[đ #FFFTL] Fort Lauderdale's biggest free beach bash kicks off the weekend
Plus a downtown scavenger hunt, but be prepared to act fast!
Thursday, May 21st, 2026 - Fort Lauderdale kicks off Memorial Day Weekend with the Great American Beach Party: live music, parachute jumpers, and water slides.
And save the date next Wednesday. Port Everglades is hosting a career fair at the Convention Center with jobs in maritime, aviation, and hospitality.
Stuff You Wonât Want To Miss:
TONIGHT | Downtown Scavenger Hunt. Itâs not too late to join United Way Browardâs Las Olas Odyssey. Explore downtown Fort Lauderdale through an interactive scavenger hunt designed to spark connection, friendly competition, and community impact.
Also TONIGHT | Equality Park After Darkâs Funky Fun Market. Eat, shop, and socialize from 6 PM to 9 PM with incredible food trucks, vendors, artists, authors, local businesses, and craftspeople.
This Weekend | The Heart of Rock and Roll JR. MTI Pilot Production. Student production by Broward Center\ Rose Miniaci Arts Education Students. Three-night run. Check Ticketmaster for times and pricing. Family-friendly youth performance.
Saturday | Great American Beach Party. Fort Lauderdaleâs signature Memorial Day Weekend beach bash returns. Live bands, SOCOM Para-Commando parachute team landing on the beach, giant water slides, classic car show, sand sculpting contest, kids zone, art show, military tribute, and the Fort Lauderdale Walk of Fame ceremony. Parking downtown and Water Taxi recommended.
Monday | Memorial Day Observance. Fort Lauderdale might be famous for its Great American Beach Party, but letâs not forget the real meaning behind Memorial Day Observances. Come out and show your appreciation for those families who sacrificed the most, to preserve our freedoms.
Huizenga Events | Tuesdays nights at Huizenga includes a two-miler with the Lauderdale Run Club and yoga. But did you know that on Wednesdays they have also kicked off a Trivia Night? I will be running, so if you are laced up say hello!
Wednesday (May 27) | Port Everglades Career Fair & Expo. Port Everglades hosts its career fair. Employers include Broward Sheriffâs Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, maritime and construction firms. Hospitality, maritime, government, security, aviation, logistics. Port Everglades supports 12,000+ local jobs and generates $28.1 billion annually. Free event but registration recommended.
Next Friday (29th) | Movie On The Lawn. Save this date. Bring your lawn chair or blankets for a Lilo & Stitch (the live action movie) in the park.
đâ Hey - quick question. Did we miss anything? Each week we do our research but you might know of an event, an organization, or a local business that deserves some love here in our weekly basket of goodies. Just hit reply to this email and let us know!
Featured Fort Lauderdale
Hidden Wilderness Next Door: Why You Need to Discover Secret Woods
Weâve all driven past it. In the middle of Broward Countyâs bustling grid, just off the roar of State Road 84, lies a literal portal to old Florida. Itâs a place that feels less like a local park and more like a well-kept secret passed down among travelers.
If you are looking for an adventurerâs escape without leaving the zip code, Secret Woods Nature Center is calling.
Stepping onto the property feels like stepping backward in time. Spanning 57 acres of remarkably preserved wilderness along the New River, Secret Woods is a vibrant ecosystem thriving in quiet defiance of the surrounding urban sprawl.
The magic of this sanctuary lies in its transitions. As you walk the winding, shaded boardwalks, the landscape shifts around you:
The Mangrove Curtains: Tidal impoundments where the roots reach into the brackish water like tangled lace, creating a sanctuary for local marine life and wading birds.
The Monarch Canopy: Royal Roost, a famed stopover for migrating Monarch butterflies, where the air feels alive with subtle movement.
The Oak Hammocks: Massive, moss-draped live oaks that blot out the midday sun, dropping the temperature and creating a quiet, cathedral-like stillness.
The Art of Slipping Away
What makes Secret Woods a true adventurerâs dream isnât just the biodiversity. You can be caught in South Florida traffic one minute, and five minutes later, youâre listening to the rustle of land crabs in the undergrowth and the call of a pileated woodpecker overhead.
It is a reminder that nature doesnât always require a three-hour road trip to find. Sometimes, the wild is just waiting quietly on the side of the highway, hidden in plain sight.
Insider Tip: Go early in the morning when the mist is still rising off the New River wetlands. Bring a notebook, a camera, or just your own thoughts and leave the digital noise behind.
So... You Think You Know South Florida
You probably already know... we are a tourist destination and that means over 32 million passengers travel through FLL (Fort Lauderdale International Airport) each year.
What you might not know... Fort Lauderdaleâs Airport is Secretly a Free Art Museum
Think terminal wait times are only good for overpriced coffee and doom-scrolling?
As it turns out, FLL is quietly double-timing as one of South Floridaâs most expansive public art galleries. The airport boasts a staggering collection of over 60 public art installations scattered across its terminals and baggage claims. Thatâs the highest concentration of public art of any Broward County agency.
A recent deep dive into the collection spotlighted some incredible hidden gems you can visit right now without buying a plane ticket:
The Illusionary Traveler: Tucked into the Terminal 1 baggage claim area is âVendor with a Walkmanâ by legendary South Florida hyper-realist sculptor Duane Hanson. Cast in bronze and meticulously painted, this life-sized sculpture of a resting worker is so lifelike that travelers regularly stop to see if heâs breathing or mistake him for a real person.
The Three-Story Seascape: Marine conservationist and artist Guy Harvey took over Terminal 1 with âSunken Treasure,â a massive, hand-embellished vinyl mural that plunges onlookers into a vibrant underwater world complete with a shipwreck and native sea life.
The Sonic Landscape: If you walk past âWavescapeâ by Paul DeMarinis, you are the instrument. Itâs a motion-triggered audio installation that reacts directly to moving passengers.
Sculpting the Air: In Concourse A, look up to see Emily Whiteâs âWavelength,â a stunning, flowing wave of painted aluminum that mimics the rhythmic motion of the Atlantic swell.
Art by Airport employees too! Thereâs even a section reserved by those who work and serve at FLL each day.
Best Part? Because itâs a public art initiative, itâs completely free to view. Next time youâre dropping someone off, picking someone up, or bracing for a flight delay, skip the gate seating and go on a terminal gallery crawl.
Want to map out your art walk before your next flight? Check out the full breakdown of FLLâs hidden masterpieces in the Sun Sentinelâs feature here.
More Treats To Try
We donât let just anyone sponsor this newsletter. Hereâs who âmade the cutâ this week:
(Hit reply to this email if you want to reach over 1300+ local families for just $100)
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Fridays - come enjoy a Sunset Music Cruise with Water Taxi. Happy Hour starts 5pm. Cruise sets sail at 7pm. Great music and a toast to a memorable sunset experience.
The Opulent Reset. For the woman who built it all, and forgot herself inside of it. A private four-day return to yourself on the white-sand shores of Turks & Caicos.
Did you know the business of travel agents is making a resurgence? And you have local options for the experience of a lifetime. Visit R_N_R_Vacations and ask for Fanya.
Children heading off unhappily to school for another dreary day? Have you looked at Acton? The model is pretty different from a traditional school, and it seems to click for many who are not thriving in a standard classroom. Book a visit to see for yourself.
Rhythms School of Dance is a training center for Indian Classical dance, Bharatanatyam. Promoting priceless artistic traditions of India through professional training and student performances.
Dayshift is a party for the 30+ generation who want the unmatched energy of a club, but detest the idea of being out past midnight. Join us for the worldwide clubbing phenomenon alongside DJ's, dancers, disco balls, confetti showers and much more. Running from 5-9pm, get all the fun of a nightclub but during the daytime. Expect the biggest 80s/90s/00s tunes all day long.
Just hit reply to this email to get started. Work with us to reach over 1300+ Greater Fort Lauderdale families.
Quote Of The Week
On opportunity: âToday is cruel. Tomorrow is crueler. And the day after tomorrow is beautiful.â ~ Jack Ma
Jack Ma is a Chinese businessman and philanthropist who co-founded Alibaba, the e-commerce giant.
Flotsam & Jetsam
Ghost in the Machine: Could An App Know You Better Than You Know Yourself?
We like to think of our daily digital decisions as purely functional. You clear an email, bypass an update, skip a track, or add a specific article to a âread laterâ list that youâll inevitably ignore. It feels like basic administrative maintenance.
But what if your interface is actually taking notes on your psyche?
Enter Shadow OS, a concept designed to turn your routine digital choices into deep Jungian insight.
Every time you interact with a system, you leave behind a psychological trail. Shadow OS doesnât just track what you click; it maps the patterns of your behavior across three specific dimensions:
What You Chose: The paths you repeatedly take, revealing your conscious desires and ego ideal.
What You Avoid: The notifications you swipe away, the tasks you endlessly defer, and the inputs you actively ignoreâthe digital manifestations of your aversion and denial.
The Shadows In Between: The hidden common denominator surfacing across both. Itâs the latent friction in your routine that reveals what you are actually running toward (or away from).
Carl Jung famously wrote, âUntil you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.â Next time you find yourself aggressively clearing a specific type of notification or falling into a predictable loop of digital procrastination, take a closer look. Your operating system might just understand your shadow self better than you do.
Word Play Of The Week
âKill Two Birds with One Stoneâ
The idiom âkill two birds with one stoneâ means to accomplish two objectives or solve two problems with a single action or effort. It implies efficiency and effectiveness in achieving multiple goals simultaneously. This figurative expression is often used to describe situations where a single solution or action can address multiple issues, saving time, effort, or resources. ~ âSource
âUnder-The-Radarâ Openings Job Board
Hereâs a new section that we are debuting this week with our transition to Substack.
EcoExplorers Internship Program in Environmental Education and Workforce Training at MODS. A yearlong paid internship for students entering grades 10-12 at eligible Broward County public high schools in environmental education and workforce development.
Hiring Office Assistant- Hollywood Florida. Monday - Thursday 9am- 4 pm. $20 an hour.
Port Everglades Career Fair & Expo (May 27). Multiple Employers. Broward County Convention Center.
Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS). Science Facilitator: Sea Turtle Walks Lead (Full-Time).
Lastly⌠One Big Idea For Your Week
Tell Us How We Are Doing
Every week we are working to improve #FFFTL every week, both for your reading experience and to provide a cutting-edge media apprenticeship opportunity for our learners.
We want to hear from you. What do you love? What could we do better FOR YOU? And most importantly, what FTL businesses and experiences should we be highlighting?