Best of Orlando Party
Best of Orlando Party Credit: Holly Wheldon

After a seven-year hiatus, the Best of Orlando® Awards Night, the party of the year, finally makes its return.

Tuesday, Aug. 18, Orlando Weekly brings back this bash for the first time since 2019 at the Milk District’s Plaza Live. This comeback comes with a major twist: It will take place the night before the winners are officially revealed in the Aug. 19 issue. That means finalists, friends, family and supporters will learn the results together in real time as the winners of the Best of Orlando® Awards, the city’s most coveted readers’ choice awards, are revealed. Winners and finalists can grab their certificates and bragging rights on the night, before our issue even hits the stands or the internets.

But it’s not just the awards. DJs Todd Love and Demi Korrin will be spinning triumphant dance floor fillers, America’s Got Talent finalist and magician Drew Thomas intends to dazzle you, and eye-popping acrobatics and aerial artistry come courtesy the Odd-o-Ts.

Complimentary bites will be on offer to help soak up the spirits from finalists including Maxine’s on Shine (in the VIP area), Las Carretas, Red Panda Food Truck, Kelly’s Ice Cream, Metro Diner, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice and Habibi Lebanese Grill.

And yes, the print issue will be available at the party, but with (another) suitably OW-esque twist. Performance artist Brian Feldman will reprise his performance piece The Boxer, dispensing copies of the issue to revelers by hand while encased in a Weekly box!

Be there to toast the winners (and yourselves)!

7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18, The Plaza Live, 425 N. Bumby Ave., orlandoweeklytickets.com, $40-$60.

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This article appears in Aug. 12-18, 2026.