Here are your Weekend Vibes, What's Happening In Southwest Florida September 23-25.
International Day of Peace may've been September 21st. However, it's being celebrated this weekend with a variety of festivals and events throughout Southwest Florida. They are all free, family friendly and feel good. We could all use a little "feel good" in our lives.
It is also a great weekend to get out and support local restaurants in Collier and Lee Counties thanks to Sizzle Dining. It’s like restaurant week on steroids. The organization partners with dozens local restaurants to offer special dining menus and more. For example, two course lunches and three course dinners for a fixed price. In addition, participating restaurants give back to Blessings in a Backpack. The charity's mission is feeding under served children in our community.
The idea of restaurant week is to get locals out, to try new places, or support the ones they already love during September. The month is traditionally one of the slowest for local restaurants. Some of them even close this time of year for vacations and renovations. However, if you can’t participate this weekend, the dining week extends through the 28th.
By the way, the whole fish pictured above is a signature of Escalante E in Naples. They are one of the restaurants participating in Sizzle.
If you are a food person, you might also be interested in attending the Key Lime & Tropical Festival in Punta Gorda. Many argue Key Lime Pie is worthy of the title of official state dessert.
Check out these Weekend Vibes, What's Happening In Southwest Florida September 23-25
Sizzle Dining Restaurant Week
https://sizzledining.com/It's the second weekend of this annual event that was founded to celebrate and support restaurants in Lee and Collier Counties. More than 50 restaurants are participating by offering. Restaurants donate $1 of every Sizzle meal purchased to Blessings in a Backpack.
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Key Lime & Tropical Fest
Celebrate all things key lime at Fishermen’s Village in Punta Gorda Saturday from noon-9pm. Restaurants will have specialty food and drink, live music and more.
Diverse City Festival
The is a newer celebration in downtown Fort Myers with a big line-up of entertainment at the new Caloosa Sound Amphitheater in Centennial Park. There will also be food trucks and vendors. The event is Saturday from 1pm-9pm. It's free, however, VIP tickets are available.
SW Florida Peace Day
This 15th annual event happens Sunday at Wa-Ke-Hatchee Park, in south Fort Myers. The free event features live music, venders, meditation, dancing and more. Sunday from 10am-5pm.
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National Estuary Days
This free event is at Rookery Bay in Naples in honor of National Estuaries Day. Enjoy demos, touch tanks, music, food trucks, crafts, and more. It's Saturday from 9-4. If the parking lot is full, there will be a shuttle from WalMart's parking lot.
Love food?
Florida Restaurants Make New York Times’ Best In America List For 2022
The New York Times just published their list of the Best Restaurants in America for 2022 and some Florida restaurants made the list.
I'm always on the hunt for new and exciting restaurants and now I have a list to add to my go-to list in Florida and beyond. I have trips lined up to Colorado and Arizona in the next few months and restaurants in both states landed on the list as well. I typically look for restaurants more off the beaten path, super local and less popular, but there's no denying that some of the best may be just that.
As you might imagine, big cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles have multiple restaurants that landed on the list, but smaller cities like Ashland, Oregon and Madison, Wisconsin also made it.
The publication states, "We traveled widely and ate avidly as we built the annual list of our favorite restaurants in America. From Oklahoma City to Juncos, Puerto Rico, to Orcas Island off the coast of Washington State, our food reporters, editors and critics found revelatory Ethiopian barbecue, innovative Haitian cooking and possibly the most delicious fried pork sandwich in the United States." The one thing all the restaurants are said to have in common is that "the food is amazing."
The New York Times Best Restaurants in America 2022 list features not only brand-new locations, but also places that have been around for decades.
While the restaurants here in Florida aren't super close to us, they would make for great destinations if you find yourself on the other coast.
