#2 Parade and Festival (up from #3)
Next year will be the 55th anniversary of the free event, which features more than 500 arts and crafts exhibitors that take over a 10-block stretch of downtown Delray Beach. Next: April 7-9, 2017
#3 Parade and Festival (up from #4)
Organizers expect one million spectators to turn out for “Comics and Cartoons,” the theme of the 45th anniversary of the 12-mile waterborne parade. Next: December 10, 2016
#4 Parade and Festival (up from #6)
Organizers expect more than 100,000 participants this year, reflecting the expansion to Friday as well as the weekend. Activities such as a cocktail reception and beach party culminate in Sunday’s parade, of which radio personality Elvis Duran was grand marshal this year. Next: April 7-9, 2017
#6 Parade and Festival (up from #8)
The event outgrew its Miami location and added a seventh weekend to its Deerfield Beach location at Quiet Waters Park to accommodate the crowds who come for activities centered around weekend themes like steampunk, Vikings, and dragons. Next: February 11-March 26, 2017
#7 Parade and Festival (up from #11)
Organizers call 2016 the festival’s biggest year ever, with 14,000 participants and nearly all events and parties celebrating diversity sold out. A record-breaking $1.2 million was raised to assist organizations that work to support and advocate for the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Next: March 1-6, 2017
#8 Parade and Festival (up from #9)
The fair celebrated its 65th anniversary this year with a bevy of activities in Tamiami Park including live music, a petting zoo, performances by ice skaters and aerialists, a craft beer tasting, and laser shows. Next: March 23-April 16, 2017 (except for March 27-28 and April 3-4)
#9 Parade and Festival (up from #12)
Although the Coconut Grove parade shifts from Sunday to Saturday this year to accommodate the Christmas holidays, organizers expect the usual number of as many as 10,000 participants, who turn out for satirical, zany themes like “The Farce Awakens.” Next: December 31, 2016
#10 Parade and Festival (up from #13)
Downtown Coral Gables will fill with 20,000 viewers and 2,000 participants for the 68th annual parade this year. Grandstand ticket-holders will get to view a pre-parade performance of a Taiwanese lion dance. Next: November 27, 2016
#11 Parade and Festival (up from #14)
The celebration of Caribbean culture at the Miami-Dade Fairgrounds features a colorful masquerade, dancing, steel drum bands, and traditional food from the Islands. Next: October 9, 2016
#12 Parade and Festival (up from #15)
The weekend-long celebration of lesbian culture takes place in and around the Raleigh Hotel in South Beach. Last year’s events were nearly all sellouts, and organizers added a co-ed pool party that was popular enough to be reprised this year. Next: May 2017
