Wendi M.
Yelp
I love Micanopy. I've been going to Micanopy for years. It's been fun to watch things change and yet stay the same.
I was sad to see that one of my favorite shops closed in the last year. My best friend and I used to call the store the Jewelry Lady's store. She had an amazing collection of antique engagement rings. One afternoon she let us sit and try on rings for about half an hour. At one point I was wearing $5,000 worth of diamonds on my fingers.
I loved it when Winter's Past moved to Micanopy and it's original owner's, Ms. Sheila, legacy continues with another owner who is just as passionate about vintage clothing and jewelry as she was.
I love eating at the cafes - both are equally delicious and serve up some good food. So make sure you go to both. I do miss Shady the Cat who was the unofficial mayor of Micanopy. But he was an old boi who lived his best life visiting all the visitors to the town. I met him when he was a smol boi and watched him grow up to be quite the gentleman. I have so many pictures of Shady over the years.
I finally had my first real disappointment with Micanopy. I went to the Micanopy Fall Festival this weekend. I was so disappointed. I had been to the McIntosh 1890s festival the weekend before. I love it. But Micanopy's Fall Fest was lacking. There wasn't enough vendor variety. So many vendors were selling the same things. If I see another "Live, Laugh, Love" sign pretending to be painted onto shiplap, I'm going to puke. I was happy to see that the festival wasn't including any MLM vendors like ColorStreet, LulaRoe, etc.
Lots of food vendors but I was sad to see that the "Put Some South In Your Mouth" folks only had their sodas and not their shaved ice. There were two other shaved ice folks but it's hard to compare their four flavors with the 10 flavors the PSSIYM folks have.
There is one issue that I think Micanopy really needs to address. Parking was awful. There were volunteers with walkie talkies and safety vests but they weren't actually doing any parking direction. They were complaining to each other via walkie talkie about all of us visiting and trying to find parking. There were no signs showing us where to go or where to park. I ended up parking in some lady's backyard for $6. I don't mind paying for parking but this could have been done much better. Like go to McIntosh's 1890s festival and see how well done they do parking. They do an amazing job with their festival.
The other complaint I have about the festival is how many people had those soft-sided wagons. I got stuck behind one family. The mom and dad each had a wagon. They also had a dog and a kid. They took up most of the street with the wagon and the dog and the kid. Nothing against kids but they already had their hands full with their wagons and the dog. Pick one. Dog or kid. Wagon or kid. Wagon or dog. The streets in Micanopy are not nearly wide enough for the number of people at these festivals much less the wagons and the dogs and the strollers. There is a reason Disney has outlawed the wagons and HUGE strollers.