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There’s never a dull moment in Miami, and New Times is always there to document the madness. This year, we reported on everything from weird wildlife to cheeky body painting classes to the ubiquity of penile implants. In 2025, the cardinals were yellow, the Labubus were tattooed, and the dildos were monstrous. Here are some of the most surprising culture stories we told this year.
Leo Diaz Photography
A Popular Wynwood Yoga Studio Banned Filming During Class
Mimi Yoga’s decision to ban filming during classes sent shockwaves through Miami’s influencer class, and the ensuing debate reached far beyond South Florida. People magazine even cited New Times‘ reporting, including founder Mimi Ghandour’s assertion that the studio had always had a no-filming policy, but that students had failed to adhere to it.
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Different Strokes: Cheeky Canvases Is a One-of-a-Kind Art Class
This isn’t your average paint-and-sip. The adults-only Cheeky Canvases event, founded by local artist Kelly Perez, asked guests to “follow along as an artist paints the body of a nude model, while educators chat about pleasure products with participants in a fun, stigma-free environment.” New Times contributor Caroline Val described the adult art classes as “Bob Ross-meets-burlesque.”
“Extremely Rare” Toucan Sighting at Fairchild
From dinosaur-sized iguanas to sexually adventurous manatees, Miami is no stranger to weird wildlife. But even the nature experts at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden were stumped when a gorgeous keel-billed toucan showed up at the Coral Gables tropical rainforest this spring. How did it get there? The prevailing theory is that it was an escaped exotic pet that found the ideal place to hang out after flying the coop. New Times‘ two videos of the sighting racked up more than 300,000 views on Instagram and TikTok.
Historic Miami Beach Hotel Is Building a Massive New Water Park
New Times‘ report about the Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s plans to build a massive water park on its property was one of the most-read culture stories of the year. It’s an ambitious project said to feature 11 slides, including “a 120-foot waterslide, one of the largest drops in the country.” Considering its massive footprint, the project has elicited jeers from residents and preservationists.
Indicted Miami Art Dealer Loves TikTok. Here Are His Weirdest Clips.
Indicted Coconut Grove art dealer Leslie Roberts didn’t just make news for selling allegedly forged art this year. He also attracted attention for his peculiar TikToks. New Times staffer Naomi Feinstein rounded up some of his greatest hits, most of them featuring Roberts confidently singing off-key.
Miamians Are Tattooing Their Labubus (Yes, Really)
When New Times learned local tattoo artist Jonathan Wuz Here was permanently inking Labubus around town, we had to get in on the action ourselves. We brought our Labubu along to Thorn Miami for Jonathan’s tattoo pop-up, and he got into the spirit by getting “305” and palm tree tattoos.
Miami Beach Mayor Nearly Terminates O Cinema’s Lease After No Other Land Screening
In March, New Times broke the news that O Cinema would be the first Miami movie theater to screen No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary about the demolition of the homes in the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta community to make way for an Israeli military training zone. The film had struggled to secure distribution in U.S. theaters.
The news went international when Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner proposed terminating the indie cinema’s lease over its screenings of the film. “Miami Beach leases a City-owned theater located on Washington Avenue to O Cinema,” Meiner wrote at the time. “That’s a good deal for them. It becomes a bad deal when O Cinema decides to air a film that can best be described as a false, one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our City and residents (I watched the film).” Meiner’s proposal was met with widespread protest from residents and hundreds of creatives, including Barry Jenkins, Michael Moore, and Billy Corben. The mayor ultimately rescinded the proposal.
Photo by Cristian C/Flickr
Miami Penile Implants Take Spotlight in Doctor’s Viral TikTok Video
It doesn’t take long for transplants to learn there’s no other city quite like Miami. But when a local neurologist went viral on TikTok claiming he saw about one patient each day who could not get an MRI because they had a penile implant, we went looking for answers.
Local urologist and men’s health specialist Dr. Justin Dubin told New Times that, in most cases, men with penile implants could get MRIs, but that some older models might contain metal parts incompatible with the medical machinery. So, do Floridians really have a higher concentration of penile implants than the rest of the country? It’s possible — Dr. Dubin affirmed that Florida is a center of excellence for the procedure.
Monster Dildos Are Big Business in Miami
Porn sites like Pornhub were banned in Florida in 2025, but Miamians still found ways to get creative in the bedroom. According to data from lifestyle brand Lovehoney Group, an online shop that sells sex toys and other erotic gifts, Miami led the country for sales of “monster dildos,” fantasy-inspired phallic toys in the shapes of magical creatures. And, yes, you can get a rainbow-colored one in the shape of a unicorn horn — just in case you were wondering.
New ‘Eco-Tourism Adventure’ Attraction Opening at Miami Freedom Park
Miami Freedom Park is one of the most anticipated local openings of 2026, and not just because it’ll be the permanent home of Inter Miami soccer starting in April. The massive development will also include retail and office space, as well as the debut of the Toroverde adventure park. The attraction will be the brand’s first outpost in the continental U.S., following parks in Puerto Rico, the United Arab Emirates, and, soon, Spain.
One-in-a-Million Yellow Cardinal Seen in South Florida
Coral Springs resident Dyane Oliva spotted a real-life shiny in her backyard in October: a male yellow cardinal. Likely caused by a genetic mutation called xanthochromism, the sighting is rare — it’s estimated that only about one in a million Northern Cardinals are yellow. The video Oliva shared with New Times has been viewed more than 1.3 million times to date.
