It’s a mad house
 

I forgot that the Strawberry Festival was taking place today at Brownwood when I went for my afternoon treat at Scooples. The huge volume of both car and golf cart traffic exiting the Hillsborough gate heading south should have alerted me that something big was taking place near Brownwood.

The traffic was what I would image takes place in New York City during rush hour. There were so many cars and carts just cruising to find a place to park. It would have been nice if the Wildwood police would have directed traffic at the first intersection as you enter Brownwood from the east.

I found a parking space for my cart. But also found that the line at Scooples was too long for me this afternoon. As the population of the Villages continues to grow, the planners of these types of events need to consider better traffic control measures. Or, maybe just add an extra day to the festivities to let more people in on the fun as the Villages continues to grow in population.

Nah. Let nature takes its course. Next year will be different. No need to overreact.

I went to the lighting of the Christmas Tree at Paddock Square once. The key word here is once.

Actually as this place continues to grow might be even more people attending.

Drove in Drove out... Don't need that in my life at this age! Not a Stress reliever and the strawberries are not worth dying for...

Exactly. You are so right. You made me laugh tonight

Why would you expect anything different? The overbuilding south of the turnpike, and the people south of 44 only have Brownwood square, 1 grill and food trucks. Y'all have fun down there. It's only going to get worse.

Why do you say only one square and one restaurant. They have just as many as the rest of us, just might still need a car.

We stopped in To get a sandwich, crowd not much different then any other event. Did need more food trucks. More vendors than on Saturday farmers market. Did pick up some berries, and bread. Parking lots were busy, but everyone seem to take it in stride. Be prepared (it always announced) there will be a St Pats, and a blueberry festival coming to a square near you.

Didn’t die while working 60 hour weeks for 5 months in a Covid section, where didn’t have to guess that everyone was positive. So no fear going to the strawberry festival.

You keep mentioning that.

What do you mean by over building? We have 3 squares to choose from just like everyone else but in addition we have Edna's, and Sawgrass is under construction we will soon have yet another entertainment area. We are having fun down here and it's only going to get better.

I remember as early as 2013 going to Florida Lottery Night at Brownwood and seeing the doo whop band "The Flamingos" who was favorite one and there was 7,000 people. That' right 2013. Here's a one minute video I shot from the grandstand on March 9, 2013. There was no dance floor, it was a solid crowd to the grandstands and all around to the street.

Flamingos Live at the Villages, Florida the Paddock Square 3/9/2013 - YouTube

I remember going in at noon to Brownwood in 2014 to Colonial Days, I don't even know what it was. I actually drove through every parking lot and could not find a parking space, this was 7 years ago, and the only restaurant open was City Fire. So having a big crowd in 2021 I'm not surprised.

https://scontent-atl3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...0f&oe=605D66E2

See someone actually reads all the posts. There are lots of people couldn’t or wouldn’t change their lives, since March of 2020. The you are gonna die, if you go somewhere, just makes me smile. If every essential worker felt that way, life would have been very difficult.

Obviously you’re out of touch with what’s going on “down there”. As a matter of fact “down there” will be in the middle of it all before long. After that “up there” will be yesterday’s news.

TV is overbuilt it will only get worse. Quaintness which was once TV is gone.
TV quickly becoming an overpopulated city with traffic & congestion and all the other problems.

Thanks for the video. The Flamingo's are one of my all time favorite Doo Wop groups.

Let the natural selection continue

I don’t understand the (smugness,spite,eliteness,envy,hatred)shown by those “down there” we are all here to enjoy a fantastic place to spend our lives. Some look down their nose at the historic side , degrade the real villages as if the below 44 is paradise. The facts are if you are happy where you live and your life , screw the narrow minded elitist who .think they are some how superior because of where they live. Nobody cares if your home is a palace or not it’s only important in your mind ,I live in a very nice CV and do not envy the ones in their 1 million plus homes.

Unfortunately The trouble with The villages is that they are not the city of New York and they have no idea ahead of plan any event for the crush of people. That's the good and the bad of a place with 100,000 people while trying to get into one store. That's why I've learned not to recommend any restaurants because you'll get 500 people deciding to go to one place that seats 150 and I'll never get in again. I don't go to Spanish springs in the fall because of the stupid car shows and the fact that there's no parking so I can't go to the movies. It's really ridiculous in this place car show after car show after car show. The same thing happens whenever they have events in the squares you have 100,000 people with nothing better to do than to get in their golf cart for a nice evening ride and you see the ridiculous traffic. The crazy thing is you have a wonderful town of all the wood and Leesburg struggling to survive and yet no one is willing to drive an extra 10 minutes to go shopping in these places. The Leesburg Mall had four large department stores 3 years ago they're now down to one. I'd really like to pop this bubble but everyone in the villages is too damn lazy to get in their car instead of their cart

😳😦😧😲

[QUOTE=J1ceasar;1908829]Unfortunately The trouble with The villages is that they are not the city of New York and they have no idea ahead of plan any event for the crush of people.

What you call "trouble," I say "thank God." 😉

What do you mean? It’s always been like that. I live on Hillsborough just east of BV and it’s almost impossible to get out of my neighborhood during the festival. It’s not getting any better.

They need to have these festivals running in all 3 squares at the same time..... that would be so much better because I hate the crowded sardine effect festivals have now.

The people who planned this event and the people who attended got exactly what they wanted. A large crowd. Haagen Daz or Publix might have beeb a good alternative.

We had no trouble at all with traffic or parking went smooth.

I’m sure there other senior areas to live where there’s no crowds , no events nor anything to keep people engaged but they’re not for me

Overcrowded
 

I am confused, I was under the impression events in TV squares is open to the public, not just TV. Also hear people come even from Leesburg to The Strawberry Festival. Could that be why it was so overcrowded?

Plenty of realtors to aid in your relocation to a quieter , less busy place like, say Lake SideLanding. Then you be driving to TB for all the entertainment and not be able to enjoy any of the activities.

But I bet your not going to move. May be over built but you will not find a place like this anywhere else

God Bless Those Lovable Snowbirds

The mere fact that your talking about the elitist shows your true colors. I honestly can say that my friend circle spans the spectrum and nobody really cares about what the other guy has or doesn’t have. We only care how we did at golf.

April 4th is coming ..., Hang in there , The migration starts and all will be better!

That will be just fine with me. Can't beat my location and hope ya'll will go down there. Enjoy!:icon_wink:

You should have gone to Spanish Springs where they have good ice cream.

To the worker who didn't die... Did you wear PPE when working? Are you Covid-19 negative? Vaccinated? Or running around Town Square maskless? Agree life must go on and we also might want to be responsible in actions. Be grateful you didn't die. Do you know for sure you didn't contribute to the death or illness of someone else?

I use to love a good crowd. Going to concerts used to be my 'sugar'. It's certainly not something I enjoy anymore for health reasons, but glad it's available to those of us who still revel in being among masses. Easy enough to avoid for me, and go to the square the next day.

soon enough, we'll all be yesterdays news.
I'd prefer to be today's news and in the middle now.
To each their own

Really !😮

Life is good, enjoy it.

Worse as in how the north is? You do know that it is permissible for us islanders to travel north to the mainland to get to Sumter Landing and Spanish Springs? My Villages passport is valid in the north as well as the south. Why do people not like the south? Did we do something to offend you?