{"id":92622,"date":"2025-12-22T16:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/92622\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T16:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:49:09","slug":"edison-festival-of-light-grand-parade-announces-grand-marshal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/92622\/","title":{"rendered":"Edison Festival of Light Grand Parade announces Grand Marshal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1021791\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1021791\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sammy-Sirianni-and-Sirianni-Field-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2049\" height=\"2560\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1021791\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sammy Sirianni and Sirianni Field. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n<p>Edison Festival of Light is proud to announce local legend, Sammy Sirianni, Jr., as the Grand Marshall for the Edison Festival of Light Grand Parade. \u00a0Southwest Florida\u2019s two-week celebration returns in February 2026, signing off with its signature Grand Parade, lighting up downtown Fort Myers. Since 1938, the parade has honored the legacy of Thomas Edison by bringing the community together for the largest nighttime parade in the Southeastern United States.\n<\/p>\n<p>The Sirianni name has been synonymous with Fort Myers High School football for 57 consecutive years. Making a name for themselves, Coach Sam Sr. and Coach Sammy Jr. are Florida\u2019s only father-son duo to each surpass 150 career wins.\n<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1021792\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1021792 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sammy-Sirianni-and-Statue-of-Sam-Sr-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 768px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 768\/1024;\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1021792\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sammy Sirianni and Statue of Sam, Sr. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n<p>Beyond his athletic accolades, Sirianni Jr. and his team have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships, honoring students at Fort Myers High School and across Lee County. Sirianni\u2019s continued focus on inclusion and mentorship reflects a lifetime commitment learned from his father, helping every student find a path to thrive. With an emphasis on community, the choice was obvious when choosing the Grand Marshall.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a community, we need to embrace what the Edison Festival means to Fort Myers,\u201d said Sirianni, Jr. \u201cThe Edison Festival of Light is a staple that we can\u2019t take for granted, we must pass it from generation to generation. It encapsulates the traditions and history that give Fort Myers its identity.\u201d\u00a0 The signs on the Fort Myers High campus that say, \u201cTradition Never Graduates\u201d, demonstrate that this value runs deep.\n<\/p>\n<p>The Grand Parade will take place on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., starting at Fort Myers High School and winding through the heart of downtown. Thousands of spectators are expected to line the streets for this illuminating event. For more details on festival events, visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/edisonfestival.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">edisonfestival.org\/<\/a>.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sammy Sirianni and Sirianni Field. -COURTESY PHOTO Edison Festival of Light is proud to announce local legend, Sammy&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":{"0":"post-92622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}