Ahhh, Florida. Nowhere in the US has such sparkling beaches and warm, lightning bug filled nights. If sitting on the porch with an Arnold Palmer and strumming some Americana tunes on your uke doesn’t sounds amazing to you, then maybe you really shouldn’t be in Florida. Or maybe you’re a city person: well Orlando’s got all that and more. First, lets meet the family.

F.U.N., the Florida Ukulele Network used to hold the biggest ukulele festival in Florida, the South Florida Ukulele Fest. They exist in order to foster and accessible musical spirit in the communities around them, provide entertainment, and give support to artists from Florida. Recently some F.U.N. players performed to raise money for the American Cancer Society at the Relay for Life. They are a great resource for all ukulele events all over the state! Although the festival is about three hours from Orlando, you never know when FUN may be coming your way! Follow their Facebook page to get all the updates!

The Ukulaliens are a group of pals and musicians who host public uke jams around the orlando area every month. Good times, cheap beer, and fun tunes are bound to ensue. Check their facebook to see what they’re up to!

Orlando might not yet have its own ukulele festival, but luckily a great one is only an hour and a half away! The Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway is a fantastic weekend full of food, drinks, and most of all, ukulele! Packed with workshops, open mics, stum-alongs, jams, and artist meet and greets! With Jim and Liz Beloff, Rachel Manke, Matthew Kirkland, Petey Mack, Ari Chi, Mim, Ty Olopai, Mapuana Ebbitt, and TJ Weger on the line-up, you don’t want to miss out. It’s a solid weekend, all the information you need can be found right here on their website.

The Orlando Ukulele Meetup group does exactly that: meets up to play, learn from each-other, and even perform every now and again. They meet once or twice every month, so keep up with them on their facebook page! The location changes every now and again. Last Christmas they played on a luau themed float in the parade, so cute!

The Ukulele Kids Club is a really incredible non-profit started in Florida and serves both The Arnold Palmer Hospital and Florida Hospital in Orlando. Their mission statement goes like this:  

Our mission is to harness the healing power of music by supporting music therapy programs and gifting ukuleles to hospital-based music therapy programs so that children in need can be sent home with the gift of music for life.

After losing his son, Corey Bergman began volunteering, playing his guitar in hospitals. He realised that the beautiful connection he had with music could be shared with the kids in the hospital if only there was a guitar small enough for them...Then enters the ukulele. Now the Club has given hospitals all over the nation and even Canada over 500 ukuleles and lessons with players for the children. Thinking of a bored kid in a hospital bed realising now is the perfect time to perfect this little instrument would give anyone shivers. If you’re a player in Orlando, you can contact the UKC to see if you can volunteer to give lessons!

Last but not least, we had to give the Uke-a-Ladies a shout out. They’re a ukulele band from Orlando! Hell yeah. Three part harmonies? Check. Vocal Power? Check. Lady power? Triple check. Alison Sherberg, Jeni Valtinson, and Tessa Marie totally rock it, and we hope to see them playing again soon! Check out their covers on YouTube!