Miami Marine Stadium October Update

Friends of Miami Marine Stadium

Newsletter #67 October 9, 2013

In This Issue

Marine Stadium Exhibit

News

If Seats Could Talk

Dade Heritage Trust

Dade Heritage Trust (DHT) is the foremost organization in Miami Dade County devoted to historic preservation Formerly, DHT was the parent organization to Friends of Miami Marine Stadium, providing important advocacy and support and an administrative umbrella. Since 2011, Friends of Miami Marine Stadium became an independent 501(c)(3) not- for-profit organization.For more information on Dade Heritage Trust, click here.

Email List

# of people on Friends of Marine Stadium email list..2706

We respect your time and only send emails on average once a month. We do not give or sell our email list to anyone.

If Seats Could Talk:
Miami Marine Stadium and a Real Marine

Since May of 2009, we have been collecting memories of the Marine Stadium for our book "IF SEATS COULD TALK."

We feature a memory in the main section of our newsletter this week. Please respond to this email if you would like to contribute your memory!
# of memories for IF SEATS COULD TALK

...........186

Marine Stadium Presentations

The Miami Marine Stadium continues to attract not just local-but national attention. As we move into fundraising mode, it is important for us to get the word out.

If you know of a group that is interested in a presentation about the Marine Stadium, please reply to this email.

# of Marine Stadium presentations made to date.................76

To: Miami Marines

Brace yourselves...for an incredilbly busy fall!

Marine Stadium Exhibit at the Coral Gables Museum
Opens October 17

Official Exhibition Trailer
Concrete Paradise: Miami Marine Stadium

Our exhibit celebrating the Miami Marine Stadium, "Concrete Paradise", opens Thursday, October 17 at 7:00 PM at the Coral Gables Museum. Tickets for the opening, which will benefit the exhibit and our effort to save and restore the Marine Stadium, cost $25. To purchase your tickets, click here.

The opening event will be spectacular, featuring parkour athletes, a performance by VJ Psyberpixie, Bacardi cocktails,

and even racing hydroplanes parked out front! In preparation for over a year, this first-ever exhibition is devoted to the

Miami Marine Stadium's flashy past, its edgy present, and its

spectacular proposed comeback as a world-class sports and performance venue.

Curated by renowned author and architectural conservator, Rosa Lowinger, this interactive exhibit will bring the glory days of Miami's most daringly modern structure back to life through stunning video footage, rare photos and keepsakes, original art installations, photo murals of the stadium's infamous graffiti, and an antique hydroplane. It will conclude with a special section dedicated to the stadium's next chapter featuring never before seen site renderings and opportunities for museum visitors to share their vision for the structure's future.

The exhibition is being presented by American Express. We wish to thank our partners, the Coral Gables Museum and the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the tremendous job they have done. Finally, we'd also like to acknowledge our Cliff Mezey, a member of our Board who came up with the idea for the exhibit almost two years ago.

In addition to the exhibit itself, we have a full lineup of programs we will be highlighting in future notices to you. Coming up soon: October 24-The Future of the Miami Marine Stadium-a panel discussion and on November 6-Boat Racing in Miami-Past and Future-a panel discussion.

Marine Stadium News

Gloria Estefan and Hilario Candela at the
Never Quit Challenge at Miami Marine Stadium
photo (c) Carlos Betancourt, Inc.

The Marine Stadium continues to be in the news. The Stadium was the first stop at the Never Quit Challenge, an event benefiting charities working with Veterans and their families. The participants were greeted by a crowd that included Gloria Estefan and Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. At the event, Gloria was able to discuss her vision for Miami Marine Stadium.

The Clyde Fitch Report, a blog that deals with the intersection of Art and Politics, featured a very thoughtful article about the importance of the Marine Stadium entitled Miami's Quest for Global Standing.

CNN ran a story entitled Six Imperiled Sports Sites; the first site in the article was the Miami Marine Stadium. This national story generated the most web traffic we have had on any one day in the last three years.

Finally, there is a recent article in The Miami Herald which featured an interview about the Coral Gables Museum exhibit with curator Rosa Lowinger. We are expecting a lot of press coverage about the exhibition.

IF Seats Could Talk
The First Boat Race at Miami Marine Stadium

Photo By Phil Kunz
We are rapidly approaching the 50th Anniversary of the opening of the Miami Marine Stadium - in December, 1963. We recorded a great story from Phil Kunz, who drove down from Ohio to attend the first boat race at the Marine Stadium. Phil and his friend didn't have a place to stay, so they actually snuck in and slept at the Stadium!

We've already collected 186 stories about the Stadium as work continues on our book, IF SEATS COULD TALK. If you would like to contribute a story for our book (we'll be happy to interview you or follow up on a recommendation), just respond to this email.

Conclusion

During one of Phil Kunz' visits to Miami in the 1960s, he picked up this flag at the Marine Stadium. Phil has graciously loaned it to us and it will be on display at our exhibit at the Coral Gables Museum. The exhibit will not only feature memorabilia and history about the Stadium's years of operation, but it will also display how it has inspired current artists-and most important, it will help us imagine potential possibilities for its stellar future.

As we begin our "quiet" fundraising campaign, the important contributions you can make are to: Support us by attending opening night on October 17, come to our related programs and events, and help us create a buzz about the exhibit by liking us on Facebook. We KNOW that after you have seen the exhibit, you will be even more inspired to help us restore the Miami Marine Stadium.

Yours truly,

Friends of Miami Marine Stadium
www.marinestadium.org