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Riverwood Golf Club attracts players of all abilities

By Scott Cotherman Situated thirteen miles from the Boca Grande Causeway, a mere 17 minutes by car, Riverwood Golf Club offers a wonderful experience for visitors and vacationers coming to the Cape Haze Peninsula. A for-profit, semiprivate club, it is a favorite of Boca Grande area golf club members who cannot access their courses due […]

Profile: Karen Irvine, artist and teacher of sailors valentines

Come February, valentines will be on many people’s minds. For Karen Irvine, a certain type of valentine is on her mind almost all the time. She is an artist who specializes in “sailors’ valentines.” To the uninitiated, a sailor’s valentine is a piece of artwork. The art form originated in the mid-to-late 1800s in Barbados. […]

New Boca Beacon calendar for 2024 is out

Since 1987, the Boca Beacon has offered a calendar for subscribers inserted into the newspaper as a Christmas gift to our subscribers. This year, photos are by our very own Matthew Gutman, Dusty Hopkins and H Wetzel.  As dependable as the Christmas Hess Oil toy trucks, we have had a number of themes since our […]

Obituary: Laurence DeFrance, 1944-2023

Laurence DeFrance, age 79, passed away peacefully on December 6, 2023. He was born October 3, 1944 in New York, the son of Margaret and Professor Joseph J. DeFrance. Laurence (“Larry”) grew up alongside his extended family and attended Garden City High School, where he made lifelong friends. As a Little League Yankee All-Star, baseball […]

Obituary: Sabrina Johnson-Lambert, 1959-2023

Sabrina Johnson-Lambert passed away on December 7, 2023, surrounded by family at home in Dunnellon, Florida, and formerly of Boca Grande. Born August 14, 1959, she is survived by her husband, Stephen Lambert; son, Matthew (Brittany): daughter, Rachel (Ben): three grandchildren, Amelia, Jaxton and Isla: brother, Darian (Liz): several nieces, nephews, and cousins: Aunt Hazel […]

Gasparilla Island State Park gets regrade, sand

Gasparilla Island State Park is finishing a regrade at the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse. Bulldozers and sand trucks were on hand this week to grade the potholes in the park and in the entrance driveway. This week, crews at the park also blocked off dune areas with a fence to protect them from pedestrians. There […]

December storm was no match for white pelican visitors

By MICHELLE STARR On a morning drive over the Boca Causeway, I get a true bird’s eye view of Little Gasparilla Pass, the sandbar and local water clarity and condition. The high winds over the last several days have made the water very messy, so while coming over the Causeway Sunday morning, I spotted a […]

Residents, marine units help in Little Gasparilla fire 

A beach cottage at 9686 Privateer Road near the south end of Little Gasparilla Island is a complete loss after a Sunday, Dec. 17 house fire. The smoke from the fire could be seen from across the Cape Haze peninsula Saturday afternoon, as a weekend windstorm wound down. In spite of the winds, and thanks […]