The theme for the 70th Pioneer Day Parade is 70s Disco. Get ready for bell-bottoms, funky music, and plenty of sparkle as Englewood celebrates seven decades of this beloved tradition.

Englewood Pioneer Days happens every year over Labor Day Weekend. Here’s what’s lined up this year:

– Little Miss/Mr. Englewood Pageant
– Cardboard Boat Races
– Diaper Derby
– Parade on Dearborn Street
– Family activities at Pioneer Plaza

Want more details? Pick up the Englewood REVIEW’s special Pioneer Day edition when it hits newsstands on August 28, right before the festivities kick off.

Looking Back

Englewood Pioneer Days started in 1956 thanks to local newspaper editor and historian Josephine Cortes. She dreamed up the festival as a way to give the sleepy fishing village of Englewood a jolt during the slow summer months. 

The first celebration was simple: a luncheon for early settlers, a parade with fire trucks, a conch-shell band, some good old-fashioned foot races, a beard contest, and of course, the infamous shipwreck party.

Over the years, the festival has grown. Now, folks come out for cardboard boat races, the Little Miss/Mr. Englewood Pageant, car shows, and street dances, traditions that keep getting bigger every season. Pioneer Days even led to the formation of the Lemon Bay Historical Society in 1983, making room for open houses of treasured historic buildings like the 1925 Lemon Bay Woman’s Club during festival weekend.

Seventy years. That’s a long time, and it hasn’t always been easy. The festival survived its share of ups and downs, from funding scares, hurricanes, red tides, even pandemic shutdowns. But the community’s spirit and resilience pulled through every time.

Here’s to the 70th Englewood Pioneer Days, and to the people who keep this tradition alive, year after year. Thanks to the Englewood Chamber for making sure Pioneer Days continues for years to come.

Click here to go to the Englewood Chamber website for more Pioneer Days information.

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