From over on Ocean Drive, you could hear it calling: music luring you to the beach, music beckoning to you like a Siren, music pulling you through Lummus Park and over the dunes toward the 16th Annual Winter Party Beach Party. Everywhere you looked there was beauty: beautiful boyz, and the ocean so blue, and blue sky stippled with clouds. You passed under an immense gateway of billowing banners in Task Force purple and pink—and there, ahead of you, across the sand, was a riotous oasis of every floating inflatable beach toy ever lost on vacation—and now washed back ashore. A wonderland of beach toys—dolphins and duckies, turtles and water tubes, and starfish and smiley faces—all bobbing above the pink wooden dance floor, which was packed with boyz and girls—and every one of them as stunning as a perfect day at the beach.

This is the party we all wanted as a kid, an amalgam of the circus, the sandbox, the carnival, and the playhouse—all tied up with a rainbow ribbon and given to us for one magical afternoon. For sixteen years, ever since February 1994 when the first Winter Party raised money to defeat an anti-LGBT amendment to the Florida constitution, the Winter Party Beach Party has celebrated the LGBT community, and in the process, with the involvement of the Task Force (founded in 1973 as the first national LGBT civil rights organization), given back nearly $2 million to the local LGBT community.

And for this sweet sixteen celebration, we had DJ Producer Tracy Young in the booth (flanked by her ever-ebullient ladies-in-waiting: Dora, Flavio, Alan T., and Victor and Shane). The floor was packed; the sun was hot—and so were the boys. Everywhere you looked, you saw a gaggle of gorgeous. Everyone you’ve ever loved, and everyone you yearn to love, and everyone you will love—in good time… Everyone from Chad Richter and Leonardo and Gabriel, and Alyson Calagna, and Edison Farrow and Nestor Paz, and Dale Stine, and Chris Ryan, and Mark Nelson, and DJ Pride, and Jason Hunt, and Yuval David, and Tod and Gorm, and Warren Gluck, and Kidd Madonny, and Parzham and August, and Chris Donahue, and Wendy Hunt, and Brett Hufziger, and Todd and George Figares, and Matt, and David Bowers, and JR Davis, and Henry Perez, and Rea Carey and Michael Bath, and Doug and Josh and Larry, and Alex Breitman, and Randy Bettis, and Erin Stacey, and Jake and Jesse, and Hilton and Mel, and Karen and Michelle, and Joe Caro, and Michael Circuit Dancer 2.0, and Corey Hill, and Billy and Luis, and Alex Cohen, and JD Ordonez, and Wilson Cruz, and Michael Tronn, and Omar Gonzalez, and Dustin Reffca, and the Pennyback Boys, and Babak Movahedi, and Jason Tamanini, and the entire MedEvent staff, and all the Winter Party Festival volunteers, and nearly 6,000 other brazen beauties.

And everyone was smiling. That was what you kept hearing all afternoon: how everyone was happy, so very happy. For what was not to love about a party like this? It was a picture perfect day, with cruise ships sailing off into the distance and the sun warming skin—and oh, that skin, such an abundance of delicious skin. So many nearly naked bodies. And there was Viva la Vida, Flavio’s signature song—the one that brought him down from the booth and onto the floor—into the center of the floor. And there was Rea Carey, Executive Director of the Task Force, working it out on a box, along with half the Task Force staff. And there were go-go boyz in sequined wings, and boys in platinum wigs, and pretty boys kissing and hot girls snogging.

For this is a community that takes care of each other. A community that cares for its own, as evidenced by the numerous SoBAP (South Beach AIDS Project) volunteers handing out condoms—and the SAFER SEX placards posted in the (new and improved) port-a-potties (complete with soap, running water, and flusher…).

And all through the afternoon, guiding us like a figurehead at the prow of a ship, there was Tracy. She kept her floor packed, the energy peaking—and then, there it was, that familiar Beyonce bounce… A backbeat that sounded familiar, but better somehow as gradually you recognized it: a remix of Halo, a remix so contagious and euphoric that almost immediately, everyone on the floor and up in the cabanas and all along VIP—everyone suddenly felt it, the song’s lyrical beauty, Beyonce’s ethereal voice—and right then, buoyant and ecstatic, we all were lifted, transported, and recognized for what we were: an entire sea of angels gathered together, dancing along the ocean.

Even a grinch would’ve felt it. All through the party, we kept overhearing heartfelt comments. Things like “I love you so much” and “I adore and admire you” and even “I hope I’m successful like you—when I’m your age.” Romance hung in the air. All defenses lowered; all hearts (and halos) revealed. Who wouldn’t be moved?

And the songs that followed, from Counting Down the Days by Sunfreakz, and Bob Sinclar’s What a Wonderful World, and World, Hold On, and Defying Gravity, and Deborah Cox’s Easy as Life, and Big Love, and Kings of Tomorrow’s Finally, and as the sun began to fall, Tracy’s own, The World Is A Stage, and then, the final song of the night, It’s My Life…

Oh, yes, it is; it is our life: the life of our glorious and beautiful LGBT community—and there are few better ways to celebrate this splendid mosaic we call family than the Winter Party Beach Party. Here’s to all of us convening again next year, halos intact, for another Winter Party Beach Party that is so much more than just another day at the beach.