Sunday, March 7, 2010

Clewiston FL-America's Sweetest Town

In the central part of the state of Florida is Clewiston-America's Sweetest Town. It sits on the south end of Lake Okeechobee. Sister Shirley and BIL (brother-in-law) Doug and I met there this week to have lunch and have a look around. They are in Ft Myers and I on the East coast of FL so it was mid-way point for us to meet.

It was a fun meeting. We had lunch at Bill O'Bradys and then we went driving around to see what the town had to offer. We found that the way the town had earned it's nickname was because of all the sugar cane grown there and the sugar refineries. Seems that March & April is the time to harvest the cane.

We went to the Museum/Chamber of Commerce and talked to a nice lady we gave us information you can find on the link above. If you haven't noticed, I don't repeat what you can read on the websites. I just try to tell you what I saw and experienced. We also stopped at the Goodwill since it was Senior's Day, 50% off. I didn't find anything but Shirley found a couple of paperback books to help her pass the time around the pool.

After stopping at the Chamber of Commerce we went to see the Lake Okeechobee which is surrounded by a dyke that protects the area from flooding. We were able to ride a very short distance on top of the dyke and see the water way that surrounds the actual lake. In a far, far distance one could see the Lake but at Clewiston, we couldn't actually see the lake. But we did see Hoover lock. On my way home I took a picture of the dyke and the area they were reparing because of a hurricane that went across the Lake.





As I said earlier the sugar cane was being harvested. First they burn the foliage off the sugar cane so they can cut the cane and take it to the refineries. On this day the trucks were busy pulling into the refineries and then heading out again. Really kept the roads busy.


Clewiston is a nice little town. April 24 will be their Sugar Festival which includes Arts & Crafts, Music, Games Exhibits, Food and a Rodeo. Celebrates their harvest.

Later...

1 comment:

Margie and Roger said...

Brings back memories when as a kid we drove from West Palm to St. Pete through Clewiston. We often saw lots of smoke - guess they burn the fields after the harvest.