The Best Free Events in Miami This Week

This week's roundup includes free screenings of two modern-day film classics: Catch Black Panther at Coconut Grove's Barnacle Historic State Park and Moonlight at Bill Cosford Cinema, courtesy of the queer film series Flaming Classics. New York's Latin Grammy-winning femme mariachi band, Flor de Toloache, returns to South Florida for a Saturday-night show in Miami Beach, and the Abbey Brewing Company inches closer to a quarter-century as a Miami Beach staple.

Here's a look at these and more of the best free events happening in Miami this week.
Sometimes it's hard to fill a bar or restaurant on a Monday night. But if you've got a fun angle, you can lure in partiers or drinkers any day of the week. The Little Havana bar, restaurant, and venue Ball & Chain presents Mambo Mondays to attract music lovers, even on that miserable first day of the week. The fun begins at noon with live salsa and continues with happy hour and live jazz acts. The main event starts with a free salsa class at 9 p.m. and a DJ set by PR Pete from 9 to midnight. Noon to midnight Monday, June 18, at Ball & Chain, 1513 SW Eighth St., Miami; ballandchainmiami.com. Admission is free.

Eight years ago, Words & Wine Open Mic launched in the living room of founder Nikki Bravo. This week, it'll celebrate its anniversary party at Las Rosas. The Los Chavarro Brothers-hosted affair is a themed white party that will be an amped-up version of the weekly shindig. Expect drinks specials and performances by Tamboka, Marquise Fair, Karina Daza, and Muriel Medina, AKA the Poetic Therapist. Most important, you'll be able to perform on the open mike (signup begins at 8:30 p.m.) or bang away in the drum circle. 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, at Las Rosas, 2898 NW Seventh Ave., Miami; facebook.com/wordsandwine. Admission is free.
Coconut Grove's Business Improvement District hosts the monthly series Movies in the Park, kicking off Friday with a screening of Black Panther. If simply seeing the movie isn't enough, you can dress up as your favorite superhero for a chance to win a prize. Future flicks to be screened the fourth Friday of each month this summer include Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Meet the Fockers. 8 p.m. Friday, June 22, at the Barnacle Historic State Park, 3485 Main Hwy., Coconut Grove; coconutgrove.com. Admission is free.

Hundreds of black women, girls, femmes, and allies took to the streets last fall for the inaugural Florida March for Black Women. That was only the beginning of a movement that was long overdue and is more urgent today than it has ever been. Next up on the agenda is Here Comes the Boom: An Assembly for Black Women and Girls. The two-day conference aims to create an inclusive space in which marginalized groups and their allies will learn about the ongoing work of black women and girls in our community, and to develop a concrete political platform upon which the movement can build. 6 p.m. Friday, June 22, at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami; eventbrite.com. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged via crowdrise.com.
This ain't your mama's mariachi band. The Latin Grammy-winning members of Flor de Toloache, based out of New York City, have taken the folkloric sound of Mexican mariachi music and made it their own, all while undoing traditional gender expectations for how mariachi collectives should look. They've made frequent stops in Miami over the past year, but you can catch them at the 1 Hotel South Beach this Saturday for Prism Creative Group's Sunset Sessions. 7 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at 1 Hotel South Beach, 2341 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; Admission is free with RSVP via eventbrite.com.

You're in South Florida, so chances are you love Cuban food. And now there's a new book with 350 home-bred recipes to get you making magic in the kitchen. Cuba: The Cookbook was penned by Madelaine Vázquez Gálvez and Imogene Tondre and includes a number of guest chefs, such as Miami's own Eileen Andrade. To celebrate the book's launch, Andrade will participate in a live chat with bookseller Raquel Roque. Grammy-winning violinist Federico Britos will provide jams. 7 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; booksandbooks.com. Admission is free with RSVP.
The Abbey Brewing Company is one of Miami's longest-running bars that serves its own suds. Sure, the Abbey has delicious flavors of beer all its own, but it's also a wonderfully welcoming, dark bar with plenty of beer elitists and cool cats from Miami Beach to keep you entertained. So celebrate the Abbey's 23rd anniversary this Sunday. Before the bar expanded to about three times its original size, the birthday bashes were shit shows of sweaty, slurring fun on the sidewalk, but now there will be room for all the Abbey fans to enjoy an entire day of $6 craft beers, shots, and mixed drinks in the A/C, as well as a free pig roast. Don't miss happy hour from 11 a.m. to noon too, and there's no cover. Leave the kids at home. 11 a.m. Sunday, June 24, at the Abbey Brewing Company, 1115 16th St., Miami Beach; abbeybrewinginc.com. Admission is free.

Who knows what you're waiting for if you haven't yet seen the Oscar-winning film Moonlight. The Liberty City-centered story follows the coming of age of Chiron, who comes to terms with his complex and intersecting identities as he grows up. This Sunday, the Florida Humanities Council, Flaming Classics, and Bill Cosford Cinema team up for a free screening of the powerful film, just in time for Pride Month. Stick around for a drag performance by King Femme after the screening. 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 24, at Cosford Cinema, 5030 Brunson Dr., Coral Gables; flamingclassics.com. Admission is free.