Spotlight 181-260210

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

The Grove Arts Fest at a Crossroads
The “Funky” Art Fair at St. Stephen’s
Freedom Park’s Shrinking Soccer Fields
The Last Carrot Says Goodbye

An Open Call for Journalists to Apply

The Coconut Grove Spotlight has been chosen as a “host” newsroom this year for the Report for America program that places journalists in newsrooms across the country. If you are a journalist and would like to participate in the program and work at the Spotlight or another host newsroom, you can apply here. The deadline to apply is February 16.

Coconut Grove Arts Festival at a Crossroads

This weekend’s 62nd edition of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival will be the last under a five-year contract with events management company Loud And Live. Deciding whether to renew the agreement or strike out in a new direction comes amid internal soul-searching within a governing board marked by unusually long tenures and little turnover.

By Franciso Alvarado

Over the next few days, workers will put up fencing, booths, tents and an outdoor stage for the 62nd edition of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, a community institution that reflects the village’s free-spirited, bohemian roots.

Over the past four years, organizers say the annual three-day event over President’s Day weekend has evolved into a smoothly run, family-oriented event after they turned over logistics to Loud And Live, a Doral-based firm that specializes in producing large-scale events.

A Taste of the Funky Grove at St. Stephen’s

Now in its 37^th year, the St. Stephen’s Art and MakersFest taking place this weekend has a creative energy all its own. “Everything about the St. Stephen’s Fair is funky and accessible,” festival organizer Daisy Holcombe says.

By Liz Tracy

The annual art fair that expects to welcome 50,000 visitors this weekend in downtown Coconut Grove may not be the event you’re thinking about. But you should.

The St. Stephen’s Art and MakersFest is a free, three-day event that takes place every President’s Day weekend at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on McFarlane Road — the same weekend as the larger, better-known Coconut Grove Arts Festival.

Miami Freedom Park Amendment Would Cut Promised Soccer Fields

A City Commission vote on Thursday would dramatically scale back the number of community soccer fields at Miami Freedom Park, codifying a smaller minimum than what voters were promised when the project won approval in 2018.

By David Villano

As Miami city commissioners prepare to vote Thursday on proposed amendments to the Miami Freedom Park development agreement, a central public benefit of the voter-approved project — the number of community soccer fields — would be formally scaled back.

The amendments would define “sports fields” at the privately-funded, $1.3 billion project as no fewer than six, a notable reduction from the 11 fields promised to voters during the 2018 referendum campaign and described in early project materials, and still referenced today in archived press releases on the project’s own website.

The Last Carrot Says Goodbye

Long-time customers of the healthy-food restaurant on Grand Avenue crowded the lunch counter last week as the clock ticked down to a final closing.

By Jenny Jacoby

The last hour at The Last Carrot had arrived.

Flowers lined the counter as patrons savored the last bites of their go-to orders – for many, the same spinach pie and juice combination – while surrounded by the restaurant’s orange walls and cartoon bunny decorations.

The last apple was juiced, pita stuffed, and carrot chopped, bringing at least a temporary end to Coconut Grove’s oldest continually-operating restaurant.