Bayskate Miami Returns With "Holiday Boogie" Skate Jam, Tunes, and Cocktails

That whole ice-skating thing at Rockefeller Center in NYC can just step aside.

While those peeps up North freeze while falling on ice, Miami is converting one of its parks into a bayside, old-school, rollerskating jam. Take that, Northerners!

Bayskate Miami is back for a fourth year. And after a spooky, Halloween-inspired skating spectacle in 2017, a holiday shindig is set to happen this month. Bayskate’s Holiday Boogie will go down in front of the historic Pepper Fountain in Bayfront Park Thursday, December 20, through Saturday, December 22. The event is free and open to the public.

Bayskate in 2014 won the Miami Foundation’s Public Space Challenge, which helps activate and fund creative ideas for local public spaces. Attracting 2,000 skaters and people-watchers in its first year, the event is expected to draw 15,000 visitors this year.
“This is the first time we’re having a three-day event,” says Marcos Macias, cofounder and co-organizer along with his brother Alex. “The vibe is going to be so special, and you never know who you’re going to see there.”

British rapper and Queen Latifah protégée Monie Love will MC all three evenings, and the Miami Quad Squad will be on hand Saturday to give dance-skate lessons. Celebs galore have also popped by Bayskate over the years, including Gabrielle Union in 2017.

In addition to circling the Pepper Fountain — on a surface three times larger than the average skating rink — to nostalgic jams, visitors can enjoy a lot of other cool stuff at Holiday Boogie.

There will be a Veza Sur beer garden with craft beverages, local food, and beer games; a Gnome Forest picnic area; an Ace Parlor cocktail spot; a Botran coquito bar; and a Chomp Park food village. It’s all designed to get people to enjoy Miami's parks and all they offer.

“This event is the only outdoor waterfront skating rink in the U.S.,” Alex Macias says. “It’s something Miami truly owns — we have something unique and proprietary to our city. Moving forward, we can keep activating our public resources... People want the access and the experiences that come with it.”

Bayskate Holiday Boogie. 4 p.m. to midnight Friday, December 21; and 1 p.m. to midnight Saturday, December 22, at Bayfront Park, 301 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; bayskatemiami.com. Admission is free.