It's the Fourth of July in Punta Gorda - Let's Go Jump in the River

Hey it's Punta Gorda on the 4th of July -- and what do we do -- jump in the river?    Or maybe float across.  Or maybe we just watch from the bridge or Fishville as hundreds cross the Peace River in the annual Freedom Swim.

The trick I'm told by many oldtimers -- who used to do it -- is to cross the river close to the bridge and then let the tide carry you to Fishermen's.  Today we noted that there were many more taking the direct diagonal approach towards the Village.  Also, compared to past years, there seemed to be many more kayaks heading in that direction than swimmers -- our aging demographic recently reported (not that Punta Gorda was ever a young town) might explain that.

Inaugurated in 1991 by a group of locals, Michael Haymans, Frank Desquin et al, who were emulating a ritual that Frank's father and friends engaged in every year, the Swim has become a 4th of July tradition.  Today young and old were being transported in the local trolley from the Village carrying tubes, rafts and anything that floats to the embarkment site in Charlotte Harbor.  The first finishers began arriving at the Village shortly before 10.