Get ready to make some waves this weekend at parade and fair

It’s that time again! Get out your bikes and trikes, your golf carts and even your little red wagons – anything that doesn’t run on gas – for the annual Lee County Parks and Recreation Bike Parade. This year the theme is Makin’ Waves, and there should be quite a splash.

The deadline to sign up for early registration is Wednesday, March 13, at the Boca Grande Community Center. After that, anyone who wants to be in the parade will have to sign up that morning at 9:45 a.m. on the bike path at Fifth Street.

Line up begins on the bike path at Fifth Street at 9:50 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, and the parade begins at 10:30 a.m., as the caravan of decorated vehicles makes its way to the Community Center.

The Woman’s Club Fair will follow the parade at the Community Center. Everyone is invited to enjoy their annual fair at the Boca Grande Community Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The fair, the Woman’s Club’s annual “thank you” to the community of Gasparilla Island for their support throughout the year, will feature a full morning of fun. There will be games and face painting for the kids, along with pony rides for the younger set. A juggler and balloon artist will be on hand to entertain throughout the event. There will be a cake walk, bake and plant sales, and a book sale run by the Johann Fust Community Library.

The theme, which is shared each year with the Bike Parade, is “Makin’ Waves.”

Fair co-chair Mary Keevil, who worked with Penn Branin to put on this year’s event, explained the theme.

“It conjures different things for different people,” she said. “For some, it’s the waves of the Gulf of Mexico, surfing and oceans. For others, it is the sound waves of the jazz band that will be playing for the fair. Even stirring the pot, that isn’t always a bad thing, it gets people thinking.”

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