Yearning for 2016? Throwback party for teens to bring nostalgia to Pembroke Pines
If you’ve got a tattoo choker or Drake’s “Views” on vinyl sitting somewhere, you’ll want to dust both off. And, while you’re at it, redownload Snapchat.
Pembroke Pines is throwing teenagers a party themed after the Internet’s trending “golden age”: 2016.
The city and its Youth Advisory Board are holding a Teen Takeover event at Spring Valley/William B. Armstrong Dream Park — 1700 NW 160th Ave. — on Friday, March 13, for a throwback fest featuring food, a mid-2010s soundtrack, giveaways and more.
Open to high school students ages 14 to 18, the event runs from 5 to 8 p.m. and kicks off with a live performance by DJ Gary Gore, who will spin quintessential tracks by artists topping the charts in 2016 — think Drake, Beyonce, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Bruno Mars.
Free pizza and refreshments and samples from Dave’s Hot Chicken will be available to snack on while an inflatable obstacle course, yoga sessions led by Mindful Movements, bracelet-making workshops and mental health activities also headline the event.
Lucky attendees could even score prizes from Teen Takeover’s several raffles.
“Come hang out, try something new, and kick off the weekend with your crew,” city officials wrote in a Fstatement announcing the party.
But why 2016?
A nostalgic wave of memorabilia from the time — record-breaking albums, viral Vine trends and now-fashion-faux-pas like skinny jeans and matte lipstick — has swept over social media platforms since early this year.
TikTok, famous for its short-form content, reported that searches for “2016” surged by 452% in first week of January, according to the BBC.
If you search up the hashtag “#2016” on the app, just over 2 million posts will pop up, NBC reported in January.
But experts say millennials and Gen Z’s obsession with the mid-2010s goes beyond the generations wearing rose-colored glasses, which were also trending in 2016.
The year prefaced impactful, and at times turbulent, cultural shifts that would mark the next decade, such as President Donald Trump’s first term, Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The nostalgia being expressed now, for 2016, is due in large part to what has transpired since then,” Janelle Wilson, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, told the Associated Press in January. “For there to be nostalgia for 2016 in the present ... I still think those kinds of transitions are significant.”
It’s also a source of comfort for generations to look back on while facing 2026’s unique challenges, such as the rise of artificial intelligence and its impact on the job market, according to existential psychologist Clay Routledge.
“We tend to be especially nostalgic when the world feels like it’s going through some major change,” he told the BBC. “When generations are going through this kind of upheaval or this kind of challenge, they tend to look back to their youth for comfort and for inspiration, for guidance.”
For more information on the March 13 Teen Takeover, residents should contact 954-392-2122 or email hbonkowski@ppines.com.
