Parrot Plaza

Beautiful Christmas Displays!
SITREP
I was back here in April when my lovely friend Ashley M. first introduced me to Parrot Plaza when she invited a bunch of us to Rhino Donuts — that was a fun time!
As it so happened, I managed to swing back this way a week or so again…
THE SETUP
Now mind you, this was a 3AM in the morning, but I had heard so much about the fun Holiday Light Displays that Parrot Plaza featured, that when I was back in the hotel room, I suddenly got a «thought» (…cause I get ‘em sometimes) and bolted up in bed, threw on my sweats and headed down to Parrot Plaza.
It was the perfect time to go too since other than a small gang of motorcycle enthusiasts, and a really cute couple (Pedro & Cecille, they were very nice) who had a little boom box going (it looked like she was teaching him how to Salsa), it was quiet and pristine. You could even hear the waves crashing ashore through the «Lauderdale-​By-​The-​Sea» Gate («The Gate»). Loved it.
THE LIGHTS
It was nice to see how all the lights were set-​up:
* Along the sidewalk on both sides going East towards The Gate, the trees were all festooned with pretty lights,
* But the lamps themselves looked very cool & ominous as they cast a strong red light that IMMEDIATELY reminded me of the Spaceships from the original movie «War of the Worlds».
* In this instance, all four (4) quadrants of the separate roads intersected in the middle where the giant, beautiful Christmas tree stood so regal
* And the display of lights ended as you got to The Gate
THE LOWDOWN
The Holiday Light Display was fun to see, and I would highly recommend anyone to chance out late in the night — or even early in the morning as I did — and take in this luminous beauty of the season before it goes away come the New Year!

During the redevelopment along Commercial Boulevard in Lauderdale by the Sea, they made somewhat of a big deal over what was to become Parrot Plaza. Now that completed its nice enough, a better looking area than previously, but as a plaza really doesn’t amount to much. Matter fact only if you accept the definition of a «plaza» being a small shopping center with little more than one tackle shop, a hardware and a drug store, would it even match the definition of being a plaza. Though there are a couple of park benches, it really isn’t a plaza in terms of being any sort of public square. It isn’t really a place for people meetings, gatherings or the like.
The only thing I found rather nice about it is a small but decorative statuesque like work of art honoring the Queen Parrotfish by Artist Laura Huck. It displays her very accomplished rendition of the Queen Parrotfish in its natural environmental surrounding of Elkhorn Coral, nocturnal Squirrelfish, and flashy stripped Sergeant Major.
There is a dedication plaque which interestingly points out that the Queen Parrotfish, for which the plaza is named, changes sex several times during its lifetime. Maybe it’s the perversity within me but I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if nature dictated the same upon we humans. Like exactly how would a husband in wife team handle waking up one morning to find that their sexes had suddenly changed and he had abruptly become the female wife and she the male husband? LOL!