Jiri Vilim has no one but himself to blame.
Or, perhaps himself, a colleague and the magic of Christmas.
Upon hearing the Tween Waters Inn had been asked to simply donate a prize to the seventh annual Captiva Holiday Village Golf Cart Parade, the resort’s maintenance manager ambitiously chose to go the task one better.
Faced with a tight deadline, he enlisted the help of an assistant to go ahead and build the resort’s inaugural entry — and spent the better part of a week gathering and cutting plywood and dressing up a six-passenger golf cart as Santa’s sled.
Vilim said the cutting and building took about a day, with the balance of the effort spent on decorating and painting.
His gift arrived five days before Christmas in the form of a first-place trophy in the Commercial Division and the bragging rights that’ll accompany it, though he concedes that the unlikely victory will also bring pressure this time in 2017.
The 2016’s parade proceeds benefited the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.
Nearly 50 decorated golf carts rolled down Captiva Drive and Andy Rosse Lane with over-the-top displays of holiday spirit, including snowflakes, flamingos, and gingerbread houses.
Prizes were awarded in commercial and non-commercial categories, as well as to a best-in-show honoree.
“We did fabulous,” Vilim said. “This means that next year we have to go even bigger.”
