Greetings {name},

Sunday, April 10 is Palm Sunday, the beginning of a week of Christian holidays. The palm leaves are said to symbolize victory and joy.

Tuesday, April 12 is National Library Workers' Day with community organizations giving awards to honor library workers, lunches to celebrate librarians, and donations made to libraries.

Wednesday, April 13 is Thomas Jefferson's Birthday with special celebrations at his home at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Friday, April 15 is Good Friday, occurring two days before Easter Sunday. It's also the traditional last day to file federal income taxes.

Saturday, April 16 is the first day of Passover on the Jewish calendar.

Sunday, April 17 is Easter Sunday. Many churches hold special services and it's traditional for children to hunt for decorated Easter eggs and enjoy chocolate bunnies.

As always, make plans to enjoy the great outdoors in our little city. Walk down Miracle Mile, experience the live theatre and the best movies, browse the book stores, look into the art galleries and meet up with friends at the restaurants. Visit the parks and public spaces to appreciate the bounties of nature. 

Enjoy the best of Coral Gables in the coming days.

Robert and Robin Burr

Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24

Miami Wine & Spirits Festival

Enjoy a weekend of fine wine and spirits at 2985 S. Bayshore Drive, Miami, FL 33133 as the Miami Wine & Spirits Festival comes to Coconut Grove. Taste amazing food from miami's top restaurants, with craft beer, fine wine and craft spirits, plus live entertainment and exhibits. https://www.beerwinespiritsfestivals.com

please enjoy this image that reminds us of the beauty and serenity of our majestic city

the historic Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ

click on image to see enlargement.

Coral Gables scenic photo illustrations © Robin and Robert Burr.

Thursday, April 7 at 5:30pm

Encore - Live Music On The Mile

Enjoy live music at McBride Plaza with Encore! an outdoor concert series featuring the Frost School of Music. Musicians will perform different styles of music including jazz, Latin jazz, funk, classical, R&B and more. Enjoy the alfresco music, raffles during intermission and even treats for your pup. Get details online.

Friday, April 8 at 7pm

The Crandons at the Barnacle

Attend Barnacle Under Moonlight with live music by The Crandons, outdoors overlooking Biscayne Bay. Pack a picnic and enjoy an evening of great music at The Barnacle Historic State Park. Prices are $20 general admission, $15 for members of The Barnacle Society, and $10 for children ages 6 to 12. The Crandons perform live from 7 to 9pm and the gate opens an hour before show time for open seating on the grass. Rolling coolers and alcohol are allowed at after-hours events, but please leave pets at home. Get details and tickets online.

Starts Friday

Mothering Sunday

On a warm spring day in 1924, house maid and foundling Jane Fairchild (Odessa Young) finds herself alone on Mother's Day. Her employers, Mr. and Mrs. Niven (Colin Firth and Olivia Colman), are out and she has the rare chance to spend quality time with her secret lover. Paul (Josh O'Connor) is the boy from the manor house nearby, Jane's long-term love despite the fact that he's engaged to be married to another woman, a childhood friend and daughter of his parents' friends. But events that neither can foresee will change the course of Jane's life forever. Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival. https://www.gablescinema.com/events/mothering-sunday/

Saturday and Sunday at 11am

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

It's veggie-mania in Wallace and Gromit's neighborhood, and this man and dog team are cashing in with their humane pest-control business, "Anti-Pesto." With only days to go before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition, business is booming, but Wallace & Gromit are finding out that running a "humane" pest control company has its drawbacks as their home fills to the brim with captive rabbits. Suddenly, a huge, mysterious, vegetable-destroying beast begins attacking the town's sacred vegetable gardens at night, and the competition hostess, Lady Tottington, enlists Anti-Pesto to catch the creature and save the day. https://www.gablescinema.com/events/wallace-and-gromit-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit/

Saturday, April 9 at 2pm

Preserving and Protecting Miami’s History at the Library

Please join The Miami Pioneers and Natives of Dade historical society for a program on local history — Preserving and Protecting Miami’s History at the Library -- at 2pm on Saturday, April 9th at the Pinecrest Branch Library. Our special guest speakers are Stephanie Garcia and Margarita Mirabal, the heads of Miami-Dade Public Library’s Special Collections & Archives and Digitization divisions. They will discuss the practical steps and proactive efforts taken to preserve and protect the treasures of Miami’s history held within Main Library’s walls. This event is free and open to the public. https://www.mpnod.org/events/miamis-history-at-the-library/

April Saturdays from 3 to 5pm

O, Miami -- Meet A Poet at Books And Books

What inspires you? What topics do you like to write about? Poets are available for check-out at Books & Books in the Gables on Saturdays. They only ask that you return the poets afterwards, don’t take them home. Celebrate O, Miami Poetry Festival in April. https://omiami.org/poetry-festival

Saturday, April 9 at 6:30pm

Commodore Trail - End of Season Garden Party

Spend an evening with friends and supporters of the Commodore Trail celebrating with the kick-off of the Commodore Trail Master Plan with friends, drinks and small bites. Garden chic attire. Parking is limited, so please consider Uber. Proceeds of this fundraiser support improvements to the Commodore Trail. Get details and purchase tickets online.

Saturday, April 9 at 7:30pm

Stamps String Quartet

Enjoy a free concert on YouTube as the elite Stamps String Quartet, comprised of four outstanding young string musicians, performing their final senior recital, funded by the Stamps Scholars Program. They were selected from an amazing roster of talented young artists who passed the auditions of the Frost School of Music and met the academic requirements of the University of Miami. The students were each offered a full four-year scholarship, including room and board, provided by the Stamps Scholars Program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5OfYpWSIjg

Saturday, April 9 at 8pm

Airborne: Discover Miami Through Music

Join Orchestra Miami for a uniquely Miami experience honoring the 95th anniversary of the founding of Pan American World Airways and Miami's storied aviation history with two important American compositions about flight -- Kurt Weill’s Der Lindberghflug (Linberg’s Flight) and Marc Blitzstein’s Airborne Symphony. The performance takes place at Shake-A-Leg Miami (2620 South Bayshore Drive) an original Coast Guard airplane hangar in Coconut Grove built in 1932, featuring Orchestra Miami, the Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, along with members of Tropical Wave and the Gay Men's Chorus of Ft. Lauderdale. The performance will feature Gregory Schmidt as Lindberg and Gabriel Preisser as Airman. Tickets are general admission by section. Section A-VIP tickets include admission to the after-party on the terrace at Shake-A-Leg overlooking Biscayne Bay. Tickets are $100 for Section A-VIP; $70 for Section A; $50 for Section B and $35 for Section C, which is bleacher-style seating. Call 305-274-2103. https://www.orchestramiami.org/airborne

Saturday, April 9 at 9pm

Cinema After Hours - The Lure

In this bold, genre-defying horror-musical mashup -- the playful and confident debut of Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska -- a pair of carnivorous mermaid sisters are drawn ashore in an alternate '80s Poland to explore the wonders and temptations of life on land. Their tantalizing siren songs and otherworldly aura make them overnight sensations as nightclub singers in the half-glam, half-decrepit fantasy world of Smoczyńska's imagining. https://www.gablescinema.com/events/the-lure/

Sunday, April 10 at 11am

Baking & Emily Dickinson in the Garden

Baking and Poetry -- a delightful combination. Enjoy With But A Crumb: Baking & Emily Dickinson in the Garden, presented in partnership with Edible South Florida and Dade Heritage Trust. Led by instructor Lucia Meneses and poet Leslie Fraser. In the mid-19th century, Amherst, Massachusetts, resident Emily Dickinson was a proud and accomplished baker. On the back of a yellow baking chocolate wrapper, Emily wrote the draft of a poem in her neat round handwriting. On Mrs. Carmichael’s recipe for Coconut Cake, she wrote: “The Things that never can come back, are several.” Poetry, food, horticulture, and history converge in this program at the historic Coral Gables Woman’s Club, a part of Dade Heritage Trust’s Baking in Historic Places program. Learn how to make her Coconut Cake using the same recipe and methods. https://omiami.org/projects-and-events/with-but-a-crumb

Monday, April 11 at 6pm

FIU and MDC - Ethics, Activist Art and Performance

Professor Darnell Arnold will lead the audience through a thought-provoking debate in a pre-performance forum before a tribute to artist-activist Xavier Cortada. Enjoy this program of art, drama, music, poetry and dance examining the life work of Xavier Cortada -- Flying Solo With Artist X -- at Pinecrest Gardens and the Banyan Bowl starting at 6pm. Admission is free, but you must RSVP online.

Monday, April 11 at 7:30pm

US Coast Guard Band

From wind ensemble classics to swinging jazz charts, enjoy a fabulous free concert by the United State Coast Guard Band at Gusman Concert Hall. Formed in 1925, the 55-member United States Coast Guard Band is the premier band representing the Department of Homeland Security. They have performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and internationally. The repertoire includes a variety of music, from wind ensemble classics to swinging jazz charts. https://ci.ovationtix.com/1811/performance/10827904

Wednesday, April 13 at 9pm

Licorice Pizza at Cosford Cinema

The University of Miami Cinematic Arts Commission presents Licorice Pizza, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson -- the story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and falling in love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973. The film tracks the treacherous navigation of first love. https://cosfordcinema.com/event/licorice-pizza/2022-04-13/

Saturday, April 16

Osteen Hammock Trail in Everglades National Park

The Dade County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society presents a field trip to Everglades Osteen Hammock in the Long Pine Key area, near the road to the Research Center. The trail to Osteen Hammock passes through beautiful prairie, hammock and pineland. There's likely pineland deltoid spurge not far from trail, and Havana skullcap. The pinelands surrounding Osteen Hammock have many unique species that aren’t found in other areas of Everglades National Park, like Gopher apple and Dichanthelium species (in the grass family). April 16 is on a holiday weekend -- the first day of National Park Week (thus the free entrance). Get details online. https://dade.fnpschapters.org/events/

The Season Is Here

Everglades Swamp Tours

Reserve space with Everglades Swamp Tours for an amazing adventure in the wild Everglades -- with your own custom tour of these vast open spaces. Experience the natural wildlife up close and appreciate the serene nature of this pristine environment. https://www.evergladesswamptours.com

Many of our favorite eateries in the Gables are offering curbside takeout, as well as delivery services. Here's a handy list of choices for Gables residents and friends.

http://www.greatgables.com/CoralGables/ToGo.html