Venice, Florida: One of Forbes Top Ten Places to Retire (great for vacation)
When you first drive into Venice, Florida, you are completely ‘taken’ with the small town atmosphere. That is rightly so, as it has a population of around 26,000 people. It is more of a blue collar town, with a lot of hard working people, and everyone takes advantage of some of the most beautiful beach areas in the state.
There are two areas to Venice, Florida: the main driving area along ‘the 41’ and the island. Venice Island is the ‘tourist trap’, filled with wonderful little shops, lots of parking and quaint, relaxing little cafes and restaurants. The town takes pride in its annual boat shows, the art festivals and the intense love and respect for nature.
In 2014, Venice was host to the “Chalk Festival”, taking over from their neighboring city of Sarasota. The town was filled with artisans from all over the world and they created three dimensional chalk art that was so realistic, it made you stop in your tracks. The secondary goal of this festival was to beat the Guinness World Record for the largest 3D chalk art. It took teams of artists to work on this project at the local airport, and was so huge it had to be viewed from scaffolding. The effort was worth it – as they won!
You can’t talk about Venice without including the beaches. Calm, quiet, sandy and warm. There are many areas for picnicking and the best part is: not a lot of people. Every evening those that have stayed around will watch the glorious sunset and when the sun finally dips into the horizon, all applaud. The beach is often touched with little wood stakes. These are to alert people that there are turtle nests below. Everyone respects them, residents and visitors alike. When the baby turtles are about to leave their eggs, all lights are turned out in the area. Baby turtles are born to naturally seek the light of the moon and turning off the lights will allow them to head to the ocean. There are jetties set up where it is not uncommon to see dolphins bouncing and playing in the warm subtropical waters.
Forbes Magazine apparently appreciates Venice, Florida, as they have given it the title of one of the ‘Top Ten Places to Retire’. The residents were not happy about that, because, this is a little secret place; their own piece of paradise, and they don’t want a hoard of people disturbing it. So, keep it quiet, all are welcome, as long as you share in the love and respect.