World Cup Fever has spread into libraries and CocoWalk. If you need some relief, the calendar can guide you to talk about your health, practice yoga in the garden, see mysterious 16mm films at The Barnacle, tour a reopened lighthouse worth the climb, and celebrate the Fourth of July beginning with civic reflection and ending with fireworks over the waterfront. So, hydrate, make a plan, and leave the couch behind. And don’t forget to check out the performances listed in Save Me a Seat; they’re selling out quickly.
Friday June 26
Macedonia keeps summer reading moving. Macedonia Community Outreach Ministry’s free Summer Reading Program runs through Friday, July 24, at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, 3515 Douglas Road. The program, for students in grades K-12, includes reading and math literacy, fine arts, field trips, music lessons, swimming lessons, African American history and more. Space is limited. For more information, call 305-445-6459 or email [email protected].
Saturday June 27
Men are actually going to talk about their health? Yes, and what a difference it will make. Actual conversations about physical health, mental health, finances, fitness, and spiritual well-being instead of everybody pretending they’ll “get around to it eventually.” The South Dade NAACP Health Committee’s Men’s Health Matters gathering brings together doctors, counselors, coaches, and community leaders for a morning of discussion, resources, and wellness support open to men, women, and families. St. James Baptist Church of Coconut Grove, 3500 Charles Avenue. 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Free.
This is what yoga should be everywhere. Take an hour to reset, recharge and relax with Yoga with Sam on the covered patio at The Kampong, looking out over the insanely beautiful garden grounds. Class happens rain or shine. The Kampong, 4013 S Douglas Road. 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. $18 – $25. Bring your own yoga mat, water bottle and insect repellent if needed. Admission.
Full-on futbol bonkers. Think you’ve got World Cup fever? Shenandoah Public Library is going all in, hosting full-day watch parties from morning to night so fans can settle in for true tournament immersion. Shenandoah Branch Library, 2111 SW 19th Street. 6/19 and ongoing during the World Cup schedule. Free. Check the library schedule.
The Grove Gets Its Own Cup. CocoWalk Plaza turned into a soccer-flavored playscape for Play the Grove, an interactive art installation inspired by the movement, color and happy chaos of World Cup season. A deconstructed soccer pitch becomes a larger-than-life place for kids to climb, explore, play and burn off energy no parent should be asked to manage indoors. CocoWalk Plaza, 3015 Grand Avenue. All day. Free and open to the public. Continues through Friday 7/10.
Sunday June 28
Vizcaya Village Market Shifts to Earlier Summer Hours. Through September 27, the market runs on adjusted summer hours, with local vendors offering fresh-made delicacies, hand-crafted goods, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, and vegan products inside Vizcaya’s historic farm and village. Vizcaya Village, 3250 S. Miami Avenue. 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. through 9/27.
Free Summer Meals for Kids at Vizcaya Village The Summer BreakSpot program helps families keep kids and teens nourished while school is out. Free, nutritious meals are available on site for children and teens age 18 and under, with no ID, application or advance registration required. Families can simply show up while meals last. Vizcaya Village, 3250 S. Miami Avenue. Sundays each week; breakfast from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.; lunch from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Free. Info.
Tuesday June 30
The Barnacle and the Library are keeping it mysterious. The Barnacle Historic State Park and the Public Library bring back AV Club at The Barnacle, with an outdoor 16mm film screening curated from the library’s Special Collections. The catch? They’re not saying what they’re showing… yet. Vincent Nastasi, museum registrar at The Barnacle, will offer a guided tour of the library exhibit space and share insights into the collection from 6 to 7 p.m. Bring a picnic, lawn chair or blanket. 6 to 9 p.m. 3485 Main Highway. Free and open to viewers age 14 and older.
Thursday July 2
Make your beach day a little taller. After a multi-year renovation, the Cape Florida Lighthouse at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne is open again for visits Thursday through Monday, 10 a.m. to noon. A weekday visit is perfect if you want to avoid the weekend crowds. Weather can affect access, especially when lightning is nearby, and visitors must be at least 42 inches tall, wearing shirts and shoes, and dry and sand-free to enter the historic tower. You can see the lighthouse from the Grove; now climb up and look back at the Grove and Miami from the heights. There is a nominal fee to enter the park.
Saturday July 4, Independence Day
Voices of Freedom. The Coconut Grove Woman’s Club marks America’s 250th with a neighborhood gathering, which is where democracy starts. The morning includes citizen reflections, readings from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, traditional songs, cool refreshments and conversation with neighbors, friends and family about the values still holding the whole experiment together. Coconut Grove Woman’s Club, 2985 South Bayshore Drive. Saturday 7/4 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Priceless.
Red, White and Grove. On Independence Day, the Grove’s waterfront celebration includes live music, food, community, family-friendly activities and fireworks, with performances by Tony Succar and band, Orlando Mendez and host DJ Mdot. Peacock Park, 2820 McFarlane Road, Friday 7/4, 5 to 9 p.m.Free and open to the public.
Sunday July 5
Follow the yellow brick road to Coral Gables. The Wizard of Oz , in this Prince Street Players adaptation, follows the crew as they set off to find the Wizard and get home before the Wicked Witch has a melt down. Funny, clever and built for munchkins large and small. Actors’ Playhouse brings to the stage at the Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, Saturdays and Sundays from 7/5 to 7/25, and a sensory-inclusive performance Sunday 7/12. Tickets.
Wax, pigment, collage, wildlife, weather, water — Andrea Clement’s South Florida comes in layers. At Deering Estate, the Miami-based artist and educator discusses Stratum: A Layered Perspective of South Florida, her photo encaustic exhibition exploring Florida’s fragile landscapes and local ecology. In one piece, scratch marks on ancient Tequesta pottery inspire the first layer; from there, environmental themes build into a landscape, then a constellation. Andrea describes the alchemy. That is why she is the artist. Deering Estate Visitor Center Theater, 16701 Southwest 72nd Avenue. Artist talk from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Free tickets online. Exhibit through 7/20.
World Cup tickets are one thing. Sticker glory is another. Bring the doubles, hunt for the missing players and swap PANINI World Cup stickers with fellow football fans trying to finish the album before the beautiful game becomes the obsessive game. Shenandoah Branch Library, 2111 Southwest 19th Street. Mondays 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Free; all ages.
Coral Gables Dresses Up. Giralda Plaza goes over the top with Cielo Tejido, a canopy of handwoven textiles created by artisan women from Etzatlán, Mexico and suspended above the pedestrian boulevard in bright, moving color. Public art with shade-adjacent benefits, cultural craftsmanship and absolutely no ticket counter. Giralda Plaza, Coral Gables. Daily from 9:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. through Friday 7/31. Free.
We the Readers. The Miami-Dade Public Library System’s 2026 Summer Reading Challenge gives readers 18 and younger a patriotic little nudge to keep pages turning, with this year’s America 250 theme, We the Readers. Any reading counts, a generous policy a summer brain can support. Track reading from June 1 through August 1, earn weekly rewards and sign up for a grand prize drawing. Miami-Dade Public Library System. Through Saturday 8/1. Free.
Kit Pancoast Nagamura lived her first four years at The Kampong as the great-granddaughter of plant explorer David Fairchild, and When We Come to Paint brings her back with a multigenerational exhibition pairing her parents’ artistic legacy with her own layered botanical observations. The Kampong, 4013 South Douglas Road. Admission is included with regular Kampong admission; online reservations required. On view from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with last entry at 3:00 p.m., weekdays through Saturday 8/15.
With three public libraries nearby, and a whirlwind of activities, classes and activities inside, it’s forgivable that you can’t keep up. But that time is past. The library system has a simple build-your-own calendar tool that arrived just in time for planning how to keep the kids busy and your sanity intact. Dial in your favorite branch(es), dates and activities and they’ll present a custom, downloadable calendar for your fridge. Here’s a sample for the coming week. Free.
Back to school starts with Back to the Hood. Believers of Authority Ministries hosts its youth empowerment event. The event includes keynote speakers, school supplies and giveaways for students ages 13 and up. Giveaways required both child and adult to be present. For more information, contact Bernard Phanord at 786-352-7014 or [email protected]. Friday, July 10, 10 a.m., at Elizabeth Virrick Park, 3255 Plaza Street.
Coconut Grove Sailing Club’s Moonlight racing evening race is open to everyone, including non-members, and even landlocked civilians can sign up as volunteer crew and get placed on a boat if space allows. Crew and boat assignments go out by 3:00 p.m. Friday, so there’s still time to raise a hand, just not forever. Coconut Grove Sailing Club, 2990 South Bayshore Drive. Registration required for all participants, including crew. Sign up here. Friday, 7/10. Make plans now.
Vizcaya on a summer’s Friday evening exactly as James Deering pictured. The Grove treasure opens its evening gates four more times this season. Evening admission includes the Main House, the gardens, rotating DJ sets, live artist demonstrations, sunset views, and the quiet thrill of witnessing the Bay’s golden hour. No formal program, no schedule to chase. Just a relaxed, social evening at one of Miami’s best backdrops. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, 3251 South Miami Avenue. 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.; Main House open until 7:30 p.m.; gardens open until 8:00 p.m. Reduced price tickets. 7/10, 8/7 and 9/18. An easy date night. Do it.
The Barnyard gets its big reveal. ECO Planet Earth celebrates the unveiling of its Legacy Garden. The event marks the public debut of the new garden initiative, with community partners, neighbors and supporters gathering to celebrate a greener corner of Coconut Grove. More information. Wednesday, 7/15, 3 to 6 p.m.The Barnyard, 3870 Washington Avenue.
Shark tanks. Actors’ Playhouse presents The Shark Is Broken, a sharp-witted comedy from behind the scenes of Jaws, where feuding co-stars, bad weather and a malfunctioning mechanical shark threaten to sink the movie before it bites. The play captures the tension, camaraderie and hilarity among Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider as they bicker, drink, gamble and pray for the shoot to end. Miracle Theatre, 280 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables, Wednesday 7/15 through Sunday 8/9. Tickets.
Standards with serious swing. Grammy-nominated drummer Nomar Negroni brings The Great American Jazz Standards to Sanctuary of the Arts, stepping out as bandleader with award-winning vocalist Tanya Maria and an all-star ensemble of Miami musicians for an evening of elegance, improvisation and beloved jazz classics refreshed with new energy. Sanctuary of the Arts, 410 Andalusia Avenue, Coral Gables. 7/17, 8:00 p.m. Tickets.
A little opera, a little zarzuela, a little romantic chaos under carnival lights. Carrousel of Hearts spins together famous arias, live vocals, jealousy, heartbreak, reconciliation, and the emotional volatility of couples who probably should have talked things through earlier in the evening. Somewhere between melodrama and swooning is exactly where this kind of music thrives. Sanctuary of the Arts, 410 Andalusia Avenue, Coral Gables. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 7/18 and 3:00 p.m. Sunday, 7/19. Tickets here.
A relaxed Open Studio invites you to draw, paint, sketch, stitch, or collage–all of which are more satisfying than scrolling. Bring your preferred art medium, a bagged lunch and a $10 donation; all skill levels are welcome. Contact Sally Willits at [email protected] or 786-316-1456 to confirm. Coconut Grove Woman’s Club, 2985 South Bayshore Drive. Almost any Wednesday (check with Sally) 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. $10 suggested donation.
