Step right up folks, one at a time! Enter, if you dare, the wondrous sideshow and spectacle that is (ahem) the city of Orlando! That’s right, welcome to this year’s Best of Orlando issue, where we (and all of the many, many, many readers and voters) highlight and best and most unique that the City Beautiful has to offer, from people to places, eats to drinks, sounds to visions, events to entrepreneurs.

For Best of Orlando® 2026, our theme is Orlando’s Oddities, wherein we reimagine some of the more unique characters and facets of our city as part of a whimsical and fantastical sideshow. You’ll see faces you no doubt recognize from around town paired with their outrageous special skills and stellar stunts!

So we’ve gathered the strangest and most stunning of Orlando’s Oddities to introduce you to our 10 categories: Arts + Entertainment, Attractions + Recreation, City Life, Drinking + Nightlife, Food + Dining, Health, Beauty + Wellness, Local Music, Local Notables, Services, and Shopping + Retail. All are sumptuously celebrated within these purple-prosed pages!

Our editorial scribblers, scriveners and sculptors of pixels are Asa Carvajal, Azlyn Cato, Ida V. Eskamani, Chloe Greenberg, Faiyaz Kara, Grayson Keglovic, Seth Kubersky, Bao Le-Huu, Jim Leatherman, Matt Keller Lehman, David Loyola, Pedro Macias, Matthew Moyer, Mauricio Murillo, McKenna Schueler and Jessica Bryce Young. Delightful oddballs all!

And for the unparalleled oddit … er, we mean, artistry of this year’s cover and section openers, endless appreciation to photographer Mauricio Murillo and designer David Loyola. Not odd in the slightest! (Wink!)

And with that roll call of sideshow superlativity, let us commence. Get ready to be stunned, amazed and dumbfounded!!