The City of Miami Beach held its inaugural Gay Pride parade on Ocean Drive on April 18. The parade was the first city-supported gay pride event in Miami Beach.

“It is hard to believe a city as diverse and as inclusive of the GLBT community as our city has not had an official Miami Beach Gay Pride in the past,” said Mayor Matti Bower on the parade's Web site. “I am very proud to be a part of such a historical event in our community.”

According to police estimates, more than 20,000 people attended the festivities, twice as many as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's annual Winter Party Festival that attracted some 10,000 attendees to its 15th annual event in February.

The fifth annual Florida International Wine Challenge took place at Smith and Wollensky’s in South Beach this weekend. Created and coordinated by wine marketing company Vinamericas Inc. as a way for international wineries to test their products' potential for success in the Florida market, the industry event opened to the public for the first time in its five-year run.

During last year’s challenge, Vinamericas coordinators, led by founder and president David Bernad, realized they had hundreds of bottles of open wine and nothing to do with them. Solution? Invite the public to drink them and test their wine know-how against industry experts.

“We thought this would give south Florida wine lovers an amazing opportunity to taste hundreds of wines without having to deal with the classic trade show format,” said Bernad.

Office Depot began its fifth annual “Official Small Business of Nascar, Courtesy of Office Depot” competition on May 2, this year offering 30 days of bonus prizes in addition to the grand prize. The office supply retailer, which has its headquarters in Boca Raton, created the sweepstakes-style competition in 2004 and has added a new element each year. 


“It’s been a very successful way to reach the small business owner and really differentiate Office Depot from the competition,” said Dan Richlen, vice president and group account director at Wunderman Chicago, Office Depot’s sports marketing agency. “People know that Office Depot does this promotion and how it really reaches the small business owner.”

The seventh annual Miami Music Awards show, originally scheduled to take place Friday night at the James L. Knight Center, has been postponed until September as a result of a last-minute sponsorship deal with radio station Power 96. The companies that produce the urban music award show, concert promoting company Dreammakers Events and event marketing and production firm Creativas Group Branding, Public Relations & Events, decided to delay it in order to take advantage of the radio station’s relationships with national talent.

“Power 96 is the leading radio station the hip-hop and urban music in the city and they have great relationships with artists,” said Creativas president Liza Santana, adding that Power 96 signed on as the presenting sponsor last month. “Everyone in the genre, like T-Pain, T.I., and Lil Wayne, really wants to work with them.”

The Mediterranean Experience Expo, an international trade show for European countries looking to draw United States business, returned to the Miami Beach Convention Center Thursday through Saturday for its third iteration. Following a two-year hiatus due to an undisclosed medical reason concerning the owner, the show partnered with the Latin Chamber of Commerce of the United States this year in an effort to increase business relations between the two regions.

“[The Chamber of Commerce] has a secretariat with presidents of the chamber of commerce for 25 Latin American countries, so by partnering with them we’ve automatically created an alliance with those countries,” said show director Jeanette Perez, adding that despite lower overall attendance numbers, the event attracted 16 percent more Latin American representatives and attendees than in 2006.

Since Bacardi USA hosted its first B-Live concert series in Miami in early 2005, experiential marketing manager Billy Melnyk has taken the music event, which draws thousands of people every year, global. First expanding internationally to more than 20 countries for one-off concerts throughout that year, he added U.S. stops in Los Angeles and New York in 2006. Then in 2008, the company launched another U.S.-based music series, Bacardi Live Tour, a smaller concert experience that targets a younger demographic.

The distiller combined the two concert series this year, scrapping the Bacardi Live name, in an effort to reach the consumer on a more intimate level, in more markets. The 2009 B-Live mega-concert series—with acts like DJ AM, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Q Tip—is the largest to date, with 26 scheduled stops in America and 20 other countries worldwide. We spoke to Melynk about how he's expanding the brand’s music programs.

How has Bacardi’s music programming changed for 2009?
We’ve morphed the Bacardi Live and B-Live tours this year to touch the consumer in a more engaging way. We wanted to get more intimate this year, and a lot of our venues hold just 1,500 to 3,000 people, compared to our event in Miami last year that had 7,000. It was also a financial decision so we could do more shows and really font the country.

After five years as an independent planner with a passion for floral design, owner Maria Guerrero started Green Options Design, a new floral and event design firm that celebrated the opening of its Mary Brickell Village studio on April 1. Specializing in floral arrangements—regular clients include restaurants, hotels, and businesses in the Brickell area—the company also designs events. Guerrero has a list of preferred vendors for lighting, decor, rentals, and linens, though other companies may be used upon request. Pricing for floral arrangements depends on the type of flowers, size of arrangement, and style of vase.

Oldsmar-based signage and graphics company PD Greenworks introduced a new series of eco-friendly signs, banners, and display boards for trade shows and special events. The company offers biodegradable banners, signboards, and other trade show display materials made from recycled products, all printed with eco-friendly inks made without carcinogens. The graphics are available in six sizes, from 2 by 4 feet ($64) to 4 by 8 feet ($256) and will biodegrade in three to five years. PD Greenworks’ parent company, Precision Digital, also owns Exhibit Bee Graphics, which produces wall art, boat and car wraps, car window images, and other signage.

Emena Spa opened in Miami’s design district earlier this month, offering special group treatment and fitness packages. The 2,500-square-foot space has six treatment rooms and can accommodate groups as large as 100 for day or night events. Treatment packages include 30-minute mini facials, Swedish aromatherapy massages, reflexology, and cranberry sugar body scrubs, all using Eminence Organics skin care products.

With the debut of its new Miami warehouse space two weeks ago, Event Rentals debuted two stylish new plate options: the Glacier glass sushi tray and the Marea tasting plate. The 8- by 8-inch square sushi plates are outfitted with two two-square-inch wells for sauces, spices, or other accents or toppings. The plates come in cobalt blue, green, clear, and smoke and rent for $3 apiece. The white porcelain Marea plate has a grid of nine compartments, suitable for a selection of small tastings, at food stations, or for a tapas-style dinner; the plates rent for $8 each.

Bulldog Barbecue, the casual North Miami barbecue joint owned by former Top Chef contestant Howie Kleinberg, is now offering packaged meals that can be delivered to offices or corporate picnics. Available through Labor Day, the Bulldog-in-a-Box meals include the choice of a full barbecue chicken or a chicken and pulled pork combo along with burnt-end baked beans or macaroni and cheese. Additionally, all meals include roasted corn on the cob, cole slaw, and corn bread. Each box serves four people and costs $50.

Ocean Drive’s Clevelander hotel celebrated its grand reopening on April 30 after completing a 22-month, $40 million renovation. With a reputation as a party hub on South Beach, the property has added a new tower and four event spaces that now accommodate groups as large as 800.

The new South Tower has 11 guest rooms, bringing the property's total to 60, including five Rockstar suites, all of which have been safeguarded against potential damage. Among the upgrades are chest-high balcony rails—built taller than city code requires—ceiling lights in lieu of bedside lamps that were regularly knocked over and broken, and a silicon seal surrounding the beds to protect the floors.

Several hundred members of the media and V.I.P. guests gathered at Dolphin Stadium this morning for a special press conference with Jimmy Buffet and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. The duo announced that Dolphin Stadium—home of the Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins, and Miami Hurricanes—has officially been renamed Landshark Stadium. The name recognizes the facility’s new partnership with Buffet’s Margaritaville enterprise, which produces Landshark Lager with partner Anheuser-Busch.

“Jimmy Buffet is known and loved worldwide for his music and his portrayal of the tropical lifestyle that is synonymous with South Florida, and we are honored to have him bring his unique culture to our organization, “ Ross said.

Trendy boutique properties and five-star resorts are a dime a dozen in South Beach. But if the conference is in Palm Beach, check out these three new and newly renovated hotels.

1. Set to open next month, the Omphoy Ocean Resort will be Palm Beach’s first oceanfront boutique property. Owner Leslie Schlesinger designed the 134-room hotel in a simplistic style with subtle Asian influences such as silk wall sconces and a koi pond in the lobby. The resort will have 5,000 square feet of meeting space accommodating groups as large as 125. Catering on the property is exclusive to James Beard Foundation award winner Michelle Bernstein’s two on-site restaurants, Michelle Bernstein's at the Omphoy and Michelle Bernstein Terrace, which can host private and semiprivate gatherings. The 2,500-square foot Exhale Spa can also be used for events.

Entertainment and nightlife space Exit 66 opened five of its seven in-house event spaces on Friday night in Fort Lauderdale Beach. Interior design firm Bigtime Design strayed from its reputation for posh design (Crobar, the Mondrian South Beach, and B Bar at the Betsy Hotel) and channeled blue-collar America for the new venture.

The 20,000-square-foot venue has five individually themed (and uniquely named) rooms. Chiki Tiki, a 10,000-square-foot outdoor space, serves as the entrance to the complex. With a capacity of 400, the poolside space has 11 semiprivate cabanas seating 10 each, a 1,000-square-foot pool, and a four-sided tiki bar that seats about 40.

Il Bacio Restaurant and Ultra Lounge opened earlier this month in Delray Beach, combining a traditional Italian restaurant and modern after-hours lounge into one venue. Italian for “the kiss,” Il Bacio is outfitted with granite tabletops, champagne-colored leather banquettes, and crystal chandeliers in the main room. Designed by owner Steven Pellegrino, the 5,000-square-foot main room can seat 175 or accommodate 250 for receptions.

A corner table separated from the main space by white silk string reminiscent of fringed flapper dresses can serve as a V.I.P. space for six. The bar can also be used separately from the main room for seated events for 50. Across from the bar at the back of the room, the private champagne area seats 12, with more white fringe separating it from the main space.

The travel industry buyers and exhibitors attending the U.S. Travel Association’s International Pow Wow at the Miami Beach Convention Center took over Lummus Park Sunday night for the travel marketplace’s kickoff event. Each year, the annual conference’s nightly events (a restaurant night is scheduled for tomorrow, a final wrap-up party downtown for Wednesday) are coordinated by the host city’s convention and visitor’s bureau and intended to showcase the city’s culture and woo future travel business.

The Miami Beach Convention and Visitor’s bureau enlisted Randi Freeman, president and owner of event production company Logistics Management Group, to design and produce the outdoor event, which garnered nearly 5,000 guests. Freeman contracted Florida Fence Rental Inc. to fence in the event's footprint—the park between 7th and 9th Streets—later dividing the space into three areas with Miami-centric themes: tropical, SoBe nightclub, and Deco jazz.

The U.S. Travel Association's International Pow Wow wrapped up last night with a tribute to the arts at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County, just days after the conference’s opening night beach party on Sunday in Lummus Park. Both events were hosted by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors’ Bureau and producer Randi Freedman of Logistics Management Group. Since the closing night party showcased some 21 entertainment acts throughout the performing arts center and outside, Freedman had Miami police barricade the 1400 block of Biscayne Boulevard to allow more event space and an easier flow for the more than 5,000 guests.

"The facilities themselves don’t allow for that amount of people, so we had to shut the street down so we could have the [event] flow back and forth," Freedman said. "It also gave [the attendees] a chance to really explore the facility." The event took place in the Knight Concert Hall and Ziff Ballet Opera House buildings, on either side of Biscayne Boulevard between 14th and 15th Streets, as well as on the street between them. (Freedman set up a tented walkway door-to-door between the buildings in case of rain, which managed to hold out until the end of the night.)

Adidas continued a marketing campaign tied to its 60th anniversary with the official "Customize Your Life" kickoff party for its online shoe customization program on Thursday in Miami. The five-day Customize Your Life event piggybacked on the campaign’s message of promoting individuality and originality by bringing consumers into the store and directing them to the company's Web site to custom design their Originals sneakers. The sporting goods manufacturers partnered with Modern Luxury Media for the event, which also took place on Thursday in New York, Atlanta, and Chicago and on Wednesday in Los Angeles.

“The goal was to establish Originals in our core lifestyle market, and Modern Luxury hits that [group] with all their local magazines,” said Adidas America’s vice president of retail Mark Friedman in reference to Modern Luxury's Miami, Manhattan, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles titles. “They really have a strong local presence in those key markets.” The series continued the brand's Celebrate Originality campaign, which launched in New York in November as a celebration of the company's 60th anniversary and its original sneaker design.