The Miami Lakes Food & Wine Festival was a draw once more this year, for ticket holders and those who wished they were.
Guests lined up 40 minutes early in the cool night air to get into the festival that featured 27 restaurants and food vendors and 26 vintners and beverage companies.
As the night progressed, residents in the nearby Windmill Gate community lined up chairs on a canal bank so they could watch the party and listen to the music coming from Optimist Park.
Those in the know buy their tickets early and support the Town Foundation’s community grants program.
They include Maria Hernandez, Amanda Rivero, Kathy Rivero, Maria Barroso and Melissa Lucero, who have attended the past eight festivals together and always stand out in custom sweatshirts with fun slogans made by Amanda Rivero.
“Amanda [during] the first year decided to get the shirt and [we thought] this would be cute and said, ‘let’s do it,’” Kathy Rivero said.
The women enjoy the drinks and food, dancing and capping off the night with a Cafecito (a small shot of espresso).
“We live in Miami Lakes and love to support [the festival],” Rivero said.
The festival promotes drinking wine and kindness, and the local good works it funds. The Town Foundation has issued $100,000 in grants over the past eight years for projects as varied as a Boy Scout’s installation of orchids in town parks, purchasing musical instruments for a school; buying equipment for educational programs and sending students to debate contests.
“This is super exciting for me because we’re making progress towards the next $100,000 that we’re going to raise and donate to the Miami Lakes Town Foundation,” Festival Co-Founder Lynn Matos said.
She launched the festival with Giuseppe Zuozo, who owns Anacapri Restaurant in Pinecrest and the Zuozo Family Vineyards. “I don’t know [if] there is another community that does this.”
Matos praised the generosity of Miami Lakers who give back to their town and neighbors.
She was excited this year for new restaurants that served small bites to festival guests. One of those was Hillary Newton’s Hill’s Café.
She is a former employee of the shuttered Beverly Hills Café that residents fondly remember.
Newton’s restaurant in Hialeah serves some of the same dishes many residents will know from the café that was once in Cypress Village.
She said she was happy to be at the festival as a business owner, having worked it in previous years as part of the Beverly Hills crew.
“I’m super excited,” Newton said about seeing friends she has known from 25 years at her former job. “We did this event with Beverly Hills three times before. But now it’s mine so it’s a different world and I’m very excited.”
“The growth of this, too,” Newton said, looking around. “It’s amazing what Lynn has done here.”
Sponsors
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sen. René García; AC Graphics Digital; Andy’s Range & Training Center; Ashes2Ashes Mobile Cigar Lounge; BrightView; Campos Strategic Consulting; C1P; De La Rosa Family Law; Future Force Personnel Services; Gastesi, Lopez, Mestre & Cobiella; Gloria M. Garcia P.A.; The Graham Companies; Growing Days Childcare & Learning Center; Headquarter Toyota; Layer 8 Solutions; Tom Ledwidge-State Farm Insurance Agent; Light F/X Pros; Llanos Dental Group; Miami Community News; Miami Lakes AutoMall; Miami Lakes Bar Association; Ocean Bank; Presidente Supermarkets; ReMax Advance Realty All Keys Real Estate; SB Signs & Banners; Sierra Commercial Construction; Specialty Smiles Orthodontics; State Farm; Strive305; TD Bank; and Water n Fire Recovery LLC.
Participating Restaurants
1910 Restaurant & Bar; Acai Express; Amazonia Nikkei; Bolay; Bon Vivant Charcuterie & Gourmet Market; Café 4 You Catering; CAO Bakery & Café; Chela’s Miami; Creations in Bloom; Diced; Dr. Limon Ceviche Bar; El Churrascaso Brazilian Grill; Envie Cookie & Co.; Ernie’s Acai; Gauchos Gourmet Market; Giardino Salads; Hill’s Café; Hook & Horn; Korner67; Mama’s Cakes; Mangu Café; Mayor’s Café; ML Steaks & Sports; Piel De Toro; Sergio’s GO; The Bend Liquor Lounge and Vicky Bakery.
Vintners and Beverage Companies
Arizona Beverage Company; Beatbox Beverages; Breakthru Beverage Group; Casalu; Coco Love Water; D’Vine Distributors; Estrella Galicia; FWS Copaboca Distribution LLC; Galea Drinks; Garcia Carrion Wine; Global Select Wines; Jumex; Magic 13 Brewing Co.; M.I.A. Beer Company; Monsieur Touton Selection Ltd.; Nantucket Craft Cocktails; Ojala Wine; Polar Beverages; Prison Pals Brewing Co.; Susana Balbo Wines; The Tank Brewing Co.; Tripping Animals Brewing Co.; Triumph Brands, Inc.; Uruguay Wine Co.; Vina Casa Donoso and Zuozo Family Vineyards.
Community Partners & Volunteers
305 Sports and Lazaro “Laz” Arcacha; 3N Outdoor Media; BNI Hialeah; BNI Lakes Connects; BNI Miami Lakes; Brady Fire Equipment; Campos Strategic Consulting; Carolina Sauer; Chris McCall; Col. William G. Perez, Ret.; David Campos; Drip Health & MedSpa; Eagle Brands Sales; Emergency Ice; Ernie Ruiz; Freebee; G & R Electric Corporation; Global Insurance Agency; Gloria Garcia; Grant Miller; Guillermo Dipp; HialeahLove1925; Irvans Augustin; Johann Lopez; Joel Rivera; Judy L. Farcus Serra; Life Styled by Kathy; Manny Perez; Mario Pinera Jr.; Matthew Casamayor; Miami-Dade Fire Rescue; Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Miami Lakes District; Miami Lakes AutoMall; Miami Lakes Chamber of Commerce; Miami Lakes Hotel on Main; Miami Lakes Optimist Club; Miami Lakes Town Foundation; Miami Party Rental Events Corp.; Michael Gray; Monica Lopez; Nikolai Guzman; Orlando Robinson; Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Parish; Raquel Rodriguez; Ray Palacios; Ryan Campos; SFM Services, Inc.; Tico Casamayor; The Cultured Local; The Law Office of Gloria M. Garcia, P.A.; The Miami Laker; Tony Fernandez; The Town of Miami Lakes; Vanety, LLC and Vida Custom Designs.
All photos by Alexandra Herrera.