What’s New for the 58th Coconut Grove Arts Festival?

February 15, 2022

Coconut Grove Arts Festival

Changes are in the program at this year’s Coconut Grove Arts Festival.

New on the culinary scene is the Kitchen Combat stage featuring Anthony Nader from 52Chefs, who will curate and host daily competitions between Coconut Grove bars and restaurants and competitors outside of the Grove. Chefs from Barracuda’s, Duck N Sum, Jaguar, Kush, Minty Z, Taurus, The Last Carrot and The Ritz-Carlton, Coconut Grove will face off against outside competitors.

“We are so proud and confident in our Grove restaurants and bars that we have no doubt each of them will end up being the winner for the Golden Coconut,” says Monty Trainer. “These battles will be decided by the people watching each 45-minute battle.” They’ll try the food and cocktails and decide on the winner. There will be five food fights and cooking demos each day of the festival.

The Coconut Grove Arts Festival will also be supported by the culinary students at Miami-Dade College who will be working at The Kitchen Combat pavilion. “Food is art, and there’s nothing more rewarding than to see our next generation of future chefs, sous chefs, bakers or restaurateurs get the push they need to continue pursuing this career,” says Trainer. Miami-Dade Culinary Institute will have their own cooking competitions during the festival that will emulate the pro battles throughout the weekend.

Another major change: instead of a live music stage at Peacock Park, visitors will find The Stacks, a six-container-high pyramid of shipping containers. The resident DJ is spinning on top while muralists paint the containers during the festival weekend. This year’s commemorative poster artist is David Le Batard, better known as Lebo.