Happy Waitangi Day to all my good friends from New Zealand who sometimes land here looking for Dunedin, New Zealand. Thanks for visiting, even if it was by accident! :)
Waitangi Day, according to a New Zealand Government site I found, is "a day set aside by the New Zealand Government as a 'public holiday' to be observed throughout the country as a 'national day of thanksgiving in commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi’ in 1840 between Mäori and the British Crown". Click the following links for more information about Waitangi Day:
Wiki,
Waitangi.com,
Govt.NZ.
Meanwhile, in Dunedin, FL, USA... Can you say MARDI GRAS!?!?!?!?!
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That's right, Tuesday was Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, in Dunedin's Downtown District. The Downtown Merchants Association sponsored a wonderful evening of festivities with fun, and strange sights, for all. And because I am sure they were part of making this happen, thanks to the City of Dunedin too. I had a chance to stroll the sidewalks with my camera, in the early part of the evening, before the light was too little, and the festivities too much. Let me just say, I think maybe Mardi Gras means: Night Of A Thousand Strange People! :D
So, here is the first crop of fun photos of people having a good time. Of course, the couple dancing above might have been having more fun than most. But they were also making it that much more fun for the rest of us. In the next two or three posts, I will show you more of the sights and fun that were to be had this evening. I hope you enjoy the show. (Be sure to click on the small photos to see larger images in a new window)
Below, you can see the live entertainment and sidewalk dining at Bellini Restaurant (top left). There was also an excellent group playing at La Maison Gourmet restaurant (top right). Dunedin Fire Rescue were out in force. Hey, it's a small town, right, so why not a small ambulance? (bottom left). Sitrling Winery's street front bar would be doing a brisk business as the evening wore on. In the right foreground you can see a good example of BEADS GONE WILD (bottom right).
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If you would like to see more of this area, check out
Clearwater Beach Daily Photo, and
Clearwater Daily Photo. If you enjoy photography, check out
my photography blog. Thanks for coming today, I hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to Dunedin, Florida!
I know I've said it before, and I am sure I will say it again... The City of Dunedin really does it right! This sign, standing near the main walk-in gate at Knology Park baseball field, has a map on either side, just like this, together with a listing of Downtown Dunedin Merchants below it, indexed to the map. Pretty cool.
