Author: Garland Pollard

Travel + Leisure magazine’s ‘Best Small Town Beach’ spawns accolades in People, Time Out

August 31, 2023
Garland Pollard
News

Mostly forgotten 1970s teen idol Leif Garrett is reputed to have told Justin Beiber not to believe his own publicity, as every “chicken hawk wants a piece of you.” That might be an apt warning for...

Boca Grande zip beats Nantucket for priciest real estate … but not Fisher Island

August 31, 2023
Garland Pollard
Community, News

The Boca Grande zip code 33921 is one of the top 50 highest-valued real estate zip codes in the U.S., according to new data from Zillow that measured typical home value, akin to a median value. At...

Environmental and manmade problems plaguing local seagrass leave manatees and other aquatic wildlife in dire straits

After a massive hurricane and a year of drought, the status of seagrass in Charlotte Harbor could perhaps be characterized by experts as “not better, in fact marginally worse.” “We have lost massive...

Heather Gilligan, on tour in Florida, finds stranded manatee in island waters

A beached manatee, later found to be safe, was the highlight of a Boca Grande visit for Columbus, Ohio resident Heather Gilligan on Wednesday, Aug. 9. “This morning my original plan of going to...

Coastal Living ‘discovers’ a secret island called Gasparilla. Who knew?

August 24, 2023
Garland Pollard
Community, News

The magazine Coastal Living has “discovered” a new secret island, Gasparilla. The new fall edition of the magazine put Gasparilla on its front cover with the caption “Florida’s Secret Island. The...

Feds help island with north end iguanas

August 24, 2023
Garland Pollard
News

If you’ve been seeing a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) truck out on the Boca Grande Causeway lately, it’s because it’s prime season for iguana hunting. While the Lee County portion...

July real estate stats slightly lag behind state, but cash deals dominate

August 24, 2023
Garland Pollard
Community

As cash deals continue, the Lee and Charlotte County regions slightly lag the rest of the state in July real estate statistics, according to information released this week from the Florida Board of...

Think this Florida heat has made window a/c units obsolete? Think again

August 17, 2023
Garland Pollard
Community, News

Last Saturday, the island officially hit 101 degrees, after a week of highs around 97 or 98. The “feels like” temps were, at times, around 118 degrees. Through this heatwave and others, some places...

Barrier islands show rental inventory rebounding steadily

August 17, 2023
Garland Pollard
Community

Rental inventory in Boca Grande and on other nearby islands, like Palm Island, is gradually coming back on line, almost a year after the storm. “We feel kind of lucky compared to our neighbors to...

Locals could do more on Lemon Bay Scenic Byway

August 17, 2023
Garland Pollard
Community, News

The two approach roads to Boca Grande, namely Gasparilla Road and Placida Road, are both part of one of 27 Florida Scenic Byways. Officially called the Lemon Bay/Myakka Traill Scenic Byway, the...