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Photograph: Jason Koerner

The best October events in Miami

It’s officially festival season in Miami and the best October events have it all—from food to music and more.

Virginia Gil
Falyn Wood
Written by
Virginia Gil
&
Falyn Wood
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We know, it’s not exactly sweater weather here in Miami. These October days are still long, hot and primed for impromptu afternoons at the best Miami beaches—that is unless the forecast calls for storms (in which case, there are still plenty of fun things to do when it’s raining in Miami). And yet, there is something different about the city this time of year.

This month marks the unofficial start of the festival season. It seems many of the best October events in Miami are big celebrations either held outdoors in Wynwood, on the sand in South Beach or even across Miami theaters. We close out the month with Halloween, but visits to pumpkin patches, haunted houses and spooky sights are also on the agenda. There’s no time for rest now that these October events in Miami are upon us, so mark your calendars and prepare for a busy season ahead.

October events in Miami

  • Things to do
  • Redlands
Back for a third year, Tinez Farms' Pinterest-perfect pumpkin patch provides the ideal fallscape for all your seasonal photos. Aside from the multi-sized and colored gourds and hay bales, there's an animal barnyard and petting zoo, a garden maze, Tinez yard games, climbing, swings, zip lines, a bounce house and a tubing slide to help get you into the autumnal spirit. You can also opt to add on a cow barrel train or pony, donkey and horse rides to your experience. On the weekends, peruse the farmers' market, where you'll find organic produce and artisanal wares from local businesses.
  • Things to do
Gulfstream Park returns with its annual Halloween featuring plenty of all-ages thrills. The free party spans the Village Center and a route of candy stations doling out 2,000 pounds of sweets at participating shops. The whole thing kicks off with a fog-filled Headless Horseman grand entrance in the Walking Ring, next to the Clubhouse. After that, the night unfolds with a live MC and DJ, performers, food trucks and contests with cash prizes.  
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  • Things to do
  • Miami
Prefer garden strolls to techno trolls? The Haunting Hour at Fairchild Tropical Gardens is sort of like trick or treating for adults: Don costumes and sip on cocktails as you stroll the garden’s many many haunted trails. Secrets bloom throughout, so consider joining one of the immersive walks throughout the night—It may just help you find the hidden speakeasy. $30 for nonmembers
  • Things to do
Scoring three Tonys for its 1988 Broadway premiere, Into the Woods has become one of Stephen Sondheim’s signature works, a delightful and deadpan mash-up of the several Brothers Grimm fairy tales featuring some of the composer’s most persistent earworms and plenty of narrative surprises. As a baker enters fabled woods to secure the ingredients needed to reverse a witch’s curse that has left his family childless, his story collides with others who have ventured into the mystical space, among them Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack (of the Beanstalk fame). Oct. 14–29: various show times; $52–$90
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  • Things to do
  • Coconut Grove
Coconut Grove may have turned a new page, but the ghosts of its nefarious 1980s past are paying a visit on Saturday, October 28. The entire hotel will be dripping in disco, craft cocktails and enough neon to light your soul, from the starlit rooftop at Sip Sip to the lush, multi-tiered atrium and courtyard. Your $150 ticket includes an open bar, so strap on yout stilettos and undo those buttons on your Tony Montana satin shirt as you groove through each floor.
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  • Things to do
  • Miami
Experience the beloved children's novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry like never before at The Little Prince World Miami, running from October 13 through December 31. Contained within a 137-foot wide and 45-foot high dome on Watson Island, the immersive landscape features a sprawling desert of real sand and more whimsical, multisensory elements that transport guests to unknown planets. Meet the book's enchanting characters and experience a nostalgic adventure through the eyes of the iconic Little Prince at this family-friendly, hour-long installation.
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  • Things to do
Gulfstream Park's late-night adults lounge Carousel Club launches a mesmerizing weekly party just in time for the spooky season. Moonlight Circus Saturdays plays off the club's festive funhouse theme with suspended aerial acts, mind-bending illusionists, stilt walkers, costumed characters and more live circus activations throughout the night. Festivities (including specialty frozen cocktails) kick off at 10pm and go until 3am. A free RSVP for the opening night will score you a glass of complimentary champagne.  
  • Things to do
  • Downtown
Japanese contemporary art superstar Yayoi Kusama unveils her largest and most immersive kaleidoscopic environment this spring at Pérez Art Museum Miami. Known for her groundbreaking, psychedelic sculpture and Infinity Mirror installation works that originated in the 1960s and gave rise to today’s ubiquitous immersive art trend, Kusama has created a culmination of her artistic practice in the upcoming LOVE IS CALLING show at PAMM.  As visitors walk through the darkened, mirrored room, they’ll encounter the breadth of Kusama’s visual vocabulary: a disorienting cavern of polka-dotted, tentacle-like forms extending from the floor and ceiling, providing the room’s only source of light as they gradually change color. Meanwhile, a recording of Kusama’s voice fills the space as she recites a love poem that explores poignant, universal themes around life and death. Written by the artist, the Japanese poem’s title translates to “Residing in a Castle of Shed Tears.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out Miami (@timeoutmiami)
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