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Community History


August 10, 2023
FIVE YEARS AGO Was it red tide or Vibrio vulnificus that was making young stomachs upset, or back-to-school jitters? Either way, we had both. TEN YEARS AGO South Beach was missing three o…

August 3, 2023
There’s a little-known memorial in Boca Grande that is about to get some much-needed love and care. It is the Veterans’ Memorial at the corner of Gilchrist and 5th St., by the entrance to The Gasp…

August 3, 2023
In Cape Haze, just behind the Ace Hardware and Cool Pickle in Paradise restaurant, a 300-foot radio tower that most see, but few pay attention to, peeks out of the woods.  The tower, with its b…

August 3, 2023
FIVE YEARS AGO Crowder Gulf, a name we know and love from Hurricane Ian cleanup, was on our beaches cleaning up dead fish from red tide. TEN YEARS AGO The first cars went over the new cen…

July 27, 2023
FIVE YEARS AGO PJ’s Seagrille and The Grapevine were officially out of business. TEN YEARS AGO Kathy Banson-Verrico was named as the new GIBA director. The pipes were smokin’ in some isla…

July 20, 2023
Tuesday, July 18 was the beginning of the end for two pieces of Cape Haze Peninsula’s history. The former home of Mike Schworm was dismantled and taken down to the ground, while Eunice Albritton’s…

July 20, 2023
Did you really think it wouldn’t be back? Ha ha, ho ho, hee hee, you must belong in the maison de fous! The Temptation martini sign, destroyed during Hurricane Ian, is finally put back together…

July 20, 2023
Author George Bernard Shaw famously claimed youth was wasted on the young. Apparently, he never met Effie Joiner, because she is not wasting a moment of her youth. Effie is not yet 27 but is putti…

July 20, 2023
FIVE YEARS AGO Friends of Boca Grande announced they had plans to put up a sunshade at the Community Center outdoor stage. TEN YEARS AGO Abbie Turner hooked a giant jumping shark on the “…

July 13, 2023
FIVE YEARS AGO A truly handsome alligator was just chillin’ on the beach near Sundown Colony, catchin’ some rays. Waylon took the buckle. TEN YEARS AGO The Boca Grande Marina was closing …