Oviedo Mall recognized for its unconventional year-round events schedule!

From book festivals and comic gatherings to goblin markets, community events, and more, the mall has give people reasons to gather, connect and make memories at the mall.

Five years ago, shortly after joining Oviedo Mall, Marketing & Events Director Josh Gunderson stumbled across a YouTube video describing the property as “the strangest mall

in Florida.” He was offended.

Not because the description was inaccurate, but because he thought Oviedo Mall could aim higher. “I remember finding that video and thinking, ‘Strangest mall in Florida? Is that all?’” Gunderson said. “Apparently we’ve made some progress. Now I won’t stop until we’re the strangest mall in the world.”

That mission received some unexpected validation this month when Orlando Weekly named Oviedo Mall its 2026 Best of Orlando Staff Pick for “Best Unhinged Event Schedule.”

In its annual Best of Orlando issue, Orlando Weekly called Oviedo Mall a “relentlessly quirky shopping center” and singled out its year-round programming as a reason to reconsider the traditional mall. The publication highlighted a schedule that includes Goblin Market, Mall-O Ween, book clubs, Mall Rat Market, mini comic conventions, 5Ks, teen photography classes and an ever-growing collection of events that do not always fit neatly into the traditional shopping center playbook.

For Oviedo Mall, that is very much the point. As shopping habits have changed and traditional malls across the country have faced questions about their place in modern communities, Oviedo Mall has increasingly focused on giving people reasons to visit that have little to do with simply buying something.

The result has been an evolving calendar of markets, festivals, book events, fandom celebrations, community programs and experiences built around a simple idea: a mall can still be a place where people gather.

“We stopped asking ourselves what events a mall is supposed to have and started asking what would actually make people want to come here,” Gunderson said. “Sometimes the answer is a book festival.

Sometimes it’s a goblin market. Sometimes it’s hundreds of people dressed like their favorite characters wandering through the building. If it gives people a reason to get out of the house, find their community and make a memory here, we’re interested.”

That philosophy has produced a diverse lineup ranging from large-scale book festivals and geek-culture gatherings to specialty markets, family programming, community classes and smaller recurring experiences.

It has also allowed Oviedo Mall to embrace something shopping centers have historically tried very hard to escape: being a mall.

Rather than distancing itself from mall culture and nostalgia, Oviedo Mall has increasingly made them part of its identity, celebrating the generations who grew up meeting friends at the mall while creating new reasons for younger generations to do the same.

“Retail will always be an important part of what we do, but people are looking for places where they can exist outside of work and home,” Gunderson said. “Malls were one of those places for decades. We think they can be again. They might just need a few more goblins.”

The Orlando Weekly recognition marks an important milestone in that evolution, particularly because “Best Unhinged Event Schedule” was selected by the publication’s staff rather than through a public voting campaign.

For the team at Oviedo Mall, however, the award is less a finish line than encouragement to keep experimenting. “We won’t be trying for a more hinged event calendar any time soon, we have an award to defend now,” Gunderson said. “This was a dangerous amount of positive reinforcement.”

For more information about Oviedo Mall, upcoming events, and tenant listings, visit www.myoviedomall.com.

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