Cutler Bay's Holiday Golf Cart Parade Starts an Hour Earlier This Year. What to Know Before You Decorate the Cart

Last December, Cutler Bay's Holiday Celebration and Golf Cart Parade ran from 6 to 10 p.m. at Cutler Ridge Park. This year the Town has it on the calendar for Saturday, December 19, from 5 to 9 p.m., under a slightly longer name: the Holiday Golf Cart Parade, Toy Drive & Winter Celebration.

In both 2023 and 2025, cart lineup opened at 5 p.m., an hour before the posted start. This year 5 p.m. is the posted start. In recent years the evening's real deadline came before the posted start time, when the cart lineup closed on the west soccer field. The rest of the season works the same way. Cutler Bay's holiday events depend on dates that land in early December, and the best spots go to the households that act before the night itself.

The lineup has always come before the posted start time

Here is how the evening has run on the Town's own pages over the past three years, next to what is on the calendar now.

In both 2023 and 2025, lineup opened at 5 p.m. on the west soccer field at Cutler Ridge Park. It closed at 5:50 p.m. or once 300 golf carts were in line, whichever came first. The Town's 2025 page said the parade would "promptly" begin at 6 p.m. So a decorated cart that rolled up at 5:55 last year had already missed its chance, even though the celebration's posted hours ran until 10.

The Town's 2026 page asks residents to sign up for its eNews for updates as the date gets closer. For anyone planning a cart, that subscription is the simplest way to get the 2026 lineup time once the Town posts it.

The rulebook was updated in October 2026

The Town's Golf Cart Parade Participation Rules carry an "Updated 10/2026" stamp, so they are the current guide for decorating. Several of them affect how you decorate and drive the cart:

• Theme and taste. Every cart is decorated in the event's holiday theme, and displays should be family-appropriate and add to the parade.
• Music has two settings. Keep it at a minimum in the queuing area so families can hear each other. Once the parade is moving, participants are encouraged to play holiday music. A cart decorated around a sound system should plan for both settings.
• Licensed drivers only. Every approved golf cart is driven by someone with a valid driver's license.
• Hand candy out, don't throw it. Nothing is thrown from a moving cart. Small gifts go hand to hand.
• No noise makers. Firearms, fireworks and noise makers mean immediate disqualification.

The vehicle list catches the most people. ATVs, dirt bikes, side-by-side off-road vehicles, electric and motorized bicycles, go-karts and riding lawn mowers are all disqualified. The rules say the Sheriff's Office or park staff will ask the driver to leave the queuing area. Sheriff's Office personnel and park staff can also disqualify any participant before or during the parade over safety concerns or rule violations.

December 5 is the real deadline for anything that isn't a golf cart

Vehicles that aren't standard golf carts are generally not approved. A specialty vehicle can still take part by special exception, but only after approval from the Town Park Event Coordinator, and the request needs a photo of the vehicle. Requests are due no later than two weeks before the event. With the parade on December 19, two weeks back puts the cutoff at Saturday, December 5.

That date makes the planning harder. The coordinator takes calls at (786) 573-5502 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding holidays. December 5 is a Saturday, so the last weekday to call is Friday, December 4. Thanksgiving falls on November 26, and the Town's calendar marks the Friday after as a holiday too. If your build is anything unusual, like a converted utility vehicle or a themed float on a non-cart chassis, the call belongs in the weeks before Thanksgiving, with a photo ready to send.

The Moss Center fills the weeks before the parade

The parade ends a holiday run that starts more than a month earlier at the Moss Center, 10950 SW 211 Street. This fall we covered how the Moss Center's free concerts work. The holiday calendar from this Saturday through December 18 looks like this:

1. Saturday, Nov. 14: A Charlie Brown Christmas Concert in the Black Box at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. It runs about 1 hour 40 minutes, with table seating and drinks served at the table. The Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami Fall Performance plays the Main Stage at 8 p.m. the same night.
2. Wednesday, Nov. 18: The Great Holiday Spirit Mission, a Somerset Academy Prep show on the Main Stage at 6:30 p.m., runs about 90 minutes.
3. Nov. 21 and 22: Momix Botanica plays Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Students can buy $10 tickets in the $30 and $40 sections, one per person, with ID at pickup. Those tickets are sold only by phone or in person at the box office.
4. Dec. 5 and 6: The Nutcracker plays Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. on the Main Stage.
5. Thursday, Dec. 17: A Very Merry Disco, a Somerset Academy Kendall show, starts at 6:30 p.m. Online sales open Wednesday, December 2, at 10:01 a.m.
6. Friday, Dec. 18: A Holiday Tribute to Elton and Cher plays the Main Stage at 8 p.m.

Each of the six holiday-season shows above, from the Charlie Brown concert through the Elton and Cher tribute, needs a ticket for every person, infants included. For a family with a baby on the lap, that changes the ticket count for The Nutcracker or a Charlie Brown matinee.

The calendar also stacks up at the end. A Very Merry Disco on Thursday the 17th, the Elton and Cher tribute on Friday the 18th and the parade on Saturday the 19th give Cutler Bay three straight nights of holiday events, all within a few miles of each other. The Nutcracker weekend also lands on December 5, the same day as the specialty-vehicle cutoff. One family could be decorating a cart and holding ballet tickets the same weekend.

The toy drive's beneficiary has changed

The toy drive has run alongside the parade from the start, and its beneficiary has changed. In 2023, the Town collected new, unwrapped toys for Holtz Children's Hospital at Jackson Memorial and welcomed donations along the parade route. In 2024 and 2025, new, unwrapped toys went to Community Health of South Florida, Inc. This year "Toy Drive" is part of the event's official name. In every year on record, the request has been for new, unwrapped toys.

The rest of last year's evening stayed fairly consistent. Admission was free in 2025, with Santa photos, food trucks, holiday inflatables, face painters and music. The 2024 newsletter listed nearly the same activities. Businesses that want a booth or sponsorship can call the Town's vendor and sponsorship line at (786) 459-7389.

Dates to put on the fridge

For the waterfront side of town this winter, our post on Black Point Park & Marina covers the funded rebuild there. For more on Cutler Bay through the year, see our Cutler Bay neighborhood page.

If your family's holiday plans this year include a move within Cutler Bay or a house with room to park a decorated cart, Kelli Farrell is glad to help you plan the timing so it fits around December 19. Let's Connect.