39th Annual Art Deco Weekend in Miami Beach

Art Deco Weekend is a yearly celebration that celebrates Art Deco Design, the Art Deco District, and Miami Beach at large. On this weekend, Ocean Drive from 5th to 13th Streets is closed to traffic, allowing vendors to sell their wares, entertainment acts to perform, classic cars to be showed off to admirers, and other fun activities to be enjoyed by eventgoers. This year is the 39th annual Art Deco Weekend, and the dates for this year's festivities are Friday, January 15; Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17.

Art Deco Weekend celebrates the rich and varied history of Miami Beach, from its humble beginnings back in 1915 all the way to today. In that time, Art Deco architecture has become famous worldwide, heads of state and royalty have made appearances on the famed Ocean Drive, and millions upon millions of people have flocked to the island's shores for fun and relaxation.

The theme for this year's celebration is "The Art of Architecture: Celebrating Architecture from Coral Rock to Exoskeletons." If you attend the Art Deco Museum (open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. before, during and after the festival), you can learn all about the three different types of architecture that have made Miami Beach famous: Art Deco, Miami Modern (MiMo), and Mediterranean Revival. Not only can people view scaled models of buildings constructed in each style, they can also listen to stories about Miami Beach and its growth directly from people who have lived here over the past 100 years.

There will be guided tours of Ocean Drive which leave on the half-hour between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on all three days of Art Deco Weekend. Tickets cost $25 per person and can be purchased online by going to artdecoweekend.com. Ticket sales end the day before the weekend begins.

The classic car show will be presented on Saturday and Sunday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Ocean Drive between 5th and 10th Streets (a much larger show than last year, which took up four street blocks). Cars from the first decade of the 20th century through to 1991 will be on display, featuring models from collections across Florida.

If you're a fan of live music, you will love listening to music in the afternoons and evenings throughout the weekend. The first show is at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 15 at the corner of 12th and Ocean. St. Louis band Sarah Jane and the Blue Notes will start things off, and they will perform all three days of the festival. Other bands performing include Fruit Stand Jam Band, Shiny Shoes Band, Oriente and the SJO Allstars, French Horn Collective, and Vinyl BLVD. Brothers of Others will perform a concert at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 16 at ART Bar (9th Street block of Lummus Park).

There's even a cute dog show and parade, which will begin at 13th and Ocean in the Park on Saturday, January 16 at 11 a.m. This irresistible event is free and open to the public. Bring your pet, dress him or her up, and march your little one in the parade, which starts and ends at the Kids' Club Stage. There will be a doggy meet and greet on Saturday and Sunday with the Humane Society of Greater Miami and Jamie's, organizations that can pair you with a lovely dog that needs a forever home.

For fans of haute couture, they need look no further than the Art Deco Welcome Center (10th and Ocean), where the sixth annual Art Deco Weekend Fashion Show will be held on Saturday, January 16 at 12:30 p.m. Iris Chase, the resident artist at the Miami Design Preservation League, will be presenting some of the most chic Tatyana designs from the 1930s and 1940s. Also, Belinda Designs will present their dresses and hats inspired by the 1920s. The models in the fashion show have represented Florida in the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants, and the hair and make-up will be done by the Beauty School of America. This event is free to attend.

If you find yourself not being able to get enough of the retro spirit, come on out on the last day of the weekend and enjoy the South Florida Lindy Collective, who will present over 30 hours of live music and swing dancing, complete with a wooden dance floor right there on the beach! To learn more about the Lindy Collective, visit lindycollective.com.

No matter what kinds of events you like, Art Deco Weekend has something for everyone, and you will not only have fun, but learn a lot about the history of Miami Beach while doing so.

Art Deco Weekend is organized and presented by the Miami Design Preservation League. For more information on them, visit mdpl.org. For more information on Art Deco Weekend, visit artdecoweekend.com