What to know about Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach – NBC 6 South Florida
The Winter Party Festival is officially underway in South Florida, making a splashy return for the 32nd year in a row.
The dance and music festival features a week-long series of events benefiting local and national LGBTQ+ organizations.
The Winter Party attracts more than 10,000 attendees from around the world each year. This year, the festival features more than 12 exciting events spread across Miami and Miami Beach. And 2025’s theme is “Dance is revolution.”
“I’m very excited for this weekend. I came last year actually for the first time, and it was a blast,” said an attendee from Chicago.
Winter Party features an electric mix of music, community programming, and entertainment.
“I’m really excited. I’ve never been to a winter party, and I’ve heard a lot of it, so that’s fun,” said another attendee from Mexico City.
The festival’s mantra is “Live free. Play hard. Give back.”
“This event is all about love. There are folks trying to take away our joy and they cannot have it. They are trying to erase us and we’re not going anywhere so again come join us and be seen. Be part of the joy, be part of the love. That’s resistance, that’s revolution,” said Andy Garcia with the National LGBTQ Task Force.
Founded in 1994, Winter Party provides a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ and allied community to celebrate joy and live freely. It’s hosted by the National LGBTQ Task Force and donates a significant portion of the proceeds to advocacy groups in South Florida.
“We’ve raised over $4 million for local LGBT organizations over the past 20 years,” Garcia said. “Florida is one of our priority states. We love our people down here, and we want to show up for them, and we want to make sure that we’re fighting legislation that would harm them, and that we’re really working on behalf of the community here.”
The festival falls during Miami Beach’s spring break high-impact period. Security around the event is already beefed up with additional traffic measures, staffing and public safety.
“However, Winter Party will have a staff and contingent solely assigned to their event to ensure that everyone who’s attending is doing so safely,” said Miami Beach Spokesman Officer Christopher Bess.
The 32nd annual Winter Party Festival is made possible with support from the Miami Beach Visitor & Convention Authority, and the Miami-Dade County Tourism Development Council. It also takes about 400 volunteers to put the event on.
