Week
If you knew this ahead of time, would it help you relax and enjoy the journey?
Tell Us How We Are Doing
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