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For those of you here in town, this is the big parade weekend!  The Edison Festival of Lights Grand Parade to be exact.  Because so many of us who live here make this an annual tradition and have for many, many, many years – it will be the focus of this weeks’ Around Town Post.  Read on for more information:

72nd Edison Festival of Lights Grand Parade, Saturday, February 20th at 7:00 p.m. – Downtown Fort Myers

This weekend, we will be celebrating the Innovation of Thomas Alva Edison and the Quality of Life of Southwest Florida in the 72nd Edison Festival of Lights Parade.  This parade has been named One of North America’s Top 100 Events and One of the Top 20 Events in the Southeast.  The Grand Parade is a two-hour extravaganza featuring national & local marching bands, floats, local government and law enforcement officials, a famous Grand Marshall and more. The parade brings the entire Southwest Florida community out in celebration of the life and achievements of our local winter resident, Thomas Edison. This event is free to the public.  For a complete route map, click here.

There are many great places to view the Grand Parade. If you would like reserved seating you can purchase Street Seat tickets which are sold by local non-profit groups and set up all along the parade route. A list of participating organizations will be located here at the website under Tickets as the time approaches. Otherwise arrive early with your chairs and blankets and pick a great spot by consulting the parade route map here at the website under About Us/General Information.

The Main Street Garage is located at the corner of Jackson and Main Street with the entrance on Main Street.  The City of Palms Garage is located at the corner of Bay and Monroe with the entrance on Monroe.  Parkers will have until 5:00 pm to enter the City of Palms Garage at the Monroe entrance.   The Monroe entrance will close at 5:00 pm and parkers will have to use the Main Street Garage or find parking elsewhere.   The garage entrance closes (does so every year) because of the parade route and the pedestrian traffic.  There is a pay on entry event fee charge of $4 when entering the garages.    Parkers may park at the meters and in the Zip Zone at no charge.  Parkers are subject to being towed for parking in privately owned parking lots.

History of the Parade

In 1885, Thomas Alva Edison built his winter home in Fort Myers, Florida on the Caloosahatchee River. Throughout the 50 years Edison wintered in Fort Myers, he dedicated time in support of local charities and projects. He died in 1931, having successfully received over 1,000 patents for his inventions.

The idea of a celebration to commemorate Edison’s life of achievement evolved into the Edison Pageant of Light in 1938, with a Coronation Ball, a parade, a band concert and a memorial service, which began following Edison’s death. The successful three-day event needed to accommodate a growing series of events, which later increased to a week-long festival, then ten days, and finally to two full weeks.

In 1988, demand for more public events was great, but the pageant membership available to provide volunteer leadership for more activities was limited. The choices were to limit the growth of the public events of the Pageant so they could be handled by Pageant volunteers, or create a new public corporation to assume the responsibility for all events open to the public.

In a unanimous vote, the board of directors of the pageant elected to turn over all the public events of the Edison pageant of Light to the new non-profit corporation, the Edison Festival of Light. This paved the road to the possibilities of civic celebration in which the entire community could participate. In 1989, the new organization, the Edison Festival of Light, Inc. officially assumed responsibility for all of the Pageant’s public events.

There’s something for all ages! Come and join in celebrating the spirit of Edison, during Southwest Florida’s greatest family tradition, The Edison Festival of Light!