Oh, sure, you could begin the year bonding with the kids over s’mores by a bonfire and a commitment to Dry January mocktailing. Or you could set the tone for 2026 while watching the Panthers’ A.J. Greer KO a New York Ranger, chowing down on a Wagyu pastrami sandwich, wagering on hermit crab races and cracking wise with Todd Packer. It’s every man for himself in the Year of the Horse.
FRIDAY
Jamaica strong: The Stay Strong Jamaica benefit concert will bring some of the island’s most revered artists to Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on Friday to raise money for Hurricane Melissa disaster relief. The lineup includes Shaggy, Julian Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, Marcia Griffiths, Wayne Wonder, Inner Circle, Third World and The Wailers, among others. Comedian Majah Hype will serve as the host. All net proceeds from the concert will go to the designated beneficiary from the Hard Rock Heals Foundation, Jamaica’s Promise, which is providing housing, infrastructure repair and humanitarian aid to those affected by the Category 5 hurricane that hit the island on Oct. 28. Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert are available, starting at $67.20, at Ticketmaster.com.
Pop and fresh: The Arsht Center in Miami will offer the final performances of the touring Broadway musical “& Juliet” this weekend. This fresh take on one of Shakespeare’s iconic lovers is set to a soundtrack of Gen Z anthems by Katie Perry, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and more, with a book by David West Read, an Emmy-winning writer for “Schitt’s Creek.” Performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $58.50, depending on performance day at time. Visit ArshtCenter.org.
Walking Delray: First Friday Art Walk returns to downtown Delray Beach on Friday, a free, self-guided tour of more than two dozen venues from 6 to 9 p.m. Visit Facebook.com/DowntownDelray/events. Worth checking out: Arts Warehouse, which will host an opening reception for “This Is. The End.,” a solo exhibition of painting, mixed-media work, sculpture and installations by Khaulah Naima Nuruddin, curator and exhibitions manager for the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum. The show was organized by Tayina Deravile, a curator and gallery manager at Girls’ Club in Fort Lauderdale. Oh, and look, it’s happy hour at Arts Warehouse, with $6 beer and wine from 6 to 9 p.m. Admission is free. Visit ArtsWarehouse.org.
Sliding home: The most extraordinary event of the weekend will be the Discover NHL Winter Classic, when the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and the New York Rangers play open-air hockey at the Miami Marlins’ loanDepot Park on Friday at 8 p.m. (Temps are expected in the mid 60s. Brrr!) If you don’t have tickets (they’re going for north of $300 at Ticketmaster.com), you can watch the game live on TNT. If you do have tickets, get there early for pregame festivities including a concert by singer-songwriter Role Model and an appearance by the Stanley Cup. Visit FloridaPanthers.com.
Bundling up: No kidding, the cold snap is perfectly timed for the return of the Lake Worth Beach Bonfires & Night Market on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. on the sand in front of at the Lake Worth Beach Casino & Beach Complex. Sponsored by Benny’s on the Beach, these gatherings are BYO-chair/blanket and s’mores fixings, and continue on the first and third Friday of the month through Feb. 20. Visit Instagram.com/lakeworthbeachpbc.
Tune in, add on: If you are doing Dry January, Funky Buddha Brewery is here for you. To its lengthy list of beer, seltzers and cocktails, the Oakland Park brewery recently added an inventive menu of mocktails. The four new alcohol-free drinks, which run $9 each, feature fresh-pressed juices and house-made syrups, and can be elevated with a 2.5 mg THC add-on ($5), if that’s how you want to greet the new year. They include Blackberry Colt (house-made blackberry ginger syrup, fresh lime juice, Funky Buddha ginger beer), Orange Julius (fresh orange juice blended with Thai coconut syrup and house-made vanilla syrup, served over crushed ice), Water My Lawn (fresh watermelon juice, lime juice, house-made watermelon simple syrup, topped with Funky Buddha ginger beer) and Brazilian Lemonade (fresh limes, sugar and sweetened condensed milk). Visit FunkyBuddha.com.
Defrosting soon: This is the final weekend for Slow Burn Theatre Co.’s critically praised production of “Disney’s Frozen” at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, with performances at 2 p.m. Friday, 1 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Ticket prices vary by performance, starting at $68.56, at Ticketmaster.com.
Weekend movie: Local art-house theater Cinema Paradiso in downtown Hollywood will have weekend screenings of the critically acclaimed “Marty Supreme,” starring Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow and Odessa A’zion. Showtimes will be at 2 and 5:30 p.m. Friday; 1, 4:20 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2 and 5:15 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $12, seniors $10, matinee screenings $9. Visit CinemaHollywood.org.
Wagyu in your hand: Palm Beach Meats, the West Palm Beach Wagyu destination that this year won a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand citation, has refreshed its menu with a variety of new items that include the Wagyu Katsu Sando sandwiches that created some social buzz recently in Orlando (where PBM opened a second location a little more than a year ago). The most provocative of these new handhelds is the Japanese A5 Wagyu Katsu, which layers ultra-luxurious, panko-crusted Japanese A5 Wagyu beef on soft milk bread with black garlic kewpie tonkatsu. That will set you back $89.99. If it’s not that kind of date night, other new items include the Australian Wagyu Filet Katsu ($26.99), Wagyu Pastrami Breakfast Sandwich ($19.99), Wagyu BLT ($17.99), Wagyu Wontons ($14.99) and the Wagyu PB&J, with Wagyu tallow peanut butter ($14.99). Visit PalmBeachMeats.com.
Take the kids: Cirque Italia will bring aerialists, jugglers, dancers, daredevils and a stage that holds 35,000 gallons of water to a big-top tent at Broward Mall in Plantation for performances of the family-friendly “Water Circus Atlantis” on Friday through Jan. 12. Showtimes this weekend will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday; 1:30, 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets start at $30, ages 2-12 $15, at CirqueItalia.com. Looking ahead, Cirque Italia will offer its more mature production, “Paranormal Cirque Nightmare,” at Miramar Regional Park on Jan. 9 through Jan. 19. Visit ParanormalCirque.com.
Holiday lights: Keep the holiday spirit going during the final weekend of “Hard Rock the Holiday” at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, a family-friendly experience that transforms 24 acres around The Guitar Hotel pool into a winter wonderland with more than 2 million LED lights, 20 themed areas and a light show synchronized to a holiday soundtrack. On closing weekend, shows will take place 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $45, $10 for kids ages 7 to 12, free for 6 and younger. Visit HardRockTheHolidays.com.
SATURDAY
Year of the Horse: The beautiful Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach will celebrate the Year of the Horse on Saturday and Sunday during its annual Oshogatsu Weekend, with a variety of traditional Japanese New Year festivities focused on renewal, family and good fortune. Along with koto music and family-friendly craft activities, visitors can watch performances of omato-shiki, an ancient ceremonial form of Japanese archery, and learn about mochitsuki, the traditional pounding of rice to make mochi, the beloved New Year’s dessert (fresh mochi will be available for purchase). Museum admission is $18.07, seniors (65+) and military $16.07, students $14.07, children ages 6-17 $12.07 (kids 5 and younger free). Visit Morikami.org.
See food, eat food: The 16th annual Riverwalk Stone Crab & Seafood Festival returns to Esplanade Park on the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free-admission event will include local seafood purveyors, vendors, live entertainment and the ever-popular hermit crab races. Each seafood vendor will have a featured $5 menu item for sampling. Those 21 and older can visit the Grove Lounge, a ticketed area featuring curated bites and beverages. Those tickets cost $27.24. Visit GoRiverwalk.com.
Shady behavior: On the other side of downtown Fort Lauderdale, the Las Olas Art Fair will invite more than 200 artists to set up on the tourist-friendly thoroughfare on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. While you’re there, can you imagine the street without its signature column of trees down the center median? Not editorializing, just asking. Visit ArtFestival.com.
SUNDAY
This is fine: The King Mango Strut — a throwback to a brand of subversive civic irreverence in South Florida that feels in short supply these days — returns for a 42nd year to the streets of Miami’s boho Coconut Grove neighborhood on Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. This signature January event typically draws more than 10,000 spectators, who watch a parade of hundreds of costumed characters lampoon the absurdity of modern culture, politics and trends. The 2026 theme is the resurgent meme “This is Fine.” (Google it.) This year’s events will include the first-ever pre-party beginning at noon at the kickoff point of the Strut, at the corner of Commodore Plaza and Main Highway, where you’ll find live entertainment, King Mango merch and more. For more information, visit KingMangoStrut.org.
‘Office’ party: Comedian, character actor and storyteller David Koechner, still best known for his roles as Todd Packer on “The Office” and Champ Kind in “Anchorman,” will conclude a weekend run at the Fort Lauderdale Improv on Sunday at 3 p.m. with his wacky Office Trivia Show, which is a hoot. Tickets cost $36.90. You can catch his more traditional stand-up performances at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday, and 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets start at $31.90. Visit ImprovFTL.com.
Sunday jams: Groovy Americana stalwarts Donna the Buffalo bring their revered live show to the Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton on Sunday at 7 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m. General-admission, standing-room tickets cost $39.24. Visit FunkyBiscuit.com.
A side of schmaltz: The delightfully adventurous Toronto quintet Schmaltz & Pepper will share their “classy klezmer-chamber music and jazz infused with schmaltz” at the Aventura Arts & Cultural Center on Sunday at 2 p.m. Scattered tickets remain, starting at $53.10, at Ticketmaster.com.
Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on IG: @BenCrandell.
