Friday Feb. 22, 2019

As we depart Ft. Myers, Legacy Harbour Marina on a fine Friday morning, we’d like to tell you about some of the things we experienced while spending the last 24 days there. In the last post, we talked about spending time with our guests, so this will be everything else.

The Legacy Marina is located along the Caloosahatchee River and next to the “River District” which is full of shops, boutiques, parks, restaurants and hosts all sorts of festivals and events. Most of the streets and sidewalks are brick-paved lending a historical feel to the area. It was there that we found lots of great restaurants (and a few mediocre ones, too) and since all were within walking distance, it was way too easy to eat out in the evenings!

Along the district streets we discovered the Iron Giants! The exhibit has more than 20 oversized people scattered around the River District. Created by Colombian sculptor Edgardo Carmona, they are made of iron that has rusted to a soft reddish-brown hue and became a part of the River District in January, 2017. The sculptures are performing everyday acts… a woman’s umbrella blowing away, a fruit seller, a man in a rocker listening to an old-fashioned radio, a game of dominos (though that one was four under-sized people at a card table).   

During one week, there was a celebration of the great inventor Thomas Alva Edison, who wintered here in Fort Myers, with various events, races, craft sales, and one night of street parties! The main streets of the River District were closed and bands or individuals performed at various locations. Most stores were open along with the bars, restaurants, ice cream shops…  People of all types and ages were strolling around with drinks or snacks, dancing to the music, or just watching others dance. Fun time for people-watching!

The week ended with the Annual Festival of Lights Parade, which is at night, of course! They proudly say it is the largest nighttime parade in the US! Then again, I don’t know of many parades at night, possibly Disney? They get lots of organizations involved by letting them sell seats (folding chairs that they set up and take down) along the route for $10 each. They are reserved when you purchase them so you are guaranteed a seat at the edge of the street by donating to a particular organization. We bought our seats from Boy Scouts Unit 4. We were located just before the last turn in the parade route and only 4 or 5 blocks from the end. Great seats on a beautiful night and we didn’t have to show up 2 hours before parade time to have great seats!

This was the 80th year of the parade to commemorate Edison, who invented the commercial light bulb. It takes place in the mythical realm of Edisonia which includes members of the Royal Court who serve for two years, first as a duke or duchess, followed by a year as a prince or princess. The Royal court is chosen from applicants, ages 19-25, and they participate in the parade, as well as a King and Queen’s Ball, which raises funds for community outreach.

The parade included all the typical entries from Ft. Myers and surrounding communities, but all with lights on them - of course!  Fire trucks, police motorcycles and horses, marching bands (yes, with lights on their hats and instruments!), high school teams, local businesses, elected officials, mini-horse drawn carts, cultural groups, the official Court of Edisonia, clowns, the Shriners, etc. Around our hometown, the Shriners ride around on camels (actually go-carts made to look like camels) and we’ve seen them in small “cars” made on go-carts too. Here they ride around in Flintstone cars that look just like Fred’s except they are go-cart powered instead of foot-powered. The Shriners also had an old yellow Cadillac that was pulling a boat advertising their shrimp boil in March and we could see steam or smoke coming from the Cadillac – possibly going with the shrimp-boil theme? As it went by, we could tell that it was not steam, it was smoke! After they got around the corner and another block way, the car caught fire! STOP the parade! Thankfully there were plenty of fire trucks around. After a 30-minute delay, the fire was put-out, the car & float removed, and the rest of the parade went on, but sadly many people had left since it was towards the end of the parade anyway.

We knew there were going to be fireworks after the parade so we left a little early to get home to help Bo stay calm. It turned out that they were not going to delay the fireworks by 30-minutes too! OH NO! We got to see a beautiful fireworks display while walking back to the boat – it was over before we got home. We found Bo in the lowest place he could get, our cabin. Boy was he happy to see us!