[BuddaDude]

This is my first 4th of July in The Villages… where is the place to be? Where are the fireworks? Haven’t heard much talk on the radio or here. I plan to play golf in the morning then pool time… then looking for fun with fellow Villagers. Is there a website with activities?

[villagetinker]

If you are looking for fireworks, you will need to go outside of the bubble. Wildwood usually has them at the community center, and I see Leesburg has announced them also, but I did not pay attention to location. We typically do not go due to mosquitos as they seem to be attracted to my wife.

[Pairadocs]

We have a "ritual" 4th every year. We go to the Atlantic side and book a hotel in the area between Cocoa Village, Cocoa Beach, and Port Canaveral. The space coast calls it their Red, Hot, and Boom celebration, and is usually 3 nights of fireworks among those three locations. The fireworks at Port Canaveral can be perfectly viewed from Jetty beach or the camp grounds all along the jetty in Jetty Park, or, on the comfortable expanse of park like grounds surrounding the 7 story observations next to the port. The highlight for us is always the display ON the actual 4th at Cocoa Village. The fireworks is presented with the live Brevard Symphony in the sunken garden with the fireworks happening over the Banana River. We always stay 4 nights to attend all 3 or 4 displays, usually beginning with one on the 3rd, Cocoa Village and symphony of the 4th, and usually a 3rd display on the 5th or 2nd, depending on the year and how the dates fall. We have done this beach, symphony (all free) and spectacular fireworks over the water for years and it never gets old or boring. A plus is the beach front dining by Port Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Cocoa Village (which has some great restaurants in the quaint little place. If you prefer just going for the fireworks one day, that's also an option.

If you don't venture far from the immediate area (the villages has never in all the years we've been here now, sponsored a display over Lake Sumter, Lake Miona, or other), Leesburg has a very impressive display over the water at Venetian Gardens Park. It's a very spacious and beautiful park with many amenities and many areas to put up some chairs under huge shade trees and have a picnic, read a book, take a walk by the lake, or even take a nap before the night's festivities. Viewing is generally very good from any location in the large park, but.... for those who wait to go only as it's near fireworks time, it's very difficult, parking is full by that time in every area and lot, so your choice would be to park down town and walk down the hill toward Venetian Gardens as close as you can get, and then just sit your chairs up on one of the blocked off streets or near the hospital.

Ocala has a nice display and Eaton's Beach in Weirsdale is a great place to go with a group of friends, food, lake front beach, fireworks, etc. Friends/neighbors can chip in together and reserve special deck seating/tables, etc. Check their FB page for details. Mt. Dora is another option, Altamonte has a national reputation as one of the largest in the country, but is supposedly downsizing just a bit this year to budget for more name entertainers, and of course Orlando has a gigantic display over the lake Eola fountain. The Villages used to publish a list of all the area fireworks displays and the dates (which usually run from July 1 to 4th, so it's possible to take in several), but stopped for the last 3 years (Covid), perhaps they will begin publishing the list again with dates and times. If not, if you type in a search "fireworks displays in central Florida", you will come up with a huge number of choices.

[Whitley]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

If you are looking for fireworks, you will need to go outside of the bubble. Wildwood usually has them at the community center, and I see Leesburg has announced them also, but I did not pay attention to location. We typically do not go due to mosquitos as they seem to be attracted to my wife.

Are fireworks outlawed in the Villages? I know they are legal in Florida (July 4, Dec 31, Jan 1), but not sure about the Villages.

[Pairadocs]

Originally Posted by Whitley

Are fireworks outlawed in the Villages? I know they are legal in Florida (July 4, Dec 31, Jan 1), but not sure about the Villages.

"Outlawed" ? Not sure, but it would seem reasonable that the state law would apply here, as with any other part of Florida ? Perhaps there is a retired Florida licensed attorney on here who can explain how local "ordinances" fit into state law ?

[Flyers999]

There's this narrative floating around since I've been here that villagers don't want them because it scares the animals.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by Flyers999

There's this narrative floating around since I've been here that villagers don't want them because it scares the animals.

Fireworks aren’t good for dogs ears and there are lots of Villagers with dogs. I used to enjoy fireworks for about the first 40 years of my life, but I’ve seen/heard sooooo many fireworks shows over the years the excitement has worn off to the point where I no longer have interest. That being said, a lot of money gets blown up during the holiday.

[2newyorkers]

Sumter Landing is having performances by various local clubs but no fireworks.

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

Fireworks aren’t good for dogs ears and there are lots of Villagers with dogs. snipped.

Fireworks aren’t so good for some Veterans either!

[KjLjGooding]

Fireworks isn’t the only way to celebrate, a parade would be a nice way to celebrate! I’m disappointed that the Villages doesn’t celebrate AMERICA but seems to for heritage, St Patrick’s, Cinco etc. Booze and Cruise?? Not everyone is into alcohol and classic cars. I’m hoping the squares have some patriotic music at least.

[bowlingal]

Whitley....fireworks are not allowed here in the villages

[Rzepecki]

Originally Posted by BuddaDude

This is my first 4th of July in The Villages… where is the place to be? Where are the fireworks? Haven’t heard much talk on the radio or here. I plan to play golf in the morning then pool time… then looking for fun with fellow Villagers. Is there a website with activities?

Lady Lake is doing fireworks tonight.

[SIRE1]

Not only does The Villages not do anything for the 4th of July celebrations, but our kids were really surprised about the lack of things going on for New Years Eve. They were down for the Christmas holidays a few years ago and thought it would be really great to celebrate New Years Eve at the square. You can imagine their astonishments when the band stopped playing at 9:00 pm and everyone packed up to go home. They asked someone "where are you going?" and they said "home, we'll be in bed by 10:30" !!!!

[thelegges]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

Fireworks aren’t so good for some Veterans either!

TV has a very large community of Veterans, some with PTSD. It’s a comfort knowing for veterans that fireworks are not an issue living in TV.

Everyone brings up how fireworks are an issue for dogs, they can recover rather quickly.

Fireworks for PTSD guys can take months, or add months to recover, bringing back nightmares, and changes in their everyday well being.

[shopndine]

Originally Posted by Pairadocs

We have a "ritual" 4th every year. We go to the Atlantic side and book a hotel in the area between Cocoa Village, Cocoa Beach, and Port Canaveral. The space coast calls it their Red, Hot, and Boom celebration, and is usually 3 nights of fireworks among those three locations. The fireworks at Port Canaveral can be perfectly viewed from Jetty beach or the camp grounds all along the jetty in Jetty Park, or, on the comfortable expanse of park like grounds surrounding the 7 story observations next to the port. The highlight for us is always the display ON the actual 4th at Cocoa Village. The fireworks is presented with the live Brevard Symphony in the sunken garden with the fireworks happening over the Banana River. We always stay 4 nights to attend all 3 or 4 displays, usually beginning with one on the 3rd, Cocoa Village and symphony of the 4th, and usually a 3rd display on the 5th or 2nd, depending on the year and how the dates fall. We have done this beach, symphony (all free) and spectacular fireworks over the water for years and it never gets old or boring. A plus is the beach front dining by Port Canaveral, Cocoa Beach, and Cocoa Village (which has some great restaurants in the quaint little place. If you prefer just going for the fireworks one day, that's also an option.

If you don't venture far from the immediate area (the villages has never in all the years we've been here now, sponsored a display over Lake Sumter, Lake Miona, or other), Leesburg has a very impressive display over the water at Venetian Gardens Park. It's a very spacious and beautiful park with many amenities and many areas to put up some chairs under huge shade trees and have a picnic, read a book, take a walk by the lake, or even take a nap before the night's festivities. Viewing is generally very good from any location in the large park, but.... for those who wait to go only as it's near fireworks time, it's very difficult, parking is full by that time in every area and lot, so your choice would be to park down town and walk down the hill toward Venetian Gardens as close as you can get, and then just sit your chairs up on one of the blocked off streets or near the hospital.

Ocala has a nice display and Eaton's Beach in Weirsdale is a great place to go with a group of friends, food, lake front beach, fireworks, etc. Friends/neighbors can chip in together and reserve special deck seating/tables, etc. Check their FB page for details. Mt. Dora is another option, Altamonte has a national reputation as one of the largest in the country, but is supposedly downsizing just a bit this year to budget for more name entertainers, and of course Orlando has a gigantic display over the lake Eola fountain. The Villages used to publish a list of all the area fireworks displays and the dates (which usually run from July 1 to 4th, so it's possible to take in several), but stopped for the last 3 years (Covid), perhaps they will begin publishing the list again with dates and times. If not, if you type in a search "fireworks displays in central Florida", you will come up with a huge number of choices.

Thank you so much for the information...great article