Miami Lakes planning committee finalizes vendors, adds golf simulator and other activities for Oct. festival

The Miami Lakes Event Planning Committee reviewed sponsorships, vendor confirmations and event logistics for its fall community festival and approved several additions to the activities lineup on the committee’s agenda.

Committee members said they have collected roughly $9,497 so far (including carryover from the 2024 festival) and listed confirmed sponsors at gold, silver and nonprofit levels. Members reviewed outstanding invoices — including a $980 invoice for pumpkins and two items for a dump tank and water they recorded as $350 each (not $3.50) for a total of $700 — and confirmed arrangements for tables, chairs and tents for the event.

The committee approved a motion to add three agenda items (items 7–9) for planning and, during discussion of attractions, voted to add a golf simulator as an activity. Members also voted to authorize a Plan B outreach to the local Farmers Market to recruit food trucks and vendors if the primary food-vendor contact does not confirm by the committee’s deadline. Separately, the committee approved increasing the price for laser-tag from $500 to $600 and approved a $75 charge related to the DJ/operator’s generator if needed. A volunteer “thank-you” or recognition committee was created to produce certificates for long-serving volunteers and top vendors.

Most of the meeting centered on logistics and vendor confirmations: which sponsors had paid, which vendor forms were pending, and who would be the day-of contacts. Members confirmed that several health-sector sponsors (Baptist Health, Florida Blue, WellCare and others) and nonprofit partners were on the sponsors list; some payments were confirmed and others remained pending or had been submitted via Eventbrite donations. The committee discussed placement of the main stage relative to vendor rows and asked volunteers to plan to receive large deliveries (for pumpkins and staging) so drivers know where to drop equipment.

On inflatables and rental equipment, the committee confirmed a provisional supply of 17 tables and 36 chairs and discussed renting up to 30 (or possibly 25) tents depending on final vendor counts. The pumpkins vendor was expected to deliver on the weekend of the festival; the committee said it would follow up to confirm the exact delivery window and noted volunteers should be present when large items arrive.

The committee discussed outreach and promotion: updating the event flyer with the festival address (to avoid confusion with other Veterans Parks), adding small event photos or a short video from prior events, and distributing an updated flyer by the end of the week. Eventbrite registration numbers were described as encouraging (more than in prior years), but several members said they would not count a sponsor until either payment or a signed form was received.

Several operational directions were assigned: follow up with specific vendors (pumpkins, dunk/dump tank water service, generators and food trucks); collect logos from paid sponsors for the festival banner and other collateral; prepare day-of QR-code flyers that accept donations and on-site payments and keep the online donation page open through the afternoon after the event; and assemble a run-of-show and a time-framed agenda for next meeting. The committee set a deadline for vendor confirmations (invoice or payment) by the next meeting (noted as Oct. 1 in the discussion) for vendors such as the primary food-truck contact.

Ending

Committee members said they will reconvene for a special call meeting before the event to finalize the schedule, vendor confirmations and the run-of-show. Several members volunteered to follow up directly with outstanding contacts and to circulate the updated flyer and vendor/contact list before the next meeting.