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Friends holds annual meeting, updates membership procedure

Friends of Boca Grande Community Center held its annual meeting this Tuesday, as they reported on the past year’s recovery from fall hurricanes. In recent years, there have been many setbacks, from…

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Community

Boca Grande North celebrates reopened clubhouse, renovations

November 20, 2025

Above, Steve Neri, Tom Longest, Darcy Longest, Nancy Neri, Margo Perriello, Bob Periello Boca Grande North held a celebration last Friday to not only open their new clubhouse facilities but to g…

Animal rules

November 20, 2025

The Lee Board of County Commissioners will conduct a public hearing to repeal and replace the Lee County Animal Control Ordinance at the regularly scheduled board meeting at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, De…

Citizens speak up after Lee meeting ejection

November 20, 2025

Several concerned citizens spoke at Tuesday’s Lee County Commission meeting about a Nov. 4 incident in which a public speaker was ejected from the chamber. At the Nov. 4 commissioner’s meeting, r…

Education

The Island School sets date for Chowder Dinner

November 13, 2025

The Island School PTO will host its 10th Annual Chowder Dinner on Friday, Jan. 16, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Gasparilla Inn Beach Club. Guests can enjoy a cash bar, live music by the Green Flash Ba…

K-9 Birdie visits The Island School

November 13, 2025

Lee County Deputy Barrs and his K-9 partner Birdie paid The Island School a visit on Tuesday, Oct. 14. Birdie is a Labrador, and her primary duty is to search for weapons on school campuses. She is…

Boca Grande Preschool given Palm Avenue commercial building

October 30, 2025

The Boca Grande Preschool, Inc. is new the owner of 311 Palm Avenue. The Palm Avenue property was donated by the Pete and Ginny Nicholas family. It is zoned as commercial, located behind the 3rd…

Entertainment

New Gasparilla Magazine is out

November 20, 2025

The new edition of the Boca Beacon’s Gasparilla Island Magazine is out now with new feature stories, recipes, shopping and social pages. Features include “The Morning Anchor: Coffee Offers a Paus…

Farmer’s Market returns Friday

November 20, 2025

The Boca Grande Farmer’s Market is returning Friday, Nov. 21 at the same location as last year, at the Bayou across from the Pink Elephant. The market will run each Friday through the spring from…

Chili Challenge and Firehouse 5K this weekend

November 13, 2025

The Grande Firehouse 5k, followed by the Boca Grande Area Chamber of Commerce Big Mouth Chili Challenge is on Saturday, Nov. 15. The race, hosted by the Boca Grande Fire Department begins at…

Profiles, Sports & Outdoors

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: JoEllen Wilson

Childhood shaped by local waters For marine scientist JoEllen Wilson, protecting Southwest Florida’s juvenile tarpon habitats isn’t just part of the job. It carries forward a family history rooted in Charlotte Harbor and Boca Grande for decades. Wilson’s connection to the island stretches back through her mother’s family. Her great-grandparents, Ray and Eileen Maus, owned […]

Sports & Outdoors

Health & Wellness

Ask a Doc: Avoid the uh-ohs when the grandkids visit

November 20, 2025

BY CHARLOTTE C. COWAN, MD Few things are more joyful – or more unpredictable – than a grandchild’s visit. Children inevitably bring with them both fun and minor chaos. And, as every grandparent k…

Englewood Hospital earns distinctions

October 30, 2025

HCA Florida Englewood Hospital announced Wednesday that it has earned multiple five-star distinctions for exceptional clinical performance from Healthgrades, the online doctor or hospital ratings se…

OPINION: MARK DRISCOLL

October 23, 2025

Reflecting on five years at the Clinic I was walking on the island the other day, passing the construction site where the new Clinic of the Future is taking shape, when I stopped for a moment to…

Health Clinic taken from the air

October 9, 2025

An aerial view of the construction of the future Boca Grande Health Clinic, looking south, taken Thursday morning. The building, replacing a storm damaged Annex, is part of their Clinic of the Futur…

Police & Fire

Shark bite victim tells her story on Inside Edition

November 20, 2025

Leah Lendel, the then nine-year-old girl who got bit by a shark in Boca Grande in June, was featured on an Inside Edition interview Monday night. In her first interview since surviving the shark…

Briefly: Boaters rescued 35 miles offshore by Coast Guard

November 20, 2025

A Coast Guard Station Cortez boat crew rescued eight boaters on Saturday, after their 26-foot vessel became disabled approximately 35 miles west of Venice. The boaters and vessel were brought back t…

Chili Challenge and Firehouse 5K this weekend

November 13, 2025

The Grande Firehouse 5k, followed by the Boca Grande Area Chamber of Commerce Big Mouth Chili Challenge is on Saturday, Nov. 15. The race, hosted by the Boca Grande Fire Department begins at…

Historic Collier Inn nearly burns on Tuesday

November 6, 2025

Maintenance worker Peter Frazzetta, up early Tuesday Nov. 4, helped saved the historic Collier Inn on Useppa Island from a fire during its renovation. “He gets up early and grades the roads befo…

News Archives

Obituaries

Robert A. Dishman 1944-2025

Robert A. Dishman, Ph.D., of Chatham, MA and Boca Grande, FL, passed away on September 27, 2025, at the age of 81. Born on May 7, 1944, in Miami, FL…

Lewis L. Hamilton 1939-2025

Lewis L. Hamilton, M.D. of Boca Grande, FL and Salisbury, CT died peacefully at home in Salisbury on July 20, 2025 surrounded by his loving family a…

David John Williams 1942-2025

David John Williams of East Haddam, Conn., and Boca Grande, Fla., passed away on November 2, 2025, after a courageous battle with metastasized melan…

Mary Naylor Donahue 1940-2025

Mary Naylor Donahue passed away peacefully on October 19, 2025, following a courageous battle with kidney and heart disease. She was 85 and a devote…

Otilia Yanes Fernandez 1934-2025

Otilia Yanes Fernandez, dearly beloved wife of 65 years of the late Emilio Fernandez, passed away Sunday, September 21, 2025, at the age of 91. Lovi…