2025 Grand Parade in Edison Festival of...

FT MYERS, Fla. — Hundreds of groups marched before cheering crowds of spectators Saturday night, as the annual Grand Parade in the Edison Festival of Lights once again took over downtown Ft Myers.

Waving parade-goers in the Edison Festival Grand Parade — Spectators wave in the crowd as vehicles and floats parade by during the annual Grand Parade in the Edison Festival of Lights on February 16, 2025.

The brightly lit participants represented all groups, from law enforcement, to utilities and local businesses, to local community, theater, and church groups, and local broadcast television groups.

See what it was like to march in the parade, with Community Correspondent Austin Schargorodski and FOX 4:

At the staging area at Ft Myers High School Saturday afternoon, dozens of volunteers were working hard, scurrying about in golf carts to organize the huge event in near-record heat.

Poster image - 2025-02-16T141304.065.jpg — Cape Coral Community Correspondent Bella Line hands out keepsake hockey pucks to the crowd, as FOX 4 is the official Southwest Florida broadcast partner of the Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers — and fans can get the games free over the air on channel 36.3 or on Xfinity channel 221.

Organizers told FOX 4 it was their largest parade yet, with a whopping 334 groups decked out in lights and showing off their special talents and community support.

Poster image (66).jpg — A group of children jumped up and down after receiving books from the FOX 4 team during the parade. Every year, FOX 4 helps raise money for the Scripps Howard Fund's Give a Child a Book campaign. The fund is the philanthropic arm of the station's parent company, the E.W. Scripps Company.

Such community support includes the Scripps Howard Fund's Give a Child a Book campaign. FOX 4 helps raise money for the effort every year, and the work ensures children at a local elementary school get to choose several books for free. In the Grand parade, FOX 4 also distributes free books to children along the route.

Poster image - 2025-02-16T143753.791.jpg — FOX 4 Anchor Amy Wegmann hands out books to children along the route in recognition of FOX 4's annual Give a Child a Book campaign, in conjunction with the Scripps Howard Fund.

The parade has been a city staple for nearly every year since 1938.

Poster image (65).jpg — A parade-goer shows off a FOX 4 Florida Panthers hockey puck as a parade giveaway. FOX 4 is the official Southwest Florida broadcast partner of the Stanley Cup Champion team — and fans can watch games for free over the air on channel 36.3 or on Xfinity cable channel 221.

FOX 4 StormFOX and FC Naples Broadcast partner billboard — FOX 4's Storm FOX weather vehicle staged before the Grand Parade, along with an electronic billboard touting FOX 4 as the official Broadcast Partner of FC Naples, the USL expansion team that will debut in Naples March 8, 2025. Click to get your tickets now!