Pioneer Park Days

Pioneer Park Days is an annual event held the first week of March in Zolfo Springs, Florida at Pioneer Park, which is located at the intersection of  US Highway 17 and State Road 64.

The most recent 43rd Annual Pioneer Park Days was billed as one of the largest and oldest antique tractor, steam engine and farm equipment shows in the Southeast. Over 400 exhibits and activities, including a daily antique tractor parade, basket weaving, toy making and wood burning, celebrated the 1800s.

In addition to the pioneer-themed activities, 450+ booths sold antiques, arts, crafts and flea market wares, numerous food booths were available throughout the park, and country and bluegrass music provided daily entertainment.

Southwest Florida Fair

The Southwest Florida Fair is held the last week of February for ten days and is similar to many county fairs held in the winter in Florida and in the summer across other parts of the country.

That familiar smell of smoking ribs, sizzling sausages, corn dogs, and cotton candy mixed with the smell of farm animals and mechanical rides slinks into the parking lot and surrounds you before you even reach the gate.

But, the fair is much more than food, rides and games. The agricultural and horticultural exhibits and the participation of school age children through their school displays, equestrian and small animal competitions and steer and hog auctions define the core educational purpose of the fair.

From the raising of farm animals for auction or competition to the planning and construction of a school exhibit, the fair offers a learning opportunity to the area youth. For some children, a visit to the fair is their only exposure to the agricultural side of the local community.

Florida Flywheelers Antique Show

The Florida Flywheelers Antique Engine Club was founded in 1972 to promote the history and restoration of antique engines, autos and other antique devices. Flywheeler Park, located  at 7000 Avon Park Cutoff Road, Fort Meade, Florida, was purchased in 1997 to showcase the 1,500+ member collections and preserve a part of history.

It has since grown to nearly 240 acres with multiple shows per year and includes a tractor pull track, club and member buildings, as well as, large engine collections.

The club advertises their shows as "wholesome fun for the whole family" with antique tractor displays, a steam-powered saw mill, an old engine ice cream maker, a pioneer village complete with cabins, barns, a church, a mercantile, blacksmith, schoolhouse, stores, stables, a jail, a firehouse, and gas stations, and miles of flea market items and carnival-style food.

Events are held in January, February and November with a special Christmas in the Village in December. Visit  Florida Flywheelers Antique Engine Club for the 2011 - 2012 schedule and more information.

Myakka River State Park

Photo by Terry Lineberger

Myakka River State Park is one of Florida's oldest state parks. Its namesake river is one of only two rivers in the state to have a "Florida Wild and Scenic River" designation. This designation preserves the 34-mile portion of the river in Sarasota County, particularly the basin of lakes and marshes that the river flows through.

Photo by Terry Lineberger

Wildlife sightings may include alligators, manatees, turtles and wading birds, as well as bald eagles, ospreys, sandhill cranes and other shore birds depending upon the time of year you visit.

Photo by Terry Lineberger

The Canopy Walkway was inspired by Dr. Margaret Lowman, a former director of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, who saw Florida's forests as imperiled as many of the rainforests she studied and wanted to use the same methods to study and conserve Florida's ecosystems. It consists of a suspension bridge 85 feet long and 25 feet high and a tower reaching a height of 74 feet high.

Photo by Terry Lineberger

A visitor center provides more information about the park and a concession is available for air boat rides, tram tours, canoe and kayak rentals, bike rentals, food, books and souvenirs. Picnic areas, two campgrounds, log cabins, playgrounds, ranger programs and special events are also on site.

The park is located nine miles east of I-75 at 13208 State Road 72, Sarasota, Florida and  is open 365 days from 8:00 am until sunset with an entrance fee of $6.00 per vehicle for 2 to 8 persons.

Holocaust Boxcar

First Assembly of God in Fort Myers recently hosted a Holocaust Boxcar as part of The Holocaust Museum & Education Center of Southwest's Florida's Boxcar Transportation and Education Project. This box car travels to area schools to educate students about the Holocaust and to support the Museum's mission of "promoting  tolerance and understanding by teaching the history and lessons of the Holocaust."

This boxcar was originally built in 1919 and was restored in 2008 with approximately 75% of the original wood and most of the original metal. These small, cramped boxcars with no heat or air and no bathroom carried up to100 people at a time to the Nazi concentration camps.

In addition to the Boxcar, the Museum has over 1,000 artifacts and photographs chronicling the rise of Nazism to the Allied Liberation and Nuremberg Trials, with many items donated by local survivors. The Museum is located at 4760 Tamiami Trail N in Naples, Florida and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 1 pm to 4 pm, except for holidays including the day after Thanksgiving. Admission is listed as $8 for adults and $3 for students ages 12-18. Due to the nature of the exhibits, student visits under the age of 12 are not recommended and require parent permission.

Please visit their web site for more information and may we, both individually and as a nation, never forget.

Fort Myers River District

Atomic Clock  - Centennial Park

The Fort Myers River District is the result of years of historical restoration projects, new construction projects and major road and street-scape projects to revitalize the downtown area. Downtown Fort Myers had been in a state of decline with many decaying buildings abandoned in the1980s and 1990s until redevelopment began and it was renamed the River District.

Edison Bridge Light

Many historical buildings have been restored including the Arcade Theatre, Bradford building, the Dean building, the DeLeon Building, the Earnhardt building, the Gwynne Institute, the old Lee County Courthouse, as well as, the old post office, which was transformed into the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center. Additionally, some of the original lights from the old Edison Bridge were moved to the pier at Centennial Park.


Color-coded maps are available online and at local venues listing an eclectic mix of cultural and historical attractions, boutiques, entertainment, restaurants, retail shops and services. A self-guided tour to the free public art and parks is also available with monuments and landmarks described and numbered on a map, including the Uncommon Friends Fountain, with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and a few Florida natives, shown below.

Goodbye Cypress Gardens

Cypress Gardens opened  in 1936 as Florida's first tourist attraction when Dick Pope, Sr and his wife showcased their botanical gardens. It became famous for its beautiful gardens, Southern Belles and water ski shows and was called the "Water Ski Capital of the World" because over 50 world water skiing records were broken there.

Sadly, its demise, like many other original Florida tourist attractions, began in the 1970s when it had to compete with Disney. Once the Popes retired and transferred the park to their son, successive owners would unsuccessfully keep the park at the necessary attendance levels. The first owner outside the Pope family was book publisher, Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich who bought the park in the early 1980s and operated it until it sold the park to Anheuser-Busch in 1989. A group of the park managers, led by Bill Reynolds, then bought the property in April 1995 from Anheuser-Busch and operated it until April 2003 when the park closed suddenly, putting 529 people out of work with three days' notice.

The Friends of Cypress Gardens, founded by Burma Davis Posey, immediately incorporated and saved the park by enlisting the help of members in the United States and 27 other countries and raising 13,500,000 dollars in three and a half months. This group then sold the property to The Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization, who sold a conservation easement over the entire property to the state of Florida with the 30-acres gardens portion sold to Polk County.

Adventure Parks Group bought the balance of the property subject to the conservation easement and reopened the park as Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in November 2004 complete with a wooden roller coaster and other midway-style rides and  the adjacent Splash Island water park followed in 2005. Unfortunately, the estimated $30 million in damages from the horrific 2004 hurricane season led Adventure Parks Group to file for bankruptcy in September 2006.

Land South Adventures bought Cypress Gardens at a bankruptcy auction October 16, 2007, temporarily closed the park in November 2008, then reopened in March 2009 as two separate parks.Splash Island was expanded but the animals and many of the midway rides were gone from Cypress Gardens. Sadly, on September 23, 2009, the company announced the park was closing because they were unable to "keep the park running in its traditional form."

Merlin Entertainments, the world's second largest them park and attraction operator, bought the park in 2010 and announced it would become Legoland Florida with an October 2011 opening. It has been reported that the gardens will be incorporated into the new park ... this Florida native and history lover certainly hopes so.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

A trip to see the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights in December included the day's admission to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

This Disney theme park has an interesting history and began in 1985 when Disney and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) entered into a contract that gave Disney the rights to use the MGM name and logo for a back lot studio. Disney planned the theme park around a working production facilities for movies and television, as well as, a satellite animation studio. However, MGM filed a lawsuit in 1988 against Disney stating that it violated the original agreement. Thus, when the theme park opened adjacent to the production facilities as Disney-MGM Studios in 1989, the only connection to MGM was the original licensing agreement that allowed Disney to use the MGM brand name, lion logo and specific MGM content in The Great Movie Ride attraction. Disney later filed a counter suit and won the right to continue using the Disney-MGM Studios name on film product produced at the facility, but was prohibited from using the Disney-MGM Studios name in marketing pieces promoting it as part of the Walt Disney World Resorts.

 

The theme park was re-branded as Disney's Hollywood Studios in January 2008, while keeping the glamor of the 1930s and 1940s Hollywood, including The Great Movie Ride, as part of its persona. Hollywood history buffs will also enjoy The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame, The American Film Institute Showcase and Walt Disney: One Man's Dream.

Like all Disney parks, this one offers something for everyone and is focused on Disney magic and entertainment. Live action and stunt shows, thrill rides, backstage tours and parades are all based on familiar movies and television shows in this unique park designed to look like a giant movie set.