Pirates have landed at Boynton Beach and their festival is laden with fun and frivolity…read more They have entertainment of all sorts, from fire-eaters and belly-dancers to wheel-walkers, pirate puppets, and live music, there's literally something for everyone. Vendors abound to be sure, but the food and drinks seem endless.

We enjoyed the BB Haunted Piratefest this weekend. There was so much to see and participate in…read more From the free parking to the free Treasure hunt, this was a great way to get out and enjoy the festivities. It is the perfect place to bring a family of all ages or friends looking to start their Halloween season of dress up and adult beverages. The CRA of Boynton Beach makes this event bigger and better every year. The weather was very hot and there needed to be more cool off areas. The food area was well set up but I thought the vendors didn't have enough variety on their menu but what they were serving was delicious or looked delicious. I can't wait until they Piratefest comes back next year.

I always love this festival, having gone for a number of years. The food and drink is delicious -…read morefrom the gyros to the saganaki to the plethora of pastries. Don't skip out on the loukoumades! I love the music and there's always someone on the dance floor demonstrating their traditional Greek dance skills, and of course, anyone can participate. There is plenty for the kids too!

The Art Palm Beach Annual Exhibition is a prestigious modern and contemporary art show launched in…read more1997 by IFAE/ Next Level founders David and Lee Am Lester. The Lester's also founded Art Miami, Art Asia Hong Kong, American International Fine Art Fair and Art Boca Raton. The show was acquired by the Palm Beach Show Group in 2022 who also puts on the LA Art Show. Art Palm Beach is the largest and longest mid winter art fair in the Palm Beaches. This art show is dedicated to exhibiting the contemporary, emerging and modern masterworks of 20th and 21st century art. Seventy-six national and International galleries showcased their work for sale. There were also several art museums presenting at the show including the Boca Raton Museum of Art, MOCCA (Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas), and the Danubiana Museum of Art in Bratislava, Slovakia. Art mediums included photography, painting, design, fine art glass, metal, gems, sculpture, and video. Displayed in front of the convention center was Ominka by artist Viktor Freso. The large, inflated bear was covered in blue brooch's inspired by a sentimental costume brooch purchased by artist Viktor Freso's grandmother in 1964 in the United States when she was pursuing a singing career and then taken back to Slovakia. Another stand out art piece was Project Eternal Light from the Reflectspace Gallery displayed in its own area as soon as you walked in to the event. Artist Han Ho's nine lighted panels depicts an apocalyptic end of the world for humanity and was inspired by Michelangelo's Last Supper. A featured exhibition was Big Birk, a 19 foot high, 16 foot long Birkin Bag. It is billed as the world's largest Hermes, Birkin Bag. One of my favorite pieces was the interactive Breakfast by Sydney Warming Sea. Software, a camera, and a computer flips foil on discs into your image when you stand in front of it. There was so much other eye catching art. I especially enjoyed anything featuring animals, light, or kinetic movement. Tickets to this show were $35 but if you follow the galleries on Instagram before the show, some of them give out free tickets. If you pay extra for the VIP tickets there was a private lounge in the center of the convention floor. There was also a Friday night gala for an additional price. During the show there was food and drinks for sale. Parking was offered in the convention center garage for $5 for two hours. Allow a few hours to see everything. There was ample seating on the convention floor in between galleries. This was my first time attending this event and I loved everything about it.

This is supposed to be one of the most prestigious winter art fairs of its kind. The 2020 one is…read morethe 23rd one they've held. And I'd never heard of it! We were lucky enough to be invited as guests of our friends who it seems have gone for years. We met them at the convention center (there's easy parking in the attached garage or you can valet park). Some 85 international galleries had exhibits of all mediums of art. It was like going to a very upscale museum. There was no set traffic pattern here. You could wander in and out of the exhibits as you wished. You could spend as much time as you wanted admiring what you liked. Many items had prices on them. Some were priced "on request". In the middle of the exhibit was a coffee shop/snack bar where you could sit and rest and have a bite. I especially liked some of the kinetic sculptures, the Chihuly glass, and the big "moon" installation. Our friends were drawn to some of the paintings. Such creativity using various methods and mediums -- like an eagle that was made of buttons strung on filament. Or the heart shaped sculpture made out of paint and paint brushes. A number of palm beachers were here to see and be seen. Their outfits were equally as attractive and interesting as the artwork. If you like art, even if you're not in the high rollers league to be a buyer, come here at least to browse. It's a great show!

This was the 3rd annual Day of the Dead celebration in downtown Lake Worth. As you may know, this…read moreis a public holiday in Mexico that lasts 3 days. It's also celebrated by people of Mexican Heritage all over. Lake Worth has about 40% of the population that are Hispanic/Latino, but the festival is of appeal to everyone. Mexicans celebrate by visiting cemeteries and building shrines to honor and remember friends and family who have died. We were able to see some of these shrines (altars) inside the nearby building. Each item meant something to the person being honored. A sign explained all the elements. Food and drinks they liked in life are included. They also eat traditional foods during the celebration like a sweet egg bread. I didn't see any of that but they might have had it. There were long lines at the food truck. I did see tamales which is one of the most common foods eaten during the holiday. The longest line was for the street corn. This corn came with a myriad of toppings. It smelled wonderful, but I didn't feel like waiting. They had a free face painting table and many people took advantage of this. Skeleton faces were popular. Many people were in traditional dress and colorful flower headpieces with painted faces. They had booths with items from Mexico, art, handicrafts, and other things for sale. They had a mariachi band playing for entertainment. This event was free and although small was well worth seeing. It was a cultural learning experience as well as a fun adventure.

I had to wanted to catch the Day of the Dead celebration in Ft. Lauderdale. It is one of the top…read moreten celebrations in the country and they have a giant puppet processional. I missed it not realizing that the events were only Friday night not Saturday. I saw that this Day of the Dead event was being held on Saturday in Lake Worth and Julie F. was kind enough to accompany me on one of my crazy adventures. This festival while smaller and newer than the Ft. Lauderdale one it was still nicely done and it's free admission. The Day of the Dead is a holiday that is celebrated throughout Mexico honoring family members that have passed. This year it was held October 31 until November 2. Alters are made with photos for family members who have died and graves are cleaned and food offerings are left there in order to encourage souls to visit. Skull motifs are feature heavily in face paint, sugar candy, and masks. At this festival people were dressed up and a lot of care and effort went into costumes. They had a costume contest for best dressed. There were vendors selling Mexican food and the Mexican street corn seemed to have the longest line. There were also vendors selling merchandise including crafts people made and skeleton items that were made in Mexico. A Mariachi band performed music. I had a lot of fun taking pictures and people watching. Inside HATCH 1121, the arts building run by the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency, there was an exhibit for Dia De Los Muertos. They had art and alters to family and pets that had passed. With the popularity of the Disney movie Coco a lot more people who are not Hispanic are becoming aware of this holiday. These kind of festivals honor the dead while educating people about Mexican culture. I definitely learned a lot today and had a great time at the festival. I look forward to watching this festival grow in the coming years.

The Mermaid is an abstract sculpture created in 2000 by local artist Claudia Jane Klein who…read moreattended Albert Lea College in Minnesota where she majored in art. In the 1980's she worked in fashion design and was recognized by the Fashion Institute of Technology for her unique designs. In the 1990's she decided to concentrate solely on sculptures and learned metal fabrication and welding in trade schools in New York and Florida. Today she creates metal sculpture in her studio in Lake Worth. I love mermaids so this sculpture caught my eye as I was walking back from the Snook Islands. This is not a classic sculpture of a mermaid but a more abstract form of a sea nymph although you can clearly make out the tail.The face of the mermaid is an open circle. Claudia Jane Klein thought a mermaid sculpture was perfect for Lake worth since it is directly on the Lake Worth Lagoon and ocean. She donated her time and money to create the piece and gifted it to the city in partnership with the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival who maintains it. You can find The Mermaid in Bryant Park across from the golf course. She is next to the fountain. I think she adds artistic interest to the park.

A South Florida winter holiday would not be complete without a boat parade or two. Nothing says…read moreFlorida Christmas like boats decked out in holiday lights and brightly colored decorations. I have a few of my favorites but this year I discovered a new to me boat parade in Boynton Beach. The Boynton Beach Boat Parade is held annually on the second Friday in December. It is sponsored by the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (BBCRA), in partnership with the City of Delray Beach, Town of Hypoluxo, and Town of Lantana. The parade forms at the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Lantana near Old Key Lime House at 6:30 p.m. It then travels south to the C-15 Canal in Delray Beach. There are a number of restaurants where you can catch the parade. In Lantana view the parade from the Old Key Lime House, in Boynton Beach watch the parade from Banana Boat, Two Georges Waterfront Grille, and Prime Catch, and in Delray Beach you can view the parade from Deck 84 and Del Fuego. Or you can view the parade from a number of parks. In Boynton beach watch the parade from Intracoastal Park, Jaycee Park, and Harvey E. Oyer Jr. Park and in Delray Beach you an see the parade from Veterans Park and Knowles Park. I chose to watch the parade from Veterans Park in Delray Beach off Atlantic Ave. The park has a lot of waterfront so I was able to get a good place to watch the boats. This parade isn't as big as the Palm Beach and Winterfest Boat Parades which have fireworks but I still loved this parade. The boats they had were really well done and I appreciate the effort everyone put into them. My favorites were the one with the amazing light show synchronized to music, the Rudolph red nosed boat, and the Minions in a fire truck. The parade was just the right length. After it was over I was able to head up Atlantic Ave to enjoy a Delray beach holiday tradition, the 100 foot Christmas tree.