LAKE PLACID – The Sugar Express steam engine train is headed to Lake Placid for the annual Caladium Festival July 26-28.

Enjoy a one-hour train ride on July 26 or 27 or an all-excursion on July 28. On Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27, trains will depart at 10 a.m. noon and 2 p.m. The excursion train will depart Lake Placid on Sunday, July 28, at 9 a.m. make a photo run by at Liberty Point and travel to Clewiston where the Hendry County Cattlemen’s Association will serve a ribeye steak lunch. Sugar Express steam locomotive No. 148 will operate the southbound portion of the journey from Lake Placid to Clewiston and South Central Florida Express diesel locomotives will return passengers to Lake Placid at approximately 4:30 p.m.

For tickets or more information, go online to sugarexpress.com.

The 33^rd Annual Caladium Festival will be held July 26-28 in Stuart Park, 113 Interlake Blvd. in downtown Lake Placid. The festival will include a car and bike show, floral arrangement competition sponsored by the Lake Placid Garden Club, arts and crafts booths, food, entertainment, a display about the area’s grape growing and wine industry, Florida Friendly Landscaping and Ornamental Plants, an art competition and bus tours of the caladium fields.

Caladium bulbs as well as live caladium plants will be for sale at the event.

On Friday, the opening ceremony is at 9:45 a.m. Entertainment continues throughout the day. The Little Miss Caladium pageant is at 3 p.m.

On Saturday, the festival opens at 10 a.m. The final entertainer of the day starts at 3:20 p.m.

There is no entry fee to the festival. Bus tour tickets are $12 in advance or $15 on the day of the festival.

It is not recommended to bring pets to the festival. Streets are closed to set up booths for the festival. The pavement temperature may be in excess of 140 degrees which can burn pets’ paws.

For more information, or to reserve your spot on a bus tour, go online to www.caladiumfestival.org.