Holiday Park Is Victoria Park's Backyard Now: A Resident's Guide to the New Rhythm

For decades, the running joke about a Victoria Park summer was that the neighborhood emptied out by mid-July. The heat did its work, the snowbirds were long gone, and the block quieted down until the Halloween party the VPCA threw. That joke is out of date. The 93-acre park at the corner of Sunrise and Federal has quietly picked up a second life, and if you live inside the square mile between Broward, Sunrise, Federal, and Lake Stranahan, the schedule is worth learning.

The thesis is simple. Holiday Park now runs on two calendars that fit together like puzzle pieces. Indoors, the ice never melts. Outdoors, from June through mid-August, Friday nights belong to a free concert series older than most of the condos along Sunrise. Between them, there is almost no week of the year where the park sits idle, and that changes what it means to live three blocks away.

The Rink Nobody Expected

A working NHL practice facility sitting inside a city park two miles from the Atlantic is not something Fort Lauderdale planners could have imagined a decade ago. It is here now. Located inside Holiday Park about 2 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean, the Baptist Health IcePlex holds two sheets of ice and is the home of the team's NHL operations, and the ceremonies included NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Panthers president and CEO Matt Caldwell, general manager Bill Zito, and other dignitaries cutting the ribbon to open the 144,000-square-foot facility.

The residential detail matters more than the ribbon-cutting did. Most of Florida's players live in and around Fort Lauderdale, and many drive golf carts through the surrounding neighborhoods to get to practice. If you have walked your dog near Bayview Drive on a weekday morning and wondered why a golf cart just rolled past with a hockey bag strapped to it, that is why. A few players such as Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad and Carter Verhaeghe rolled in from their homes off Las Olas in custom golf carts.

The public side of the building is the part most residents underuse. One of the two NHL-regulation rinks is programmed for the community when the Panthers are not on it. People can register for a variety of Baptist Health IcePlex activities and events, including public skating sessions; Panthers Skating and Hockey Academy Spring classes; Adult Hockey Leagues; summer camps; 'Try Hockey For Free' events, and more. A neighborhood-based adult league in a city that averages 84 degrees in July is a real amenity, not a novelty.

Dinner With a View of a Slapshot

The IcePlex has a restaurant inside it, and it is not a snack bar. The Federal is nestled between two ice rinks within the Baptist Health IcePlex, also known as the official practice and training facility for the Florida Panthers ice hockey team. Take a seat by the floor-to-ceiling windows separating the restaurant from the ice rink, and immerse yourself in the exhilarating energy of a Florida Panthers practice. For those seeking a breath of fresh air, The Federal's second-story outdoor patio offers panoramic views of Holiday Park and easy access to and from the pickleball courts.

The operator matters here. David Cardaci and Vanessa Cardaci are the founders of Knallhart Management Group, which runs multiple food and beverage venues in Fort Lauderdale, including The Angeles nightclub, Roxanne's Liquor Bar & Kitchen, and restaurants Holly Blue, Rhythm & Vine and The Whole Enchilada, which also has locations beyond Fort Lauderdale in Oakland Park, Plantation and Winter Garden. This is a local group, not an arena concessionaire. If you already know Holly Blue or Rhythm & Vine, you already know the kitchen's instincts.

Fridays on the Football Field

The other half of the park's calendar is older than the ice. Each summer, the City of Fort Lauderdale Parks and Recreation Department presents the Bank of America Starlight Musicals concert series, and for 47 years these free outdoor concerts have provided a way to enjoy the summer with family and friends. The series features an exciting lineup of bands covering pop, country, rhythm and blues, tropical rock, and more, and the show takes place on the football field at Holiday Park, which is located at East Sunrise Boulevard and Federal Highway.

Free is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Free with lawn chairs and coolers permitted is doing even more. The 2026 dates are set. Events in 2026 are 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays from June 5 through August 14 at Holiday Park on Federal Highway and East Sunrise Boulevard. On July 3, there is no concert.

Two dates are worth blocking off if you have not already:

• August 7: Mischief, pop
• August 14: Shane Duncan Band, closing the season

Both confirmed on the published 2026 lineup.

A practical note that separates residents from visitors. There is a tent-free zone to guarantee visibility to spectators in the main area of the field, and smoking is not permitted on the south side of the field. If you have been going for years and always parked your canopy dead center, that is why the setup felt different last summer. Bring the chair, skip the tent.

Weather is Florida in August. In case of inclement weather, call the Special Events Hotline for updates at (954) 828-5363, and after dialing, press #2 for Starlight Musicals and then #4 for a weather update. Save the number.

The Cheat Sheet

Beyond the Rinks

The park is the anchor, but the neighborhood layer runs on its own energy. The historic Victoria Park neighborhood has successfully reinvented itself, in large part due to the efforts of the Victoria Park Civic Association, which was founded in 1980 and is Fort Lauderdale's largest and one of the city's best-organized civic groups. Signature events like the current Cause 4 Paws and Art and Jazz in Victoria Park, along with programs like entranceway sponsorship, community tree-planting and zoning overlays are highlights of over three decades of community activism. If you moved in during the last two years and have not been to Art and Jazz yet, that is the one to start with.

The other two anchors are the Fort Lauderdale Greek Festival and ArtServe, both familiar to long-term residents and both close enough to walk from most of the neighborhood. They round out the calendar in the shoulder seasons when the concert field is empty and the IcePlex is running a youth tournament.

The Piece Still Coming

The last domino has not fallen. The City of Fort Lauderdale and the Florida Panthers partnered to restore and revitalize the War Memorial Auditorium, situated on the west end of Holiday Park, and the project is turning the area into a community hub for recreation and entertainment, featuring a cutting-edge ice facility with two full-size skating rinks alongside a music venue. Standing as a tribute to military heroes on the western end of Fort Lauderdale's 93-acre Holiday Park, the historic War Memorial Auditorium first opened in 1950 as a popular music and entertainment venue, drawing U.S. Presidents and celebrity icons from Buddy Holly to World Boxing Champion Héctor Camacho over the decades.

The reopening will finish the loop the IcePlex started. When it does, the park will hold ice for weekday leagues, a full-service restaurant tucked between the rinks, a football field for free Friday concerts through the summer, and a historic auditorium for touring shows in the fall and winter. That is a year-round social infrastructure inside a residential neighborhood, and it did not exist five years ago.

What This Means If You Already Live Here

The point of learning this schedule is not tourism. It is that a Victoria Park summer no longer requires leaving Victoria Park. Friday nights are already spoken for through mid-August. Weekday evenings have an indoor option that stays at 55 degrees when your driveway is at 92. Weekend afternoons at the IcePlex are already drawing families from Coral Ridge and Wilton Manors, which is worth knowing if you have been complaining about parking on the east side of Federal on a Saturday.

The neighborhood you bought into a decade ago and the neighborhood you live in now are running on different schedules. The house is the same. The block is the same. The park across Sunrise is doing something new, and it changes what a normal week here looks like.

If you have been thinking about what your home is worth in a Victoria Park that now includes a working NHL practice rink two blocks away, or you know someone who has, Waltzer Realty is happy to walk through the numbers with you. Get a Free Home Valuation and start with the number, not the guesswork.