Spotlight 170-260102

Good morning. What we’re covering in today’s Spotlight:

Last Minute Prep for Sunday’s Parade
The Top Spotlight Stories for 2025
A New Art Installation at Vizcaya
Where We’ll Be: A Parade Primer

Behind the Scenes: The Making of the King Mango Strut

What happens when procrastination meets political angst and Grove residents get creative, with a few cocktails in the mix? King Mango Strut, of course.

By Jenny Jacoby

Take a deep breath. The holidays are over. Time to pack up the wrapping paper, the tape, and the scissors, and throw all those cardboard boxes in the recycling bin.

Unless, that is, you’re marching this year in the King Mango Strut. In that case, you may need that cardboard to create a food delivery robot, a Venezuelan fishing boat, or a clown car for Miami politicians.

The King Mango Strut returns on Sunday and if you’re in it, you’re last-minute busy.

The Spotlight’s Top 10 Stories of 2025

From environmental warnings and high-stakes art-fraud allegations to colorful characters and community traditions, these were the Coconut Grove Spotlight stories that resonated most with readers 2025.

By Spotlight Staff

In a year marked by growth, change and disruption, Spotlight readers turned to stories that explained what was happening in Coconut Grove — and why it mattered. As an independent, nonprofit newsroom, the Spotlight focuses on stories often overlooked elsewhere: environmental threats, development pressures, cultural touchstones and the people who give the Grove its character and unique sense of place.

Of more than 400 published in 2025, these were our 10 most-read stories, reflecting our mission to inform, engage and serve the community we call home.

Rooted in Motion: “Headwind” at Vizcaya

A new art installation at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens fills the estate’s Lower East Terrace with rows of hand-dyed windsocks that rise in loose, fluid formation.

By Carmen Ferreira de Terenzio /
Artburst Miami

The wind arrived first. Before color or form, before concept or construction, it was the wind that struck artist Susanne Schirato on her first visit to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.

That invisible force — constant, atmospheric, felt more than seen — became both metaphor and material in “Headwind,” her new site-specific installation commissioned through Vizcaya’s Contemporary Arts Program.

Where We’ll Be – A Grovite’s Calendar

Year of the Mango!

Every year, someone announces a plan to “just stop by” the King Mango Strut. Every year, that plan collapses almost immediately. Chairs appear. Drinks circulate. Friends materialize mid-parade. The afternoon stretches, the music turns up, and nobody remembers what they were supposed to do next.

That’s not a scheduling failure. That’s the Strut grabbing the day by the collar and refusing to let go.

So how do the locals do it? They arrive early, pack smart, claim their spots, follow the music, and know exactly when to stay put — and when to wander. Here’s how to make the day work in your favor.