The Florida Panthers held their 2025 championship celebration on Sunday, June 22, at noon in Fort Lauderdale, with a parade along A1A. Le Soleil de la Floride attended the event: https://youtu.be/nOynDMH_5RU
The parade began at Riomar Street and ended just north of Fort Lauderdale Beach Park (across from the Maren Hotel) on SE 5th Street, where the official stage rally was held, just like last year, but without the thunderstorm!
News reports estimate that the 2025 Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup parade drew a crowd of between 400,000 and 500,000 fans.
Before the parade, fans could purchase 2025 Stanley Cup champion merchandise at the Pantherland store at Baptist Health IcePlex (where the Panthers practise) and at Amerant Bank Arena. Thanks to the team’s success, sales likely increased significantly in 2025.
Since the Florida Panthers are the 2025 Stanley Cup champions, don’t hesitate to reserve your tickets for the 2025-2026 season by contacting Canam Golf:
1-866-465-3155 https://www.canamgolf.com/events/florida-panthers
Permanent closure of the Gumbo Limbo Turtle Rescue Center
Run by the charitable organization Coastal Stewards, the turtle rehabilitation center is forced to close its doors due to a lack of financial resources. Donations are becoming increasingly scarce, and the center will no longer be able to take in new injured turtles, which are usually the result of interaction with humans (boat accidents, ingestion of fishing hooks, entanglement in nets).
Gumbo Limbo’s three permanent residents, Lefty, Morgan, and Lady McNubbins, will be able to stay at the center for the rest of their lives, but the other 13 will soon be relocated to either the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach or the Miami Zoo.
The rest of the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, which is operated by the city of Boca Raton, remains open and will continue its other turtle rehabilitation programs, such as protecting and counting sea turtle nests. The city says it is open to a new partnership with another sea turtle conservation organization and will explore the best options for using the commercial space of the shop, which was operated by Coastal Stewards and has already closed.
Awaited return of flamingos to Florida
Hurricane Idalia, which struck Florida in August 2023, brought with it some unexpected guests: a flock of flamingos that were migrating between the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, where they raise their young, and Cuba, where they spend the winter, was swept away by violent north winds. As a result, several colonies of flamingos landed in Florida in 2023, notably in Florida Bay (west of the Keys), Pine Island (Lee County), and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (Brevard County). According to researchers, while some appear to have settled in Florida, the majority have since returned to the Yucatan.
In the 19th century, Florida was home to a large population of flamingos, and conservation efforts are underway to bring them back, notably thanks to the Flamingo Working Group, which may soon receive permits to build mud nests to welcome them.
Their population was decimated in the early 20th century because their feathers were highly sought after and worth a fortune, and their meat was considered a delicacy. Despite official protection under the U.S. Migratory Bird Act of 1918, their population in Florida was virtually extinct by the 1950s. Slowly, and to everyone’s delight, American Flamingos seem to be making a gradual comeback in the Sunshine State.
