When you’ve been around South Florida for a long time, things don’t faze you: Hurricanes, politicians, crime waves come and go. Just focus on balmy bay breezes, the serene waterfront and lush tropical foliage.
But the pandemic in the last couple of years have been especially hard on everyone, especially event planners, who had to cancel festivals and fairs. In 2021, one of those events was the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, the street fair that has attracted hundreds of thousands of art lovers through the village’s winding streets.
Longtime CGAF president and CEO Monty Trainer felt the pain. “I feel like I’ve been in a vacuum. In the office by myself,” he says. “You don’t get to interact on Zoom. We lost camaraderie.”
Now it’s full steam ahead for President’s Day Weekend 2022, with some changes. Fewer artists and better quality of art under new artist coordinator Camille Marchese. No more live music – instead, the resident DJ will sit atop a stack of containers in Peacock Park while street artists paint the containers. The poster artist is a popular street artist.
“We’re appealing to younger audiences,” says Trainer. “Now, it’s a younger family-oriented crowd.”
Trainer brings the perspective of someone who’s not just seen change in Coconut Grove, but played an active role in its growth. In 1969, the Key West native opened Monty’s, a restaurant and gas station two years after graduating from the University of Florida. “All you could see was the bank then,” he recalls. Then, the Grove’s Bohemian-meets-Caribbean vibe was in full bloom – hippies, people with guitars, college students, a lot of live entertainment. Restaurants he launched, like the raw bar that celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020, or the now-gone Village Inn on Commodore Plaza, became as much a storied part of Coconut Grove’s history as the people who passed through his doors. “Jimmy Buffett sang at the Raw Bar,” he says.
But times change, and Trainer is fine with that. He’s especially pleased with the many small restaurants in the Grove, including the newly renovated Florentine Plaza and the expanded Chug’s. “Atchana’s Homegrown Thai is a local hangout that’s always full. Sapore del Mare is fantastic,” he says. “It’s good to have so many owner-operated places here.”
Changes are in the program at this year’s Coconut Grove Arts Festival. New on the culinary scene is the Kitchen Combat...
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