Cape Coral unveils Festival Park for sports and community events

Cape Coral officially opened Festival Park this morning, an approximately 175-acre destination in northwest Cape Coral designed to provide space for sports, festivals, and large community events. City leaders and community members gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the park’s opening. Joe Petrella, director of Cape Coral Parks and Recreation, shared the park’s potential to support local businesses. "We're looking to provide a lot of large soccer events here to bring people into Cape Coral. So that our businesses in the community can really take advantage of the things that we provide from our parks and recreation perspective that help support local businesses," Petrella said. Festival Park includes multi-use sports fields, large open festival grounds, a concessions and restroom building, and electrical infrastructure that could eventually support a future amphitheater. The park’s first event, a Latino festival, is scheduled for November. Eddie Latour, a Cape Coral resident, spoke about the park’s economic impact and its importance to the growing Latino population. "We want to have an economic impact. So bringing other people here that don't live in Cape or live in Lee County," Latour said. "We have such a large Latino population now. It's growing every day. So I think it's something that's overdue," he added. City leaders said Festival Park is part of their investment in creating spaces for people to get active, connect, and celebrate as a community. They noted the park’s potential to host more events and bring thousands of people together in the future. DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV