This date in the Boca Beacon: Annual Labor Day Picnic

FIVE YEARS AGO

Lee County School Board mandated masks for all schools including The Island School. The mandate would be revisited in 30 days.

TEN YEARS AGO

The 7th Annual Michael O’Donnell Memorial Fish-A-Thon, part of the Englewood Pioneer Days tradition was scheduled to be held. It was a free event for children aged 12 and under.

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

The anniversary of 9/11 was recognized through music at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. Communion service, prayers, readings and special music was planned.

TWENTY YEARS AGO

A group of local business owners banded together to challenge the method used by Lee County to appraise commercial property for taxes.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO 

The last cargo of oil on the ocean-going tug and barge that carried it, quietly arrived and departed for the last time from Port Boca Grande ending 115 years of deep-water port activity.

THIRTY YEARS AGO

More than 250 islanders came out for the Boca Grande Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Labor Day Picnic, raising more than $2,000 for the Chamber’s Scholarship Fund.

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Almost $200,000 of road and drainage improvements began in the Lee County portion of Gasparilla Island.

FORTY YEARS AGO

More than 150 people filled the Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium to protest property tax increase ranging from 75 to 300 percent.

FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO

Palm Island Estates Association and friends attended the first annual hog roast benefiting the fire equipment fund.