I tried getting into the Coconut Grove Pumpkin Patch this weekend, but it was a madhouse. Whomever does the marketing for this thing is spot on. I can honestly say that 90% of the people who attended were from outside the Grove, but I don't think Coconut Grove benefited by the move from Peacock Park to Regatta Park. People didn't engage with the village from the new location. Visitors did the pumpkin patch and left, they didn't walk through the Center Grove, as they would have if the event was in Peacock Park and the merchants and businesses got nothing out of it except non-stop traffic jams all weekend. But it was a fun-filled, family event, with so many people, including my own family.
I managed to stop by early Sunday morning before they opened. I had tried to get there Friday and Saturday, but it was impossible to navigate, because there were so many people and cars.
I liked walking through early Sunday morning because with no one there it reminded me of those sites you see on the internet - abandoned amusement parks - very eerie. There are also abandoned malls and Olympic sites on the internet, look them up, fascinating.
It was interesting to me that the Grove is now trying to pitch itself as this hoity toity up and coming million dollar neighborhood and right across from multi-million dollar condos the Miami-Dade Youth Fair, Jr. I'm wondering how condo sales went over the weekend when prospective buyers saw this. It was fun, but it was a Brooklyn street fair right outside their windows. Multi-million dollar condos on one side, multi-million dollars yachts on another side and in the middle - the San Gennaro Feast. The only thing missing were zeppoles.
The grass in Regatta Park is all worn and torn up, just like it would have been in Peacock Park, so I'm trying to figure out who made this less than smart decision of moving the event from Peacock Park, which has been the home to all of these type events for so many years. Peacock is out of the way, in a corner by itself and easier to get to, I think.
I found it funny that with the event at Regatta Park, you could buy a candy apple, ride the roller coaster and then go check out a $4 million condo, all within 500 feet! The Pumpkin Patch is now an amusement park midway and it's right outside your door!
This image reminds me of Coney Island, where you can see the amusements from the apartments nearby. What might be cool, is a very big Ferris Wheel inside Regatta Park all the time, like the one that London has. There's one being built on Staten Island's waterfront currently. You can almost see Coney Island's Ferris Wheel from Staten Island's Ferris Wheel. One in the Grove might be a landmark-type thing, seen from land and sea.
