Edison Festival of Light (redirected from Thomas Edison Festival of Light)

Edison (Thomas) Festival of Light

Mid-January through mid-February

Most people associate Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) with his famous laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. But when he was 38 years old, a widower and seriously ill, his doctors sent him to Florida for a long vacation. There he discovered giant bamboo growing along the Caloosahatchee River. He established his winter home in Fort Myers and planned to use the bamboo fiber to make filaments for his new incandescent electric lamp bulbs.
The Edison Festival of Light, held annually in Fort Myers for more than three weeks, encompassing his birthday ( see Edison's Birthday), began as a three-day event in 1938. Highlights of the festival include concerts, the coronation of the King and Queen of Edisonia, a children's parade, fireworks, exhibits of Edison's various inventions, and exhibits of regional inventors. The Grand Parade of Light—a nighttime procession of more than 100 bands, floats, and marching units—is the festival's grand finale. Edison's winter home and his Florida laboratory are open to the public year-round.

CONTACTS:
Edison Festival of Light
1300 Hendry St.
Fort Myers, FL 33901
239-334-2999; fax: 239-334-7418
www.edisonfestival.org

SOURCES:
GdUSFest-1984, p. 35