Orlando's oldest continuously running institution is not a theme park - it is the fairgrounds on West Colonial Drive. The Central Florida Fairgrounds at 4603 West Colonial Drive occupy 87 lakefront acres about four miles west of downtown, home of the Central Florida Fair, founded in 1912 by community leaders celebrating the region's agricultural economy - decades before the first mouse ear appeared in Orange County. The fair remains the largest not-for-profit fair in Central Florida and among th.....

The lawn slopes down toward a stage with Lake Lawne behind it, and on festival days 10,000 people fill the grass. The Orlando Amphitheater at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, 4603 West Colonial Drive, opened in 2016 and quickly became the city's workhorse outdoor concert venue. The setting is the point: the fairgrounds' lakeside acreage west of downtown gave Orlando something it lacked - an open-air, general-admission bowl holding 10,000 standing or around 7,000 with lawn chairs, built without .....

West Colonial Drive works late, and so does this room. Xperience Live, at 6385 West Colonial Drive in Orlando's Pine Hills district, is an intimate event center and nightclub that has carved out a niche as one of the west side's go-to stages for hip-hop, R&B and Latin bookings. The venue runs club hours - typically Friday through Sunday nights from 10 pm into the small hours - and flips between ticketed concerts, DJ nights, comedy and private events across its compact floor. Capacity sits arou.....