[đ #H!L] PokĂ©mon takes over the Convention Center, Christmas in July, and a dragon breathing real fire (yes, in Hallandale)
The week FTL goes full collector. Pokémon downtown, estate-sale silver, and a statue everyone forgets is BIG.
Thursday, July 23rd, 2026 - 250+ tables of PokĂ©mon cards hit the Convention Center Saturday. Bring a binder, leave with a story. Americaâs third-tallest statue breathes 20 feet of fire on US-1. Most of us drive past without looking up. Christmas in July, twice. Plus mermaids on Tuesdays and a violin-maker apprenticeship on the job board.đđđ
Stuff You Wonât Want To Miss This Week:
â TOP PICK THIS WEEK: Sat 9â5; Sun 9â3 | Card Party South Florida. PokĂ©mon cards take over the Convention Center: 250+ vendor tables, artists, creators, and a crowd that treats a Charizard like a Basquiat. First time in Fort Lauderdale, tickets from $26. Insider Tip: it's built for trading, not just buying, so bring your binder.
TODAY - 11amâ3pm | VR Immersive Art at NSU Art Museum. Make art in VR/AR at the museum. Experimental, drop-in, and air-conditioned at high noon.
TONIGHT - 6:30pm | Our Hero, Balthazar at Savor Cinema. An indie you won't catch at the multiplex, in our favorite little cinema on SE 6th Street.
Ends TODAY | 500+ lots of comics, figures, diecast & Funko. An online auction out of Pembroke Pines wrapping Thursday at 1pm.
TODAY - 12pm | The âFiestaâ estate sale in Sunrise. Odd inventory that makes these worth the trip, including a vintage gold-plated S.T. Dupont lighter.
Friday Night - 7â10pm | Starlight Musicals: Brass Evolution. Rock with a full horn section, free, on the Holiday Park lawn. Chairs and coolers aren't just allowed, they're the whole move. Insider tip: they take non-perishables for local food banks at the gate.
Friday Night 5â9pm | Food Truck Fridays in Tamarac. Second-and-fourth-Friday truck rally at the Village Amphitheater. A low-lift dinner plan out west.
Friday Night 7:30pm | Pour Minds Podcast: Still Sippin' Tour. The unfiltered podcast live will be a different kind of experience for The Parker stage.
Friday and Saturday | Jewelry & silver from a Long Island dealer's estate. A dealer's own stash hitting estate-sale prices in Fort Lauderdale. Go Friday if you're serious. The good pieces won't be there on Saturday.
Saturday Morning | House Pilates Society at the beach. A free, high-energy mat Pilates class set to house music at Las Olas Oceanside Park.
Saturday Afternoon - 3pm | A.U.X Fest x Relief Alliance. A local music-and-cause fest at Club Vault in Hollywood.
Saturday Night - 7â8pm | Pop-up performance by Kirk Zieser. A free hour of live music downtown as the heat breaks.
Saturday Night - 7:30pm | Sunset Kundalini Yoga + Sound Bath on the sand. Moonlight breathwork and a sound bath two blocks south of Sunrise, ocean as the backing track.
Saturday Night | The Chili Poppers + American Idiots. RHCP and Green Day tribute double bill at Revolution. Sweaty, loud, and fun for real fans of either band.
Saturday Night - 8pm | Disturbed at Hard Rock Live. Full-throttle arena metal if your week needs volume. Tickets still available last we checked.
Saturday and Sunday - 3â8pm | Fast & Flavorful: Asian-Latino Street Food & Car Fest. Lowriders and lumpia in the same Flagler Village lot. Free entry.
Sunday Afternoon - 1pm | Mahjong at the Center. Beginner and open tables at the Hollywood Art & Culture Center. Learn the click of the tiles in an actual art center.
Sunday - 4â8pm | Flamingo Flea at Tarpon River Brewing. Vintage and maker vendors with a craft beer in hand, for the good kind of Sunday scavenging.
Also Sunday - 12â4pm | Sunny Side Up Market at Huizenga Park. Curated local makers, farmers, and a live DJ in the middle of downtown. Dogs celebrated, not just tolerated.
Sunday - 4â9pm | Christmas in July Block Party at Fishtales. Santa hats in 90-degree heat in the NE 33rd Street bar pocket.
SAVE THE DATES for Next Week
Thursday, Jul 30 | Once Upon a Time in a Cinema at Savor. A love letter to moviegoing, plus Sugar Island screening the same night. Pick your ticket; times on the site.
Friday, Jul 31 · 8pm | BIG3 Basketball at Amerant Bank Arena. Ice Cube's 3-on-3 league rolls into Sunrise. Ex-NBA names, real chippiness, and donât you think 3v3 is actually the pure form of basketball? Said by a former hoops coach đ Tickets start about $33.
Saturday, Aug 1 | Zendatta + Touch & Go at Revolution. Police and Cars tributes on one bill for that generation.
Aug 1 â Sep 30 | Dine Out Lauderdale kicks off. 140+ restaurants run three-course prix fixe menus: $35 lunch, $45/$60/$75 dinner for two full months. Hit the places you've been meaning to try, at their best math. Insider Tip: not every spot volunteers it, so ask your server for the Dine Out menu.
Hey - quick question. Did we miss anything? Each week we do our research but you might know of an event, an organization, or a local business that deserves some love here in our weekly basket of goodies. Just hit reply to this email and let us know!
Featured Fort Lauderdale
August is right around the corner. New school year. New after-school activities.
Have you ever thought about getting your younglings interested in music?
We are getting ready to restart our local podcast. The last time we were running under the Family Friendly Fort Lauderdale banner, and we talked to two different guests who might have options, depending on your taste for rock or classical.
FYO - Florida Youth Orchestra (Episode 36): Since 1988, over 20,000 children have been educated and inspired by their participation in the Florida Youth Orchestra. In this episode we talked with Myra Weaver, the Chief Executive Officer of the 501(c)3. https://www.floridayouthorchestra.org/index.html
School of Rock (Episode 2): Seems like in forever since we talked to Burny Pelsmajer of School of Rock Broward. We talked about how the movie inspired the growth of a network of schools across the country, and how the students grow their passion with music they love. You can learn more about our local musicians at https://www.schoolofrock.com/locations/fortlauderdale
Also, make sure you check out the Apprentice Luthier posting in the job board below. That is not something you see every day. A bit of a lost art and they are willing to train.
So... You Think You Know South Florida
You probably already know... they do BIG in Texas and we do WATER here in So Flo.
What you might not know is... apparently, we do BIG too.
The giant bronze horse off US-1 at Gulfstream Park. Youâve driven past it. You may have even said âwhat is thatâ out loud to yourself in your car.
Itâs Pegasus and Dragon, it stands 110 feet tall, and only two statues in America stand taller. One of them is the Statue of Liberty. It took more than 700 tons of steel and bronze, cast at a foundry in Germany and shipped here in pieces, to put the countryâs third-tallest statue next to a racetrack parking lot in Hallandale Beach.
And the horse is only half the act. At night the plaza turns into a full show: fog, lights, music, and the dragon breathing 20 feet of real fire.
A statue taller than most buildings around it, and the rest of the country mostly shrugged. Very Florida.
More Treats To Try
We donât let just anyone sponsor this newsletter. Hereâs who âmade the cutâ this week:
(Hit reply to this email if you want to reach over 1400+ local families for just $100)
đ Buy YOUR OWN Classified Ad Here đ
The Jury Experience: The Deadly Boat Ride. An immersive courtroom drama where you're the jury, staged at Savor Cinema. A boat crime, in this town â on the nose and kind of perfect. From $48.50.
This Weekend check out Smorgasburg South Florida. Over 40 vendors slinging global street food in Flagler Village, free to walk in. Go hungry and graze your way down the row instead of committing to one thing.
đ¶ Summer music lessons for your child. Start building confidence on day one. See our special promotion for an extra 15-minute personalized onboarding session. Voice. Piano. And combo lessons. Text Shontel at 516-945-9742.
Mermaid Tails & Cocktails at the Wreck Bar (Tuesdays thru Aug 25). Live mermaids swim behind the porthole windows of a 1958 hotel bar while you sip something cold.
SAVE THE DATE. Founding Families Fall Festival. Stranahan House. September 25th. Email director@stranahanhouse.org for sponsorship opportunities.
Just hit reply to this email to get started. Work with us to reach over 1300+ Greater Fort Lauderdale families.
Quote Of The Week
âAdlerian psychology is a psychology of courage. Your unhappiness cannot be blamed on your past or your environment. And it isnât that you lack competence. You just lack courage. One might say you are lacking in the courage to be happy.â
I just finished the two books The Courage to Be Disliked and The Courage to Be Happy by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. I particularly like the Audible versions. Read once (I am on my second reading) and there are definitely a nuggets of wisdom that will stick with your lifetime.
Flotsam & Jetsam
What if there was a map with the whole universe on it?
Turns out⊠there is. It is called Universe Atlas.
Most astronomy diagrams lie to you. They have to. If you drew the Earth the size of a marble, Jupiter would sit hundreds of feet away, and the nearest star would be thousands of miles off in another state. True scale is usually impossible to show on a flat screen.
Until now.
Imagine an interactive canvas that lets you scroll continuously from the vast edge of the observable universe all the way down to the heart of a single atomâwith zero shortcuts.
Every size, distance, and cosmic leap in this map is 100% true to scale.
Why You Need To Try It
6.8 Million Celestial Objects: You arenât just scrolling through generic space art. The map renders millions of real cataloged stars, exoplanets, and galaxies, complete with their actual dynamic orbits.
The Reality of Space: As you zoom out past our solar system, the immediate takeaway is how empty the universe actually is. You will spend genuine time scrolling through vast, quiet voids before stumbling onto the next solar system.
The Microscopic Descent: Once you pull back from the cosmic web, the zoom doesnât stop at human scale. It punches right through cells, molecules, and electrons, taking you straight into the quantum realm.
Word Play Of The Week
âMore Than One Way to Skin a Catâ
The phrase âmore than one way to skin a catâ is a proverbial expression meaning there are multiple ways to accomplish a task or achieve a goal.
The saying came from a book by Seba Smith (1854), in which he wrote, "This is a money digging world of ours; and, as it is said, 'there are more ways than one to skin a cat,' so are there more ways than one of digging for moneyâ ~ âSource
âUnder-The-Radarâ Openings Job Board
Lotâs of folks offering cool positions here locally. Maybe thereâs one for you or a friend?
Apprentice Luthier (Violin Maker) at The Fiddlershop in Pompano. Maybe our most unique job posting of the week.
This looks like an interesting one. Barry University is looking for someone to run their Simulation Learning Center. Extra bonus, your dependents get free tuition.
President & CEO at Visit Lauderdale â $155,771â$248,612 to be the person who sells the world on Fort Lauderdale. Yes, the tourism-boss job is now open.
Animal Care / Lorikeet Attendant at Butterfly World (Coconut Creek) â $15/hr+ to wrangle lorikeets at the world's largest butterfly park.
Integrated Communications Assistant Manager at MODS. Run the science museum's voice.
Marine Canvas Sewer in Fort Lauderdale. Peak yachting-capital job, sewing canvas for boats is a real, paying craft here.
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
Do you feel stuck this week? I bet there is someone reading this same newsletter who could help you get unstuck. How can we help? Hit reply and let us see if we can connect you.
Tell Us How We Are Doing
Every week we are working to make #H!L better for you and to provide a cutting-edge media apprenticeship opportunity for our learners.
Please share your feedback. What do you love? What could we do better FOR YOU? What FTL businesses and experiences should we be highlighting?