On Friday, the nonprofit organization, launched by innovative schoolhouse and community fulcrum Space of Mind, will kick off a monthly series called Delray Nights Throwback to celebrate the old-school downtown vibe and the tribe that made it distinctive. 

The inaugural gathering will honor John Paul Kline, the revered chef who opened 3rd and 3rd, the music-friendly restaurant and bar in downtown Delray Beach, in 2013. Kline died three years later.   

Taking place at The Hub at Space of Mind (101 NW First Ave.) from 8 p.m. to midnight, the inaugural Delray Nights Throwback will include sets from local favorites Spred the Dub, along with light bites from chef Jessie Steele, a donation bar and an atmosphere that aims to recreate the spirit of Delray’s old-school music venues. Tickets cost $50. (Teacher tickets are 50% off to celebrate the back-to-school season.) Visit FindSpaceOfMind.com.

Ali Kaufman, founding director of the Community Classroom Project and its culinary program, the Community Classroom Kitchen, had a relationship with Kline that predates 3rd and 3rd. Friday’s event will raise money in his honor. 

“I’m looking forward to celebrating with JP’s longtime friends and all the lovers of the OG Delray local scene this Friday. We’ll be raising the vibe, raising some picklebacks and raising some funds to launch the John Paul Kline Culinary Arts Scholarship,” Kaufman says. “We will continue to carry on his dream of celebrating food, art and people, always all at once.”

THURSDAY

Weekend movies: Three Cinemark theaters in South Florida are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the chain’s debut with the Big in ’84 film series, offering $5 screenings of popular films from 1984, including “Purple Rain,” “Footloose,” “Ghostbusters,” “The Karate Kid,” “Gremlins,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and more. The films will be shown at the Cinemark Boynton Beach 14, Cinemark Bistro Boca Raton and Cinemark Paradise 24 in Davie through Sunday. Visit Cinemark.com.

The DJ is you: Best known for its burlesque brunch, hip vibe and elevated lounge-food menu, Pompano Beach restaurant-bar Revelry will host another bring-your-own-vinyl night, Wax On Wax Off, where experts help you learn to create a vibe while spinning your favorite records in 15- to 30-minute sets. Sign-up begins at 7 p.m. All genres welcome. Visit Instagram.com/revelryfla.

Bump & Shot: Bice Ristorante in Palm Beach will launch its inaugural Caviar Bump & Shot Happy Hour on Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m., when a special station will feature three types of caviar from Palm Beach-based Altima Caviar. The “bumps” of caviar will be served on a mother-of-pearl spoon and paired with a chilled shot of Truman Vodka (Austria). The price ranges from $25 to $50 depending on the grade of caviar selected (you can keep the spoon and shot glass). Attendees also may order caviar at a 30% discount and the vodka for 20% off during the event. Visit Facebook.com/bicepalmbeach.

Ticket window: Billy Joel is coming back to South Florida for a performance at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Saturday, Nov. 23. Ticket presales will take place on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., via the Hard Rock Facebook, X and Instagram accounts, as well as at Ticketmaster.com (password: MOVIN). The general on-sale begins at 10 a.m. Friday at MyHRL.com. 

Good life decision: Clematis by Night brings free music back to the Great Lawn in downtown West Palm Beach on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. with Poor Life Decisions, Justin Enco’s Delray Beach-based rock quartet that has always deserved a wider audience. Seek them out — satisfaction guaranteed. Visit WPB.org/events.

FRIDAY

Weekend laughs: Actor, comedian, author, Peabody Award winner and radio host D.L. Hughley returns to the stand-up stage at the Miami Improv for performances at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $40+ at MiamiImprov.com. … Comedian and impressionist Aries Spears (he did nearly 200 episodes as a regular on Fox’s sketch comedy series MADtv) is at the Dania Improv in Dania Beach at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $30+. Visit DaniaImprov.com. 

Friday tributes: Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale will host 1980s rock cover band Hairdaze and Guns N’ Roses tribute Appetite for Destruction on Friday, with tickets for the all-ages show starting at $9.25+ as part of a four-pack. Doors open at 7 p.m. Visit JoinTheRevolution.net. … Rush tribute band Afterimage will perform from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Friday at Galuppi’s in Pompano Beach. Admission is free, with table seating for two starting at $30. Visit Galuppis.com. … Magic 13 Brewing Co., a sweet spot in Miami’s Little Haiti, will have nationally touring Queen tribute band Almighty Queen at 9 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $20+. Visit Magic13Brewing.com.

Let’s talk about sax: Smooth jazz saxman Jeff Kashiwa (The Rippingtons, The Sax Pack) has shows at 6 and 9 p.m. Friday at The Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton. Tickets start at $30+ at FunkyBiscuit.com.

Free music: The free Summer Jamz concert puts an exclamation point on the season at Mills Pond Park in Fort Lauderdale on Friday with a performance by popular R&B group Jagged Edge (hit “Let’s Get Married,” “Where the Party At”). Summer Jamz takes place from 7 to 10 p.m. and includes food and drink, vendors and a kids’ zone with bounce houses, yard games and more. Admission is free. Visit Parks.FortLauderdale.gov.

SATURDAY

Rompers room: Members of the South Florida Chapter of the Mrs. Roper Romp will bring their roving band of bewigged and muumuu-ed Helens to The American German Club of the Palm Beaches in Lake Worth Beach on Saturday. The night will include music from the band Private Stock, which covers classic hits from the heyday of “Three’s Company,” and German Fest activities from 5 to 10 p.m. Admission is $30 and includes German and American food and all-you-can-drink beer, wine and soft drinks. For information, search for “South Florida Chapter of Mrs. Roper Romp” on Facebook.com.

Do you remember? The indelible hits of Earth, Wind & Fire (“Boogie Wonderland,” “Shining Star,” “September”) and Chicago (“25 or 6 to 4,” “Saturday in the Park,” “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”) come to iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are available, starting at $49.15+, at LiveNation.com.

Makers market: Beloved Fort Lauderdale staple The Flamingo Flea flees north to its traditional Palm Beach County digs at Crazy Uncle Mike’s in Boca Raton on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. The indoor-outdoor scene will include more than 30 vendors (including my new favorite, the make-your-own Hawley Trucker Hat Bar) and Crazy Uncle Mike’s beer, full bar and acclaimed food. Yet another reason to be there — live music from Joshua Diaz (remember Kids?), beginning at noon. Visit FlamingoFlea.com.

Let’s get luau-ed: Temple Street Eatery will celebrate 10 years in downtown Fort Lauderdale, on the Federal Highway seam between Flagler Village and Victoria Park, with a luau-themed block party on Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. The event will be a showcase for the acclaimed Asian street-food inspired cuisine of chef/partners Alex Kuk and Diego Ng, surrounded by live music, Chinese lion dancers, special cocktails, games and giveaways. Visit TempleStreetEatery.com.

Drinking Italy: The buzzy Small Wine Shop in downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Flagler Village will throw a party for the traditional Italian summer celebration Ferragosto on Saturday at 8 p.m., with Italian bites and free-flowing Italian wines. Tickets: $50 (15% off for Wine Club members). Visit SmallWineShop.com.

Plight of the honey bee: Copperpoint Brewing Co. in Boynton Beach will celebrate one of our ecosystem’s most critical workers with a gathering called Flight of the Honey Bee on Saturday, which is National Honey Bee Day. From 2 to 6 p.m. you’ll find special flights of four beers made with honey, including their popular Bee’s Squeeze. Joey McCoy of McCoy’s Florida Honey in Loxahatchee Groves will speak about the importance of bees, accompanied by a live hive, and will have samples of a variety of their honey. There also will be bottles of honey for sale. Visit Facebook.com/CopperpointBrewingCo.

Sushi Jo SoSo: Sushi Jo will celebrate the opening of its new location in the SoSo area of West Palm Beach (6200 S. Dixie Highway) on Saturday at 9 p.m. with complimentary sushi tastings, drink specials and music from Spred the Dub and DJ H-Bomb. Visit Facebook.com/SushiJoWPB.

They will rock you: If you are curious about Unravel — winners in the under-20 category at the Battle of the Bands competition at Mizner Park Amphitheater in Boca Raton last Friday —  you can catch them at MarToni Pizza Lounge in Pompano Beach (555 S. Federal Highway) on Saturday at 8 p.m. Visit Instagram.com/unravel.band. (By the way, the other winners were the Miami-based Ryan Cooper Band in the over-20 category and, for the second consecutive year, Parkland’s Midnight3 took the People’s Choice award.)

Oakland Park cool: The free Oakland Park Art Walk on Saturday will showcase the funky diversity to be found along Northeast 12th Avenue. The three-hour open house (6 to 9 p.m.) will showcase creative and culinary talent in the area between Northeast 36th Street to 34th Court (east of the Brightline tracks, south of Funky Buddha Brewery). Participants include The Butcher’s Barrel,  Nour Thai Kitchen,  Rebel Wine Bar, Black Flamingo Brewery, D’Gusta Distributions and Beans-n-Dough Cookie Co. Visit OaklandParkFL.gov.

Cold as ice: The Wharf Fort Lauderdale will be the place to chill on Saturday during SlushyFest, with more than 75 unique frozen cocktails served at six bars at the waterside outdoor venue in the heart of downtown from 3 to 8 p.m. Admission is free, and drink prices vary. Just a reminder that The Wharf will be closing for renovations after send-off parties on Aug. 30-31. Visit WharfFTL.com.

Swift action: The dance-party sorority known as Le Petite Fete will host The Eras Party, a Taylor Swift dance night, at the legendary Gramps in Wynwood on Saturday. The 21-and-older evening will include a DJ playing her hits, a costume contest, lip sync battle, bracelet trading and more. Tickets: $15. Visit LePetiteFete.com.

SUNDAY

New Maren, old Maren: Maren Morris told social media followers that her new EP, “Intermission,” represents a “new chapter of my life” after the Grammy winner came out as bisexual in June. On her way to Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on Sunday, Morris has been sprinkling new songs into recent tour sets, but for the most part her concerts lean into the music that has made her such a popular country performer, including “My Church,” “80s Mercedes,” “I Could Use a Love Song,” “The Bones” and her Zedd collaboration “The Middle.” Tickets for the 7 p.m. concert are available, starting at $29.99, at MyHRL.com.

Horn of plenty: Former Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble trumpeter Summer Camargo, now a member of the house band on “Saturday Night Live,” will share music from her new debut album, “To Whom I Love,” over two nights on Sunday and Monday at All That Jazz Café in Sunrise. At 7 p.m. each night, Camargo, who turns 23 this weekend, will lead a band that includes Austin Ford (trumpet), Jim Gasior (piano), Michael Ramos (bass), Max Marsillo (drums on Sunday) and Tyler Pons (drums on Monday). The Monday show was added after Sunday’s concert was sold out. For reservations, call 954-572-0821, text 954-260-5076 or email allthatjazz@bellsouth.net. Visit Facebook.com/Summer.Camargo.

Celebrating India: India’s Independence Day celebrations will unfurl on Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Hosted by the South Florida chapter of the Association of Indians in America, the event will include a free cultural program highlighting dance and music from across India, food, a vendor market, an art exhibit, henna artists, kids’ activities and more. Admission is free. Visit Facebook.com/AIASFL.

The King of tributes: Longtime local favorite Chris MacDonald will bring his popular “Memories of Elvis in Concert” show to the Miniaci Performing Arts Center at Nova Southeastern University in Davie on Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets start at $29.44+ at Ticketmaster.com.

LOOKING AHEAD

Keep on rollin’: Perhaps the ultimate outdoor, sing-along concert of the season in South Florida, Train and REO Speedwagon will perform at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, Aug. 21. Get there for the opening act, the hilariously awesome Yacht Rock Revue. Tickets start at $48.65+ at LiveNation.com.

Country dance party: A dance party dedicated to the music, fashion and fandom of a platinum-selling star is now a familiar template but the themed night called Down South is different. Taking place on Friday, Aug. 23, at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale, this gathering will take place to the hits of country stars Luke Combs, Zach Bryan and Morgan Wallen. Kind of a brilliant idea. Tickets for the all-ages show start at $13+ at JoinTheRevolution.net. Doors open at 8 p.m. Bracelets optional.

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.

The Florida Atlantic University poll shows Trump leading Harris 50% to 47% among likely voters in the state. Just 2% said they were undecided and 1% said they’d vote for another candidate.

The 3-point Trump advantage is half the lead he had in June, the last time FAU polled in the state. Trump had a 6-point advantage among likely voters, 49% to 43%, when President Joe Biden was the Democratic candidate two months ago.

The results of the Florida survey released Wednesday, which are similar to what’s been showing up in other national and state specific polls, demonstrate how much the trajectory of the presidential race has been upended since July 21, when Biden ended his campaign for reelection.

“This is consistent with the pattern that we’ve been seeing since Vice President Harris came into the race, that she’s consolidated a lot of the traditional Democratic groups and they’ve turned this into a very competitive race,” Kevin Wagner, a Florida Atlantic University political scientist, said in a phone interview.

Wagner is also co-director of FAU’s PolCom Lab, a collaboration of the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies and Department of Political Science, which conducted the poll.

Another FAU political scientist, Dukhong Kim said in a statement that the results show that “Harris restores the traditional base of the Democratic Party, which includes women, minorities, younger voters, and Democratic Party identifiers.”  Trump, he said, maintains his own established base.”

The return of the Democratic base makes the contest  more competitive, Wagner said, even though the state has been trending more Republican.

When a larger sample of “all voters” as opposed to “likely voters” is considered, there’s also a 3-point difference. Among all Florida voters, the poll found Trump 49% and Harris 46%, with 2% preferring another candidate and 3% undecided.

Kennedy

The overall parameters of the Florida contest change slightly when factoring in the third-party candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,  the anti-vaccine activist and son of the assassinated U.S. senator.

When he’s in the mix, Trump has 47% of likely voters, Harris has 45% and Kennedy has 5%.

“It’s a tighter race with RFK Jr.,” Wagner said. “RFK Jr. at least for now seems to be hurting former President Trump.”

The FAU results are in line with a Suffolk University/USA TODAY/WSVN-Ch. 7 poll of likely Florida voters released Tuesday. Trump had 47%, Harris had 42% and Kennedy had 5%. The Suffolk survey was conducted via phone from Aug. 7 to Aug. 11.

In FAU’s previous Florida poll in June, a three-way race found Trump had 45% of likely voters to 40% for Biden and 8% for Kennedy.

Gender, age

There’s a sizable gender gap among likely voters, with women much more likely to prefer Harris and men much more likely to prefer Trump.

Women: Harris had support of 53% of women, 10 percentage points higher than Trump’s support among women.

Men: Trump had the support of 56% of men, 16 percentage points higher than Harris’ support among men.

Younger: Among voters under age 50, Harris led Trump 50% to 44%.

Older: Among voters 50 and older, Trump led Harris 53% to 44%.

Partisan divide

More than nine in 10 Democrats and Republicans supported their party’s nominee, with 94% of Democrats for Harris and 93% of Republicans for Trump.

Independents were closely divided, but slightly favored Harris, 48% to 43%.

Another illustration of the depth of the partisan divide was shown in voters’ responses to the selection of Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as the Democratic nominee for vice president.

Among all voters, the choice had approval of 44% and disapproval of 33%, with the rest neither approving nor disapproving.

But the breakdowns by party showed deep division. Among Democrats, 70% strongly approved of the choice and 1% strongly disapproved. Among Republicans 43% strongly disapproved and 8% strongly approved.

Independents were more evenly split, with 21% strongly approving and 16% strongly disapproving.

Wagner said the Walz results “illustrate how much of what we see and perceive today is just through a partisan lens. So many people have formed an opinion on someone who was largely unknown about a week ago.”

Senate race

The poll found a close race between U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and his likely challenger, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

(Mucarsel-Powell, who has the support of virtually the entire Democratic Party establishment, is almost certain to emerge as the winner of the Aug. 20 party primary.)

In a matchup between the two, Scott has 47% of likely voters to 43% for Mucarsel-Powell. Another 6% said they were undecided and 3% said they supported another candidate.

The June FAU poll had Scott at 45% to Mucarsel-Powell’s 43%.

The latest Senate numbers showed predictable patterns: Mucarsel-Powell had more support among younger voters and Scott had more support among older voters. The Democrat had more support among women and Scott had more support among men.

Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly (88% for each party) supported their party’s candidate. Among independents there was a tie at 41%.

“Scott is winning, but it’s within range that a surge of Democratic voters could make that a nail biter,” Wagner said.

Ultimately, Wagner said, the results in the presidential and Senate races will depend on which side turns out its voters.

“Because of the way that the state has trended, if both bases come out, then Republicans are likely going to be good, and I think that’s what you see in our numbers. It’s tighter, but it is still a Republican-leaning state. That would be good for Senator Scott and former President Trump.”

Florida poll finds abortion, marijuana amendments falling short of passage

Florida in play?

Political analysts have seen Trump as the overwhelming favorite to win Florida’s 30 electoral votes, more than 10% of the 270 needed to win the presidency. In 2020, Trump won Florida by 3.3 percentage points.

The poll, which is a snapshot taken early in the Harris candidacy, doesn’t mean Florida is in play.

“It’s possible if the race continues the trajectory it’s on. However, it’s still a bit early to make the determination, and we’ll have to see how the race progresses. If in the next few weeks there are more surveys that show Florida is tight, then it’s possible,” Wagner said.

Still, he said, the poll results are “a warning sign for the Trump campaign.”

Harris, now the Democratic nominee, has enjoyed a bonanza of publicity, and drawn enormous crowds at rallies in critical battleground states. Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, hasn’t yet implemented a strategy to counter the changed political environment.

Trump has spent lots of time at his Mar-a-Lago club and home in Palm Beach and hasn’t been doing many big, in-person rallies recently in battleground states. He held a rally in overwhelmingly Republican Montana on Friday, and is scheduled to speak about the economy Wednesday in North Carolina and headline a rally in battleground Pennsylvania on Saturday.

“It’s been a positive couple of weeks for the Democratic ticket. That could be a high water mark or this could be a trend. It’s hard to know in the moment,” Wagner said. “What really happened here is Harris has consolidated and brought a wavering Democratic coalition back, which gets you to where we’ve been for a while, which is an evenly divided country.”

Democrats had 558,272 more registered voters than the Republicans immediately after the 2012 election, when then-President Barack Obama won the state on his way to winning a second term and then-U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla, won reelection.

The official state tally of registered voters shows that as of July 22, there were 994,847 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Florida. (Examining totals from each of the state’s county supervisor of elections, the Fresh Take Florida news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications estimated that the Republican advantage hit 1 million on Sunday.)

Even if Harris doesn’t win the state, a better than expected performance, propelled by voter enthusiasm for the new Democratic ticket, could help her party by getting more voters to the polls who might then vote for more Democratic candidates for lower level offices.

Fine print

The poll of 1,055 Florida registered voters was conducted Aug. 10 and 11 by Mainstreet Research for Florida Atlantic University’s PolCom Lab.

The survey used an online panel and automated phone calls to reach other voters. It has a margin of error equivalent to plus or minus 3 percentage points.

However, the margin of error for smaller groups, such as Republicans or Democrats, or men and women, would be higher because the sample sizes are smaller.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.

Then the Fellmans watched a court in Miami side with condo owners there who waged a similar fight. Yet the couple say they can’t use the ruling to compel their district court to reconsider its decision.

And now the investor who terminated the condominium has sent a letter to the Fellmans’ longtime tenant telling her to stop paying rent to the couple. “We, as the new owner, would like to offer you a NEW LEASE so you may continue to occupy the Leased Premises without any interruption,” the letter says.

Court records and correspondence provided by the Fellmans present a story of a long legal battle to prevent The Scully Company, a Pennsylvania-based operator of rental communities, from taking over a condo unit the couple purchased for $65,000 in 1992 — back when the condominium’s declaration stated it would take 100% of unit owners to approve any termination.

But after buying 175 of the Mission Viejo Condominium units — all of them except the Fellmans’ — the investor took over the governing association and voted to reduce to 80% the threshold of unit owners required to approve the termination, court records show.

“I am still not sure what I did wrong and/or what Melissa and I could have done differently to have kept the free-and-clear condo in our possession,” Howard Fellman wrote Gov. Ron DeSantis on July 16 in an email begging him to intervene.

“Simply put, we bought a beautiful condo 32 years ago that was supposed to be our forever home. We have never been late on a mortgage, a monthly condo fee, a special assessment, an insurance premium or a tax. My wife and I worked very hard for the right to make that claim. This is so unjust.”

But a spokeswoman for The Scully Company, which operates the complex under the name Complex Palms Apartments, contended in a statement to The South Florida Sun Sentinel that the company made the decision to terminate the condominium “after years of enduring Mr. Fellman’s dissonance as it related to him sharing financial responsibilities associated with his rental unit.”

Howard Fellman cites a list of issues with how money at the condominium has been spent and reported, including its use of association property for what he says is the operation of the apartment complex.

When The Scully Company filed notice of its intention to seek termination in 2021, it offered the Fellmans $210,000 for their unit, saying the price was determined by an appraiser it had hired, Howard Fellman said.

While the Scully spokeswoman said the price offered was “above market value plus closing costs,” Howard Fellman contends that a Zillow search shows his property is worth more than $300,000.

On Monday, Howard Fellman’s attorney sent a letter to Scully objecting to its acquisition price and other terms of its proposed settlement, including the fact that the appraisal was conducted more than three years ago and the offer fails to credit him with 2.5% of the association property that includes Fellman’s building and all of the recreation areas and offices.

The Fellmans sued in 2021 to prevent the termination. But two courts have since upheld the investor’s right to terminate with 80% approval.

A Palm Beach County circuit judge agreed in 2022 that the bylaws did not prohibit the association from enacting future amendments to reduce the voter threshold. In April 2023, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach affirmed the earlier order with no comment.

Fortunately for the couple, they won’t be homeless regardless of how their fight concludes. They bought a house in Boca Raton in 2005 to accommodate their growing family and have since been renting the condo unit to tenants. But they said they always planned to retire to the condo unit and spend the rest of their lives there.

Miami court rules for holdout unit owners

Last March, the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami sided with a group of condo owners who sued to prevent termination of Biscayne 21 Condominium, a waterfront community about a mile and a half north of the Kaseya Center in downtown Miami.

That court found that language in the condo declaration incorporating all future amendments to the state’s Condominium Act, “as amended,” did not override a specific provision that was intended to give every unit owner veto power over any termination plan.

The appellate ruling found that the unit owners “have shown a substantial likelihood of success” to prevail in their lawsuit to stop the termination. It reversed a lower court order that denied the owners a temporary injunction but did not settle the case, which is ongoing.

According to a recent story by the Wall Street Journal, the case is being watched closely by developers who are planning to use termination to take over numerous high-rise condo buildings in South Florida and build even larger projects on their sites.

The Fellmans cited the Miami ruling in a motion filed in March asking a Palm Beach County circuit judge to vacate the 2022 order. The judge denied the motion, saying the plaintiffs failed to cite a case in which a ruling by a trial court was affirmed by an appellate court, then vacated by the trial court based upon a contrary decision from another district.

Regarding a possible appeal of the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruling, Fellman said he was told by the supervising partner of the law firm that argued his case, Kaye Bender Rembaum, that the couple has no grounds to seek a reversal by the state Supreme Court.

The reason is the appellate court provided no written statement explaining its affirmation of the lower court ruling, the partner said.

In a letter provided by the Fellmans, the partner cited a decision in an earlier case that noted such rulings occur “when the points of law raised are so well settled that a further writing would serve no useful purpose.”

A possible way forward

Andrew Schwartz, a Palm Beach County based attorney who specializes in condominium issues, said while he is not familiar enough with the details of the case to offer an opinion, the Fellmans could file a separate motion seeking a written opinion from the Fourth District.

“The rule requires (the couple) to make certain allegations regarding the necessity of the written opinion, etc.,” Schwartz said.

Then the couple could “potentially seek review from the state Supreme Court based upon purported conflict resolution between the two district courts of appeal,” Schwartz said.

The couple’s current attorney, Mike Simon, declined to predict whether the Fellmans would try to reverse the appellate court ruling. Howard Fellman declined to reveal the couple’s next move, saying that the parties are still hashing out other issues, such as whether the investor is willing to reimburse them for recent improvements to the unit.

As of Monday, the Palm Beach Property Appraiser’s website still shows the Fellmans as owners of the unit, but the county’s Official Records shows a deed transfer filed on July 26 by the association to a group controlled by The Scully Company, asserting ownership through the “plan of termination.”

So far, the cost of the legal fight has exceeded the $210,000 that The Scully Company is willing to pay for the unit, Howard Fellman said. In addition to their own lawyers’ bills, the couple have been ordered to pay $82,624 for the investor’s legal fees, and they want another $60,816 for additional legal fees tied to the appeal.

According to a letter sent to the Fellmans, the investor is proposing to deduct $72,894 for legal fees and other expenses from the price of the unit, leaving the Fellmans with $137,124.

DeSantis’ office has responded to multiple letters from the Fellmans by referring them to the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares & Mobile Homes. But a DBPR representative told them that the department lacks jurisdiction over termination issues, Howard Fellman wrote to a DeSantis spokesman.

“He said only your office has the power to intervene at this point,” he told the spokesman. “My wife and I kindly ask you to please do so.”

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday filed a complaint accusing Cynthia Petion and her husband Eddy Petion of operating a fraudulent investment program through their company, NovaTech Ltd., from 2019 to 2023.

According to an SEC news release, the Petions lived in Wellington, in Palm Beach County, during the majority of the time they operated the scheme. They have since moved to Panama, the SEC said.

The SEC accuses the couple of attracting victims by claiming NovaTech would invest their funds in crypto asset and foreign exchange markets. Cynthia Petion promised investors their money would be safe, the SEC said. “(I)n this program, you are in profit from day one, because again you have access to that capital,” she was quoted as saying.

Actually, only a fraction of investor funds were used for trading, the agency said. A majority was used to make payments to existing investors and to pay commissions to promoters, the complaint says.

Six of those promoters also are accused in the complaint. They are Martin Zizi of Kennesaw, Georgia; Dapilinu Dunbar of Miami; James Corbett of Mastic Beach, New York; Corrie Sampson of Fairburn, Georgia; John Garofano of Brooksville, Florida, and Marsha Hadley of Murrietta, California.

Because the complaint was filed so recently, no defense attorneys are yet listed in the case.

The release quotes Eric Werner, director of the SEC’s Fort Worth (Texas) Regional office, as saying: “NovaTech and the Petions caused untold losses to tens of thousands of victims around the world. As we allege, multilevel marketing schemes of this size require promoters to fuel them, and today’s action demonstrates that we will hold accountable not just the principal architects of these massive schemes, but also promoters who spread their fraud by unlawfully soliciting victims.”

The complaint states that the Petions, before forming NovaTech, became the top promoters for another multilevel marketing “scheme” called AWS Mining PTY Ltd. But that operation collapsed, the SEC said, after the Texas State Securities Board accused the company of violating Texas securities laws in a number of ways, including making false and misleading statements to investors and recruiting unregistered agents to sell them.

The Petions pivoted to creating and running their own crypto scheme called NovaTech, the SEC said, “which Cynthia Petion told prospective investors was created as a way for former AWS investors to recoup losses suffered when AWS collapsed.”

Cynthia Petion served as CEO and Eddy Petion serves as chief operating officer of the operation, which marketed itself to investors online and through social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp, the complaint states. Investors, it adds, were invited to fund their accounts with crypto assets worth a minimum of $99.

Solicitations employed religious overtones, including Cynthia Petion branding herself as “The Reverend CEO” and describing her founding of NovaTech as “God’s vision,” the complaint states.

The SEC reported that investors began experiencing delays in accessing their crypto assets from NovaTech by October 2022, which the company blamed on technical delays. Around the same time, the company came under scrutiny from regulators in the United States and Canada.

By February 2023, the company announced a 60-day “temporary freeze” on investor withdrawals, and by May it halted all U.S. operations and disabled its website, preventing investors from making further withdrawals, the complaint says.

According to the complaint, the small amount of investor proceeds that actually were traded in the crypto market lost $18 million, and the software that reportedly showed investors the results of their trading activity was operated manually by Cynthia Petion and was not connected to any actual trading system.

Meanwhile, Cynthia Petion transferred at least $5.8 million in crypto assets from NovaTech into accounts or wallets owned by her and Eddy Petion, and transferred another $35.2 million from crypto account wallets into accounts or wallets owned and/or controlled by Eddy Petion, the SEC claimed.

The complaint accuses the Petions and NovaTech of numerous offenses, including violations of federal securities and exchange acts for marketing unregistered investments.

The SEC seeks final judgments permanently barring the defendants from further violations. It also seeks a court ruling ordering NovaTech, the Petions and the promoter defendants to disgorge “ill-gotten gains” from the enterprise, and to pay interest and penalties.

Zizi has agreed to partially settle the complaint by consenting to a $100,000 civil penalty and agreeing not to further violate securities and exchange laws. Further penalties will be determined later, the SEC said.

Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.

The woman, Sophie Hall, is a social media influencer and Only Fans model who visited Hill at his home in June 2023, according to the lawsuit she filed earlier this year. She alleges that Hill became flustered when she bested him during scrimmages and retaliated “violently and with great force,” causing her injury.

Only Fans is a social media outlet in which models interact with subscribers who often pay for access to their risque or revealing content.

Broward Circuit Judge David Haimes scheduled a hearing date for Oct. 24, 2025, with a trial to start the following month.

Hill recently restructured his contract with the Miami Dolphins through 2026 in a deal worth $90 million, including $65 million guaranteed.

Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457.

The Christian Family Coalition, in a statement, faulted Casanova because she had “accepted an endorsement” from the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, which it labeled “a homosexual hate group that slanders Christians and anyone who disagrees with them.”

It didn’t cite evidence for the assertions that the Human Rights Council is a hate group critical of Christians.

The Human Rights Council has championed LGBTQ+ civil rights, and endorsed candidates, since it was founded in 1988 by Rand Hoch, a former judge. Its endorsements have often included Democrats and Republicans, and the organization has worked over the years across the political spectrum in Palm Beach County.

“It’s clear that they know absolutely nothing about our organization,” which Hoch said in a phone interview Saturday has never criticized people based on religion.

“They are just coming out of nowhere and taking it out on a candidate who prior to them learning about our endorsement they thought was the most qualified. And it makes no sense. I think it’s unchristian.”

The Christian Family Coalition has a long history of opposition to abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights. It’s based in Miami and has recently sought to increase its presence in Palm Beach County.

Voting for county court judge is underway by mail and through early voting. It ends on Election Day, Aug. 20. If none of the three candidates — Casanova, Douglas Leifert or Jean Marie Middleton — receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters go to a runoff in November.

If Casanova wins, she would be Palm Beach County’s first elected Hispanic woman judge. She’s also been endorsed by the Police Benevolent Association Fraternal Order of Police police unions and the Professional Firefighters/Paramedics of Palm Beach County union.

An article published Friday in the South Florida Sun Sentinel about challenges facing people trying to make informed decisions about judicial candidates noted that Casanova had the seal of approval from both the Christian Family Coalition and the Human Rights Council. Hoch said he didn’t realize they’d both green-lit the same candidate until he read the article.

Anthony Verdugo, founder and executive director of the Christian Family Coalition, said Saturday in a statement that “candidates who seek the endorsement of LGBTQ activist organizations that work to undermine family values, parental rights and children’s safety do not receive CFC Florida’s highly qualified rating.”

Hoch said the Human Rights Council seeks to enact laws ensuring equality for LGBTQ+ people. “In doing so we also provide equality for women, other minorities, and people who are not married. And that’s our mission. We do everything we can to make sure that there’s equality under the law.”

He said the Human Rights Council Voters Alliance holds in-person interviews with candidates. In the case of the three candidates for county court judge, he said the group spoke with each for 20 minutes.

The Human Rights Council Voters Alliance invites each to make a presentation, and asks about impartiality, about discrimination, about their professional and personal experience with people in the LGBTQ+ community. “All did well but she was the strongest.”

“We’re looking for people who understand equality, who understand discrimination is wrong, and when it comes to the judicial candidates. … We look for people who have demonstrated the ability to be impartial. And those are our criteria. And we had three really good candidates,” Hoch said.

“It’s a shame that they (the Christian Family Coalition) thought she was qualified in response to however they review candidates, and now they’re withdrawing that because she has appeared in front of another group who has determined that she is qualified and impartial and understands discrimination,” Hoch said.

Years ago, Hoch served briefly as chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party. In 1992, he was appointed judge of compensation claims by then Gov. Lawton Chiles, making him the first openly LGBTQ+ judge in Florida.

The Casanova campaign said via email the candidate “is honored to have earned the support of so many individuals, leaders in the legal community, and organizations, including those in law enforcement and public safety.”

This article includes information from Sun Sentinel archives.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.

Metayer Bowen will lead efforts to engage and mobilize Caribbean communities across the state in support of Vice President Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota.

“We are in a pivotal time right now, especially with the momentum that we are seeing across the state of Florida, especially within the Caribbean community,” Metayer Bowen said in a phone interview.

“I am super excited,” she said. “She’s just an amazing individual and candidate, and I’m so proud to be a part of history. This is history.”

Metayer Bowen’s efforts begin immediately. The Ayisyen Pou Harris Caravan! — Haitians for Harris Caravan — is Saturday. It starts at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex in Miami and ends at an early voting site in Miami Gardens.

“We want to show people that the Harris-Walz campaign has support, especially within the Haitian community,” as well as remind people to vote in the lead-up to the Aug. 20 primary and nonpartisan elections and the November general election, she said.

Like other Democratic Party leaders, Metayer Bowen professes optimism about Harris in Florida. But it’s no longer seen as a swing state that could easily go either way in a presidential election.

It’s now Republican red, rather than Democratic blue or purple between the two parties, a challenge Metayer Bowen acknowledged. “We understand that Florida’s a red state. But I think that we’re making strides to galvanize Democrats up and down the state to go out and vote. I think this is an opportunity to turn our state purple if not blue and to show Florida is in play on a national level.”

Metayer Bowen was elected to the Coral Springs City Commission in 2020, becoming the first Black woman and first Haitian American woman to become a commissioner there.

On the commission, she’s championed environmental protection and social justice issues. Her 2024 reelection campaign described her goals as “a more equitable and sustainable future,” but she ended up not having to campaign. No candidate came forward to challenge her for reelection, so in June she won a second term without opposition.

She also has been active in the Democratic Party and a leader in the effort to win voter approval of a referendum that would enshrine abortion rights in the Florida Constitution, largely through the organization Black In Repro, which advocates for reproductive rights.

Her efforts now shift to the Harris-Walz ticket and the Caribbean community. “My focus right now is to get this ticket to the White House,” she said. The new job is a paid staff position.

“I think this moment in time is an exciting time because people can finally say, ‘Oh my gosh, my president not only looks like me, but she comes from an immigrant background. She’s first generation,” she said.

Metayer Bowen said she feels a personal connection to the vice president’s story.

“I’m of Haitian descent. And I am a proud Haitian American. I come from a two-immigrant household. Both of my parents migrated to this country in the ’80s,” she said. “Being able to work for an individual who has a very similar story to mine, it’s powerful, it’s impactful. I’m not only proud to work on this campaign, but am proud to support a candidate that’s a woman that has immigrant ancestry, which is Jamaican and Indian, a Black woman who graduated from an HBCU.”

Metayer Bowen graduated from Florida A&M University, also a historically Black college and university. She also has a master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Her LinkedIn profile shows she has worked in government, philanthropic and community organizing jobs. She worked for a foundation in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. In 2011, she had an internship in the White House and in the Tallahassee office of then-U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson,  D-Fla.

Recent presidential candidates of both parties, including Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and Republican Donald Trump in 2016, have courted the Haitian American community in Florida. Metayer Brown said Haitian Americans in 2016 wanted to see what Republicans were offering.

“In the Haitian community over and over again we have candidates who come to our communities and pander. They make empty promises. And folks wanted to see what the other side could offer,” Metayer Bowen said. “I think through this administration, this Harris administration, that will be different. Especially with someone who has that immigrant ancestry, who’s coming form a two-immigrant household, and her story’s very relatable to individuals, first generation are part of the diaspora.”

In 2018, it was widely reported that Trump, then the president, used a vulgarity to describe people from Haiti and African nations, though he and his staff later denied he applied the term to Haiti.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon.

The annual 10-day hunt, which started more than a decade ago, promotes public awareness of issues with invasive species in Florida while engaging the public in Everglades conversation, said Sarah Funck, the wildlife impact management section leader with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“They are a well-established invasive species across much of South Florida, unfortunately, in our natural areas,” Funck said of Burmese pythons. “A huge part of this challenge is to make sure that people understand about this issue and understand that in general, when you have a non-native species present in the state for whatever purpose, don’t let it loose, that can be really detrimental to our environment.”

Over the past decade, the python challenge has grabbed headlines for its incentive-based, only-in-Florida style of hunting as well as celebrity participation. This year, more than 600 people registered for the event, with two coming from Canada and 108 from other states.

During the challenge, hunters will linger around designated areas spanning through western Broward County to the Tamiami Trail in the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area, including other management areas like Southern Glades, Holey Land and Rotenberger.

The goal is to humanely kill as many pythons as possible, and prizes divide between three groups: professional hunters who work for the state, hunters who are active in the military or are veterans and novice hunters, which includes anyone who is not working as a state contracted python hunter.

Each category has its own prizes, with $2,500 going to the person or team that kills the most pythons, $1,500 going to the runner-up for most kills and $1,000 going to whoever kills the longest python. The grand prize for the most kills in all categories gets a $10,000 prize.

Each person can only win one prize, so if someone is tops in two categories, they will end up with the highest-valued prize and the next qualifying hunter gets the remaining prize.

In 2017, the South Florida Water Management District and the state began hiring contractors to handle its invasive python problem year round. According to the wildlife agency’s website, through 2023, more than 11,000 pythons have been removed by these contractors.

Last year’s challenge brought in 209 pythons and the grand prize winner was Paul Hobbs, who bagged 20 pythons. Also during 2023, Florida wildlife agency and district contractors removed about 2,200 pythons.

Amy Siewe, the self-named Python Huntress, won a prize last year for catching a Burmese python measuring 10 feet and 9 inches (327 centimeters). This year, she won’t be participating in the challenge due to a knee surgery but said she’s not a fan of the annual challenge.

Siewe, who used to work as a state contractor catching invasive pythons, said she believed the initial intent of the challenge was to bring awareness to the issue. Now, it’s drawing large crowds of hunters, potentially scaring off pythons and potentially killing native snakes they mistake as pythons, like corn snakes, brown water snakes or cottonmouths.

“Pythons don’t take on their normal behavioral pattern because there’s so much traffic and they’ll come up and then they’ll go back into the swamp,” Siewe said. “I feel for myself, it’s counterproductive.”

Participants are required to undergo an online training, including information on how to identify Burmese pythons versus other snakes, Funck said. She said there’s also an additional optional in-person training participants can attend to properly identify Burmese pythons.

“That’s a huge part of what we do, is try to get the word out on how to identify these pythons, how to safely and humanely capture it,” Funck said.

And when it does, South Florida soccer fans should find it a little easier to make their way to games and other events thanks to a new road that will be partly funded by $8 million in state tax dollars.

Gov. Ron DeSantis shared the news Thursday from a stage set up at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, current home base for Inter Miami and its superstar player, Leo Messi.

“We’ve never given state money to build a soccer stadium,” DeSantis said. “Our role as the state government is not to give money to a team, but to create an environment where everyone can be successful. And infrastructure is a big part of that.”

Florida will dedicate $8 million in funding from its Job Growth Grant Fund to Miami-Dade County to help build a roadway that’s going to help get people where they need to go and relieve traffic at Miami Freedom Park, DeSantis said.

“We don’t want a situation where people aren’t going to be able to get there,” the governor added. “We’re creating a nice artery where people can get to where they need to go. This will lead to even more tourists wanting to come visit the state of Florida.”

In the audience were team owners Jorge and José Mas, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis and State Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point. Team owner David Beckham did not attend.

Messi, who was also absent, got a shout-out from DeSantis nonetheless.

“When they brought Messi on, that was the best thing ever,” the governor said.

Jorge Mas, the team’s managing owner, beamed while DeSantis spoke.

“I think today is an extremely important announcement,” he said after the governor invited him to say a few words. “Inter Miami was built on a dream.”

That dream, he said, was to bring professional soccer to South Florida.

Miami Freedom Park will include the county’s largest park at 58 acres, Jorge Mas said.

“The stadium is 100 percent privately funded,” he added. “It’s going to house hotels. It’s going to house offices. It’s going to house businesses.”

And, he added, it’s going to house a new soccer stadium that will be finished in fall of next year, just in time for the 2026 season.

Inter Miami’s corporate headquarters will remain in Fort Lauderdale after the team’s eventual move to Miami.

The Fort Lauderdale stadium opened in March 2020, but the plan was always to build a bigger stadium in Miami. The $1 billion project known as Miami Freedom Park also calls for a 58-acre public park and more than 1 million square feet of space for three hotels, office buildings, and an entertainment district with shops and restaurants.

In 2018, Miami voters said yes to a controversial plan to lease a mammoth city-owned property that once served as a golf course and develop it into Miami Freedom Park. The property sits just east of Miami International Airport

In 2022, Miami commissioners approved a 99-year lease deal with Miami Beckham United, paving the way for the 25,000-seat soccer stadium that will eventually become home base for the Inter Miami team.

Construction began last year.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X @Susannah_Bryan

FRIDAY

Local sounds: Boca Raton’s annual free Summer in the City concert series winds down on Friday with the fourth annual Battle of the Bands competition at Mizner Park Amphitheater, beginning at 7 p.m. Finalists will face off in two categories — one for performers younger than 20 and one for those 20 and older — with a $2,500 cash prize for the winner in each group. The audience also will have a chance to vote for Fan Favorite. The performers in the younger category are: The Borin Brothers (from Boca Raton), Midnight3 (Parkland), Unravel (Pompano Beach) and Nothing Wrong With Wet Socks (Miami). In the older group are 212 Degrees (Coral Springs-Pompano Beach),  Leave it to Us (Fort Lauderdale), the (highly recommended) Ryan Cooper Band (Miami) and vocalist Jass. Food and beverages will be available for purchase (no outside food/beverages or pets permitted). Blankets and chairs are encouraged, and there will be chairs available to rent ($5). You also can support entrepreneurs age 13 to 20 at the Young Entrepreneurs Market, which is open from 6 to 9 p.m. Admission is free. Visit MiznerAmp.com.

Def jam: Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Def Leppard will bring their stadium-scale hits to the intimate confines of Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Friday. A handful of single seats are available for around $200+ and a number of Verified Resale tickets can be found at MyHRL.com. 

Panic! at the Iceplex: Friday is Emo Night at the Florida Panthers’ Baptist Health IcePlex in downtown Fort Lauderdale, with skating to your favorite sing-alongs courtesy of 104.3-FM The Shark. The party runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Admission is free, and skating costs $17. Visit FTLWarMemorial.com.

Weekend burger: Creator of the best burger in South Florida, according to Sun Sentinel readers, Cheffrey Eats (the chef also known as Jeffrey Lemmerman) is up to his old-new tricks at Barrel of Monks Brewing in Boca Raton. His burger of the month for August is the diabolical Grilled Cheese Burger, which stacks an Angus beef patty, bacon, cheddar cheese and smoked tomato jam between two deep-fried, “uncrustable” grilled-cheese buns. He elevates it with a side of tomato bisque for dipping. Because, of course. Price: $19, with a side of fries an extra $2. Visit Instagram.com/cheffreyeats.

Girls’ night out: Influential podcaster, TikToker and author Drew Afualo will be joined by sister Deison at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale at 8 p.m. Friday on the LOUD Book Tour featuring Two Idiot Girls. The sassy gabfest will lean into Drew’s patriarchy-smashing book “Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve.” Tickets to the all-ages appearance cost $30.50+. Visit JoinTheRevolution.net.

Ticket window: Bell Biv DeVoe (“Poison,” “Do Me!”) will bring The R&B Forever Tour to Miami’s Kaseya Center on Oct. 18, with co-headliners TGT (Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank), as well as Silk. In advance of the general on-sale at 10 a.m. Friday, tickets will be available via a venue presale (password FOREVER) from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday at KaseyaCenter.com.

Take the kids: Fort Lauderdale’s popular Starlight Musicals series of free downtown concerts in Holiday Park is scheduled to bow out for the season on Friday with the eclectic party jams of the Shane Duncan Band. These family friendly musical picnics, set up on the football field on the east side of the park, take place from 7 to 10 p.m. Visit Parks.FortLauderdale.gov/starlight.

New music series: The Deerfield Beach Historical Society on Friday will introduce a new music series called the Acoustic Cafe inside its beautiful mid-century modern Deerfield Beach Cultural Center. First up is longtime local favorite singer-guitarist Scott Avery, a memorable presence on many stages, including Maguires Hill 16 in Fort Lauderdale (if your memory goes back that far). The show is from 7 to 10 p.m. Admission is $10. Visit DeerfieldBeachHistoricalSociety.com.

SATURDAY

Shell games: Even Keel Fish Shack in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, in collaboration with Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival and Mike Mayo’s Lunchbox, will host their inaugural oysterpalooza known as Pearl Jam by the Sea on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. The celebration costs $65 for unlimited oysters and sparkling wine and live entertainment. An oyster-slurping contest will crown the winner with the inaugural Pearl Jam Necklace. VIP tickets, which include additional bites and Taittinger Champagne, are available for $100. Visit OysterPearlJam.Eventbrite.com.

Future oysters: Speaking of a lively meeting over mollusks, tickets are on sale for Oyster Fest 2024, the annual tented affair hosted by Fort Lauderdale beach hot spots Coconuts and G&B Oyster Bar, which is set to return on Oct. 4. The event will include unlimited grazing at eight food stations, bottomless Funky Buddha Pearl Diver Oyster Saison, live music, slurping contests and more. Cost: $85. Visit CoconutsFortLauderdale.com/oyster-fest.

Saturday jams: A week after Simply Stoopid stopped in West Palm Beach (if you were there, you know), a similar vibe takes over iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre on Saturday as SoCal sunchasers Stick Figure make a stop on the Sacred Sands Summer Tour with SOJA and Little Stranger. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show start at $54.35+ at LiveNation.com.

Meet Masvidal: Miami’s own MMA and UFC legend Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal will be at Books & Books in Coral Gables on Saturday at 4 p.m. to sign copies of his memoir, “Born to Fight: How a Street Fighter Living on the Edge Became ‘Gamebred’ and Found Success” (Threshold Editions, $29.99). Tickets (required) cost $34.75 and include a copy of the book and a spot in the signing line, where you can get the book autographed and take a photo. Visit BooksAndBooks.com/events.

Keep on trucking: Led by dirt-shredding favorites Grave Digger, El Toro Loco, Megalodon and ThunderROARus, Monster Jam rumbles into Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise this weekend with performances at 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Tickets to the main events start at $25+ at SeatGeek.com. Tickets for the popular preshow Pit Party (10:30 a.m.-noon each day) are sold out on Saturday, but were still available for Sunday for $20+ (Monster Jam admission extra).  

Back to school: Mickey Byrne’s Irish Pub in downtown Hollywood reminds us of what college life is all about with its inaugural “Animal House”-themed Toga Party on Saturday, with prizes for best costumes, raffles and two-for-one drinks from 8 to 11 p.m. with a donation to Blue Waters Dog Rescue. Visit Facebook.com/MickeyByrnesIrishPub.

Saturday tributes: Popular Journey/Styx tribute band Majesty of Rock, showcasing the soaring vocals of John D’Agostino, plays Galuppi’s in Pompano Beach on Saturday from 7:30 to 11 p.m. Admission is free, with seats starting at $30 for a table for two. Visit Galuppis.com. …  Mathews Brewing Co. in Lake Worth Beach hosts the free Heat Wave Grunge Festival on Saturday from 6 to 11:30 p.m., with performances by tribute bands 46 & Tool (Tool tribute), Nothing’s Shocking (Jane’s Addiction) and In a Nutshell (Alice in Chains). Visit Facebook.com/mathewsbrewing.

Lost and found: The pastoral Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach on Saturday and Sunday hosts its annual Obon Weekend, which honors the memory of loved ones who, according to Japanese tradition, make a brief return to visit the living. Events include creating traditional memorial messages on slips of paper, taiko drummers, dance, garden tours and the annual floating lantern ceremony on Morikami Lake on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. Tickets cost  $16, $14 for seniors, $12 for students and military, $10 for children age 6 to 17. Visit Morikami.org.

SUNDAY

Musical explorer: Five-time Grammy winner PJ Morton, who has spent more than a decade as keyboardist for pop giants Maroon 5, is an engaging performer of eclectic inspiration: His 2021 Grammy Award for Best Gospel Album and 2024 Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance with “Good Morning” bracketed his share of the 2022 Album of the Year for helping out on Jon Batiste’s “We Are.” Morton’s performance at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale at 8 p.m. Sunday is part of his Cape Town to Cairo Tour, which takes its name from an album released in June that he created in 30 days after a transformative journey across Africa. The Cavemen open. Tickets cost $34.50+ at ParkerPlayhouse.com. 

LOOKING AHEAD

OPAW! That hidden slice of funky eclecticism along Northeast 12th Avenue in downtown Oakland Park will be celebrated during the free Oakland Park Art Walk on Saturday, Aug. 17. The three-hour stroll from 6 to 9 p.m. will showcase creative and culinary talent in the area from Northeast 36th Street to Northeast 34th Court (along the Brightline tracks south of Funky Buddha Brewery). Participants include The Butcher’s Barrel,  Nour Thai Kitchen,  Rebel Wine Bar, Black Flamingo Brewing, D’Gusta Distributions and Beans-n-Dough Cookie Co. Visit OaklandParkFL.gov.

Block luau: Chef/partners Alex Kuk and Diego Ng of Temple Street Eatery in downtown Fort Lauderdale will celebrate a decade of serving their acclaimed Asian street-food inspired cuisine with a Polynesian block luau on Saturday, Aug. 17, from 5 to 11 p.m. The party will feature eats, live music, Chinese lion dancers, special cocktails, games and giveaways. Visit TempleStreetEatery.com.

Groove tonight: Enduring hits of the 1970s and ’80s will be in the air as Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago bring their Heart & Soul Tour to iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug.17. Tickets are available, starting at $49.15+, at LiveNation.com.

A new Maren: Singer Maren Morris will share music from her bold new EP “Intermission” — a transformational collection for the popular Nashville performer who came out as bisexual in June — at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on Sunday, Aug. 18. Tickets for the 7 p.m. concert are available, starting at $29.99+, at MyHRL.com.

Summer vibes: One of those shows that defines the summer concert season in South Florida (anywhere, really), Train and REO Speedwagon will perform at iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, Aug. 21. Get there for the opening act, the hilariously awesome Yacht Rock Revue. Tickets start at $48.65+ at LiveNation.com.

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.