Every December since 1987, school choirs have sung from the steps of 550 Biltmore Way. The tradition began the year the 550 Building gave the City its poinsettia tree. This year the choirs start on Wednesday, Dec. 2. By the time the last one finishes that Sunday afternoon, Santa will have opened his City Hall schedule and the Junior Orange Bowl holiday parade will have filled Miracle Mile. All of it happens within a few blocks, and most of it within five days.
Last year the parade came a week after the carols. This year the parade date moved and the carols did not.
The parade moved up, and the rest of the calendar stayed put
The Junior Orange Bowl's Miracle on the Mile Holiday Parade, now in its 78th year and the founding event of the organization's International Youth Festival, is set for Sunday, Dec. 6, 2026, on Miracle Mile. That is about a week earlier than in either of the past two years.
| Year | Parade date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Dec. 15 | Sunday |
| 2025 | Dec. 14 | Sunday |
| 2026 | Dec. 6 | Sunday |
The caroling competition and Santa's arrival at City Hall did not move to make room. In 2025 the choirs sang from Wednesday, Dec. 3, through Sunday, Dec. 7, and the parade came the following Sunday, a full week after the last performance. In 2026 the parade falls on the competition's final day of performances and the day after Santa's first day, which puts both on the weekend of Dec. 5–6.
Five nights on the steps of 550 Biltmore Way
The Merrick Festival Caroling Competition runs over five nights, with six South Florida middle and high school choirs each evening. The 2026 performance application splits the nights by grade level:
- Wednesday, Dec. 2: middle school choirs, 7 to 9:30 p.m.
- Thursday, Dec. 3: senior high choirs, 7 to 9:30 p.m.
- Friday, Dec. 4: middle school choirs, 7 to 9:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: senior high choirs, 7 to 9:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 6: senior high choirs, 3 to 5:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, Dec. 8: awards show, 7 to 9 p.m., with the grand-prize winners returning to perform
The City's own listing gives the run as Dec. 2–8, which includes the awards night. The organizers describe the event as a way to support school music programs. On these steps, the crowd changes from night to night depending on whose school is singing.
The Sunday session is different from the rest. It is the only afternoon slot of the week, and it falls on parade day. Anyone hoping to catch a senior high choir and the parade on the same Sunday should plan for the afternoon on Biltmore Way.
Santa's schedule works around the parade
Photos with Santa returns to Coral Gables City Hall at 405 Biltmore Way, and his first day is Saturday, Dec. 5, from 2 to 10 p.m. A photo is $10 and comes as a full-color print in a framed postcard. Once you have bought one, you are welcome to take your own pictures too.
The schedule includes one deliberate gap. The City says Santa will not be at City Hall on Sunday, Dec. 6, because of the Junior Orange Bowl Parade. After that he settles into a pattern of weekday evenings and full weekend days:
| Dates | Hours |
|---|---|
| Sat., Dec. 5 | 2 to 10 p.m. |
| Thu. and Fri., Dec. 10 and 11 | 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Sat. and Sun., Dec. 12 and 13 | 2 to 10 p.m. |
| Thu. and Fri., Dec. 17 and 18 | 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Sat., Dec. 19, through Wed., Dec. 23 | 2 to 10 p.m. |
Read alongside the caroling schedule, Saturday, Dec. 5, is the one day this season when you can see Santa at City Hall in the afternoon and a senior high choir on the steps at 550 Biltmore Way that evening. The parade follows the next day.
Friday, Nov. 13, warms up the same streets
Three weeks before the holiday week, downtown has a two-event Friday evening of its own.
The free 18th Annual William M. Schiff Art Show runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Palace, 1 Andalusia Ave., featuring work by local artists. The City notes that both residents and non-residents are welcome, and questions go to the AAC at 305-461-6765.
At 7 p.m., Art in the Park brings live music, visual art and food to Ponce Circle Park, 2810 Ponce de Leon Blvd. This is the second date in a fall series that opened Friday, Oct. 9.
Because the times overlap, one evening can cover both. Start at the Schiff show when the doors open, then walk over to Ponce Circle Park once the music begins.
Thanksgiving, and a breakfast that returns Dec. 1
Between the art night and the carols, Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, Nov. 26. The Biltmore, at 1200 Anastasia Ave., has published its holiday dining. Fairways serves breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. and lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., including a four-course Thanksgiving menu at $110 per person and $55 for children ages 4 to 12. Fontana has a brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at $150 per person and $65 per child, and a five-course dinner from 6 to 10 p.m. at $115 per person and $55 per child.
The following Tuesday brings a date many longtime Gables diners will care about. Havana Harry's, the Cuban restaurant at 4612 South LeJeune Road that opened in 1995, reopened on Monday, Oct. 19, after more than a year closed. It is serving lunch and dinner daily, and breakfast returns on Dec. 1, according to Resident. When it announced the reopening in September, Carlos Centurion, founder of Centurion Restaurant Group, told Miami New Times, "Our responsibility was never to reinvent Havana Harry's. It was to protect what generations of guests have loved, while building a restaurant that will serve this community for many years to come."
Breakfast returns the day before the first night of caroling.
Where to eat between the steps and the Mile this year
If your holiday routine includes dinner downtown before or after the carols, several of the places you used last December have changed. These are the newer options near Giralda Plaza, Miracle Mile and Ponce de Leon, drawn from Coral Gables Magazine's October roundup:
- Bar Zorro, 146 Giralda Ave. A Spanish tapas bar with exposed brick and dark wood. The menu runs from Tortilla de Patata and Pan con Tomate to Jamón Ibérico at $40 and Bacalao Croquetas at $15. Happy hour is daily from 5:30 to 7 p.m., with $8 wines, $5 beers and $10 cocktails. That window ends just as the 7 p.m. caroling sessions begin.
- Pizza Bear, 1831 Ponce de Leon Blvd. Wood-fired sourdough pizza in the former MKT Kitchen space, ordered at the counter. There are five pizzas, from the Classic Cheese at $22 to the Mushroom at $28. It is open Wednesday through Sunday and closed Monday and Tuesday, so it covers every caroling night except the Tuesday awards show.
- Le Macaron French Pastries, 392 Miracle Mile. Macarons at $3.10 each, plus gelato, coffee, éclairs and croissants. It is currently the brand's only South Florida location, and it marks a return to Miracle Mile, where the brand had a short run more than a decade ago.
- Ami Ami, 318 Miracle Mile. Owners Milena Damchevski and Dushan Drakalski serve northern and central European dishes, including Austrian Kaiserschmarrn and a Macedonian sesame gevrek. Breakfast runs 9 a.m. to noon and the lunch menu continues until 9 p.m.
Two familiar addresses will not be part of this December. Sra. Martinez at 2325 Galiano St. served its last dinner on Saturday, Sept. 26. In a farewell post reported by the Miami Herald, Michelle Bernstein and David Martinez wrote, "This isn't goodbye to the Gables. We're keeping the space, and something new is already on the way." The Miracle Mile location of Bodega Taqueria y Tequila has also closed, as the Miami Herald reported in August.
Taken together, the open list covers the full week. Bar Zorro and Pizza Bear handle the evening caroling nights, Le Macaron fits the walk along Miracle Mile on parade Sunday, and Havana Harry's has breakfast again starting Dec. 1.
Maruja Gil follows downtown Coral Gables week by week, from the restaurants that change hands near Giralda Plaza to the parade that now opens the holiday season on Miracle Mile. If you own a home near these streets and want to know what it is worth heading into the new year, Maruja Gil is happy to walk you through it in English, Spanish or Portuguese. Request your complimentary home valuation.
