SOME THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND, CLOSE AT HAND

If you like an old fashioned parade, then take the kids to Winter Haven Saturday morning. The annual Florida Citrus Parade will begin at 10:00 AM from the Winter Haven Fire Department and Nora Mayo Hall on Third Street, Northwest, heading south along Third Street and U.S. Highway 17 to Cypress Gardens Boulevard and ending at the Citrus Dome.

The theme for the parade, as well as for the 83rd Annual Florida Citrus Festival and Polk County Fair, if "Moovin' and Groovin'". This will be the festival's last weekend (it actually started last Thursday), and as always there are plenty of rides, games, and other entertainment to enjoy with the family.

And the closest thing that Tampa comes to Mardi Gras, the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, will be next weekend, but the family friendly Gasparilla Extravaganza is scheduled for Saturday. There are several events to choose from: a children's parade, pre-schoolers' stroll, a bicycle safety rodeo, a "piratechnic extravaganza", and aircraft aerobatic shows.

If you're a rodeo kinda person, the Lakeland Center is hosting the American Pro Rodeo Classic today and tomorrow. They were gonna do an old-fashioned cattle run through downtown yesterday, but the police department nixed that idea for obvious safety concerns.

Finally, if you like old school 50s do-wop music, Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in Winter Haven is featuring Bobby Vinton Saturday afternoon, beginning at 3:00 PM. If not, you can look foward to Willie Nelson two weeks later on February 3.

Who says there ain't a lot going on?