Miami doesn’t do parades. It does group hallucinations with permits. This one had bulldozers killing rainbows, robots delivering burritos, Freds running en masse, and PBS characters bleeding ideology. Politics, parody, devotion, noise, and joy smashed together under the sun. Welcome to civic surrealism, Miami-style — welcome to the King Mango Strut! There were about 58 different themes in this year’s parade.
The following are some highlights.
2026 King Mango Strut Highlights
Bernie Sanders as Sanders Claus
Class warfare but festive.
Defunded PBS Characters (Top choice)
Bob Ross bleeding rainbow paint.
Sesame Street casualties.
Dora deported.
Cookie Monster’s snap benefits rescinded.
No Kings in America / Blue Wave
Straight-up political messaging. Zero satire. Just vibes, rejection of fascism.
Robot Invasion (Uber Eats Edition) (Top Choice)
R2-D2 lookalikes. Delivery robots pushed in wheelchairs. Existential dread plus burritos.
Many of the robots included residents with disabilities, thus the wheelchairs.
Running of the Freds
Like the Running of the Bulls, but just dudes named Fred. Peak absurdism.
Women’s Club of Coconut Grove
Celebrating 135 years. Quietly the most impressive flex in the whole parade.
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Rainbow Destruction Company
Hearse + bulldozer imagery reenacting the death of rainbow crosswalks. DeSantis as urban grim reaper.
Club Space Wars
Rave float meets Star Wars parody. Lasers, chaos, probably still going at 9 a.m. spiritually.
The World-Class Bridge Satire
A brutal roast of that downtown eyesore. Spider bridge aspirations, pretzel reality. “ Architectural confusion made art.
Hare Krishna Crew
Full devotional presence.
Big group singing 80s pop bangers like I Wanna Dance With Somebody. Earnest, sweet, kind of sexy.
Ken Russell (Ace of the Parade)
He was Vanilla Ice, the ultimate pun on immigration — someone had to do it, of course it would be Ken (ex mayoral candidate.)
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