Experiencing & Playing & Sharing admin | 27 Aug 2009
Friendship Fountain-Jacksonville, Florida
We love fountains. We read up about the fountains available for our viewing pleasure before we leave for a new city. We ask the hotel concierge where the nearest cool fountain is. The fountain gets bonus points if it doubles as a splash pad and you are allowed to run through it! Fountains are one of those things that my husband and I enjoyed but might have made no big deal about pre-kid. Before the S’s were born, we would admire them and move on to the next sight. After the S’s were born, fountains (along with parks and larger than life statues!) moved up to the top of our must-see list! It is amazing how long one child can stand and stare at, sit by the side of, or run around a fountain.
I had read about the Friendship Fountain when I was making my plans for our trip to Jacksonville, Florida. I wasn’t sure if we would have time to stop at the fountain due to our busy schedule of visiting friends. I was thrilled to see a sign leading to the fountain off of the interstate on our way back home. The Friendship Fountain is located on the Southbank Riverwalk near the Museum of Science and History. From what I could find on various websites, the fountain has lived a controversial, rough life. It has been refurbished, it broke, it was fixed, it was turned on, it was turned off, people complained…the list goes on. It was built in the 60s. When the Friendship Fountain opened, it touted itself as the world’s largest and tallest fountain. The fountain has over 60 jet nozzles and is a beautiful sight at night because lights were added to the fountain at some point. The fountain was an important attraction during the Superbowl of 2005. My children had a great time running circles around this fountain. It wore them out so they were a joy in the car for the next six hours!
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on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:52 am 1.Amy @ The Q Family said …
That looks so big. What a great found in Jacksonville!
on 28 Aug 2009 at 11:58 am 2.Travel With Kids said …
Lovely pics. I love the portrait one with the two kids running towards the fountain, Really gives the shot some perspective. Well done.
on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:31 pm 3.Linda said …
Beautiful–that fountain is huge!
on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:22 pm 4.Carolina said …
OK, so I want to run through that fountain, it looks so fun. I guess running around it, will have to do.
I never thought about looking for cool fountains, good idea.
on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:03 pm 5.marina k. villatoro said …
That is a fun fountain. It’s so weird how so many things have Friendship as part of their name. There’s a friendship bridge in Costa Rica and otehr friendship oriented stuff!
on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:41 pm 6.Dominique said …
I see a cool fountain and wish I was a kid so I could happily splash around in it
on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:56 pm 7.Lorraine said …
That is an incredibly HUGE fountain! Great photos to show it off. I also like the run-them-out-before-a-long-car-ride strategy – thumbs up on that!
on 29 Aug 2009 at 7:41 am 8.Wanderluster said …
I definitely love fountains in the middle of summer!
on 03 Sep 2009 at 6:51 pm 9.admin said …
It was great because Jacksonville is SO hot but the wind was blowing so we could feel the mist from the fountain as we ran around it!