The River Weekly News Fort Myers
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FREE Take Me Read Us Online at Home IslandSunNews.com VOL. 10, NO. 41 From the Beaches to the River District downtown Fort Myers OCTOBER 21, 2011 Free Edible Landscaping Workshop great yard doesn’t have to be simply ornamental. It can be beautiful and edible, too. That’s the message Master Gardener Todd Roy will bring to the Alliance A for the Arts GreenMarket Saturday, October 22, at 10 a.m. His presentation is next in a series of free gardening events hosted at the weekly GreenMarket. He will talk about ways to get the most out of your yard and some of the many fruit trees and shrubs that grow well in Southwest Florida. He’ll also address container gar- dening options and using vertical spaces. His talk is meant to inspire people to use their yards in more productive ways. Roy attributes his interest in plants and horticulture to being raised in an agricultural and self-sustaining environment. He grew up in a small midwestern town in Michigan with one traffic light, a working wheat mill and a community engaged in 4-H and agriculture. He said he remembers many trips with his grandparents to the fields and orchards to pick fresh peaches, cherries, pears, plums, blueberries, strawberries and apples. He also helped them tend and harvest a large vegetable garden. His grandmoth- er would can and freeze much of what they harvested, enabling them to enjoy fruits and vegetables throughout the year. Roy relocated to Florida in 2004 and was excited to see all of the new growing options Southwest Florida has to offer. He eventually found a home as a horticulturalist at The Edison & Ford Winter Estates which he had frequently visited and admired. He Todd Roy at the GreenMarket said he enjoys working with all facets of horticulture but his passions are sustainability, organic gardening, and edible landscaping. Being an artist, he also enjoys painting the grow their own food. It’s also a hub for everything locally grown, caught and cultivated, flowers he’s grown and invites other artist friends to paint in the garden as well. with vendors offering fresh local produce, breads, seafood, organic sprouts, tropical fruit, People interested in growing at least part of their family’s fruits and vegetables in free-range eggs, honey, gardening supplies and more. It’s every Saturday from 8 a.m. to their yard should not miss this free gardening workshop at the Alliance GreenMarket on noon at the Alliance for the Arts. More information is available at www.ArtInLee.org or the corner of McGregor and Colonial in Fort Myers. call 939-2787. The GreenMarket supports a more sustainable lifestyle by encouraging people to Matlacha Hookers Hosts 13th Annual Gentlemen’s Pine Island Elementary Fishing Derby Club To Roast he 13th annual Pine Island Elementary Fishing Commissioner TTournament & Derby pres- n Saturday, October 29, the ents a day of pulling in fish, live Gentlemen’s Club of Fort Myers music, a fish fry, auctions, and Owill hold its 20th annual roast, children’s activities at the Olde this year benefiting the Nature Park Fish House Marina in Matlacha on Environmental Education Foundation at Sunday, October 23. the Shell Factory. Hosted by the Matlacha Hookers Tom Cronin, the master of ceremonies, women’s service organization, the said, “This should be our best ever, as tournament helps purchase books Commissioner Mann is the wittiest man and technology equipment for the I know.” Five veteran roasters including Pine Island Elementary School. Larry Hart, Joe D’Alessandro, Marietta Registered children are invited to Mudgett, Sheriff Mike Scott and State’s participate in games, face-painting, Attorney Steve Russell will give it their T-shirt painting, the fishing derby best shot to embarrass and harass County in three age divisions, lunch, and a Commission Chairman Frank Mann. County Commission Chairman Frank Mann trophy awards ceremony. Cost for During the roast, Mann will be subject- ting farm, ecolab, and park are home to non-Pine Island Elementary students ed to comedic insults, (limited) praise, out- camels, llamas, turkeys, bunnies, lemurs, is $35; for PIE students, $30 (spon- landish true and maybe true stories, and alligators, armadillos, skunks and many sorship available for those who can- possibly a few heartwarming tributes. No more creatures available for viewing, pet- not pay the fee). one is better able to take the jokes in good ting and educational activities. The following live bands will Children and adults cast for fish at the Pine Island humor and dish it right back than Mann. This year the roast is in the Dolphin perform throughout the day: 9 to Elementary Fishing Derby Mann will be surrounded by friends, fans, Room at the Shell Factory, with open bar 10:30 a.m. Kip & Friends, 11 a.m. well-wishers, and possibly a few detrac- from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Dinner is served to 12:15 p.m. Rick & Danette from Stringtown, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Aimee Linn & Charlie tors, all of whom may receive some of the from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., when the non- Kuchler, and finally from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The Yard Dogs. same treatment during the course of the sense will begin. Cost is $250 per couple Tournament registration fee for adult anglers is $50, which includes a free T-shirt and evening. or $800 for a table of eight. the fish fry. Prizes of $500 are awarded for heaviest legal mangrove snapper, redfish, The Nature Park Environmental Cronin said, “I am hoping that after 20 and trout; $1,000 for heaviest legal slam. Education Foundation at the Shell Factory, years as chairman, we will break through Fishing starts at 7 a.m.; weigh-in is at 3 p.m. Registration is Saturday, October 22 this year’s beneficiary, recently completed the $300,000 mark to Lee County chari- from noon to 6 p.m. in a tent staked across the street from Olde Fish House Marina. renovations to enhance the attraction, ties.” Checks should be made payable to Participants can also pre-register at partner businesses: Miceli’s Restaurant and Seven which is currently open Tuesday through the Nature Park Environmental Education Seas Bait & Tackle in Matlacha, Four Winds Marina in Bokeelia, and Monroe Canal Sunday, and beginning October 31 will be Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)3. For more Marina and Old Pine Island Marine & Tackle in St. James City. open seven days a week. A botanical trail information, call 995-2141 ext. 117 or For sponsorship and registration forms or information about the event or donating winds through the habitats of over 300 send an email to tomsoffice@shellfactory. auction items, visit www.matlachahookers.org or call 282-1442 or 283-3706. animals, reptiles, fish and birds. The pet- com. 2 THE RIVER - OCTOBER 21, 2011 Historic Downtown Fort Myers, Then And Now At the height of the ceremony, the bust was Robert E. Lee Monument, At Last unveiled by Dean and Duane DesRochers, grand- by Gerri Reaves sons of a charter member Part II of II of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) n this photo taken on January 19, 1966, Edna F. Grady chapter, assisted by Roberts Roberts stands before a monument that took decades to and Mrs. Roy Lawrence, Irealize. chapter treasurer; Hugh Perhaps Roberts was contemplating the many people who Richards, master of cere- had contributed to the effort as she stood gazing at the bust of monies; and Paul J. Myers, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee on Monroe Street. mayor of Fort Myers. It was the long-awaited dedication day, and the fact that it Why was that day so was the 159th birthday anniversary of the general added even long in coming? more significance to the day. At least twice, the UDC Roberts had served as the chair of the monument fund chapter generously sacri- committee of the Laetitia Ashmore Nutt Chapter of the United Daughters of the ficed its monument funds Confederacy, which upon forming in 1913, had initiated plans for a monument to for other community needs: honor the general. first to equip Lee Memorial Roberts was central to seeing that project through to a glorious conclusion many Hospital, built with the years later. lumber salvaged from the The monument – a bronze bust atop a gray Georgia-granite base – was the only 1914 demolition of the one of its kind in a Southern state outside of Richmond, Virginia, said a representa- county courthouse; and tive of Crone Monument Company of Memphis, Tennessee, who built the monu- second, to endow a nurs- ment. ery-maintenance fund when Ten-and-one- the new hospital was built half feet tall, it cost on Cleveland Avenue. $6,000. Decades later, the plan The bust, one-and was scuttled again because -one-half life size, a promised hospital- was sculpted and grounds site for the monu- cast in Italy by Aldo ment became unsuitable. Pero. In the 1960s, the City Lloyd G. Hendry of Fort Myers and local was one of many organizations secured the who spoke at the Monroe Street site, fund- dedication. It was his raising commenced, and great-grandfather, the project came to fruition The monument on Monroe Street was more than 50 years Capt. Francis A. at last. Hendry, known as in the realization The monument has suf- photo by Gerri Reaves the Father of Fort fered some neglect over the Myers, who had last 45 years, according to Robert Gates of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. chosen Lee’s name Thus, he and several civic-minded colleagues took on the job of refurbishment for the new county and restoration.