Swampy’s Florida Travels: Giant Pineapple in Venus, Florida.
Along U.S. 27 north of Palmdale in Glades County and south of Lake Placid in Highlands County is the community of Venus. That is where you will find the giant pineapple. This got propped up many decades ago to pitch the vast citrus business surrounding the area, especially north of the pineapple. The photos are from 2010, when the pineapple was still in very good shape.
Today the entire area has deteriorated. According to the Highland Sun newspaper there is a couple looking to reopen the spot as a citrus stop. The story requires a subscription, so I won’t post the link and frustrate folks.
Here’s what the pineapple looked like, via Google, in July 2019:
Thing is, the various efforts to reopen commercial businesses along this area of U.S.27 have not lasted long. Travelers are rarely as they once were, stopping here and there looking for tourist souvenirs and bags of oranges. Today speed it the order that propells the vehicles back and forth.
I hope the couple’s efforts pays off and hope to stop myself after they open.
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#Flordia #Pineapple #GiantPineapple #Venus #Floridana
IS LOCATION OPEN YES, NO MAYBE.
The pineapple is right out in the open, so it’s kinda open 24 hours a day. The building itself seems to otherwise be open, just not when I went by. I should be that way in a little over a week and will check further.
This used to be a pineapple store. It used to sell everything pineapple. There actually used to be signs along 27 that would say, “pineapple toothpaste”, etc. I never saw any cars there but they were operational for quite some time.