Read Us Online FREE at Take Me IslandSunNews.com Home VOL. 9, NO. 3 From the Beaches to the River District downtown Fort Myers JANUARY 15, 2010 Caloosahatchee Celtic Festival he City of Fort Myers, in conjunc- tion with Celtic Heritage Productions, TInc., hosts the Seventh Annual Caloosahatchee Celtic Festival on Saturday, January 23 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the grounds of downtown Fort Myers’s Centennial Park. The festival will feature six hours of con- tinuous live Celtic music from an international line-up, featuring the high-energy Scottish group Albannach, Celtic jam band Rathkeltair, native Irish balladeer Brendan Nolan, national touring act Marcille Wallis & Friends and the award-winning Fort Myers-based dance troupe Kellyn Celtic Arts Irish Dance Academy. Gates open at 11 a.m.; main stage music begins at noon. This is a repeat appearance for Albannachzafter last year’s thunderous response. Scottish natives all, Albannach’s stat- Kellyn Celtic Arts Dancers Brendan Nolan ed purpose in life is to share Scotland’s intrigu- ing culture through music. Their invigorating bands, featuring a powerful trio of musicians approach to the traditional music of the highlands and islands quickly brings audiences from Ireland, England and America. Their to their feet and leaves them begging for more. Featuring a championship winning cross-generational appeal lies in their abil- piper, a variety of percussionists, and haunting vocalists, this band is the toast of high- ity to take listeners on a musical journey Robin Hendrickson land games and Scottish events all over the United Kingdom and the United States. through time and space, weaving traditional Rathkeltair (pronounce rath-KELT-ur) is one of North America’s premier Celtic rock continued on page 5 An Elaborate Game Of Kiwanis Taste Of Pine Island he Kiwanis Club of Greater Musical Chairs At Florida Rep Pine Island will hold the by Di Saggau TTaste of Pine Island on Sunday, January 24 from 11 our chairs and five a.m. until 5 p.m. The event people are at the will take place at Phillips Park Fheart of Opus, on Pine Island Road behind the now showing at Florida Pine Island Fire Station. Repertory Theatre. The annual event will feature In my opinion, this is over 70 local restaurants and one of the finest plays craft vendors. Live entertainment to grace this stage. It will include the Pine Island Trio, runs 90 minutes with Alyce Grouper Band and Strange no intermission. It was Arrangement. In conjunction with written by Michael The Kiwanis Taste of Pine Island, Hollinger, a former the seventh annual Southwest violist. The audience Florida Chowder Cook-off is allowed inside the Contest will be held in which Brenden Faulkner, the 2009 Fish Drop drawing win- world of classical music Waterfront Restaurant of St. ner, with Snook Cowboy, who served as the master along with five musi- James City will defend its title. of ceremonies for the Kiwanis Taste of Pine Island cians. Colorful fish will rain from Playing first violin the sky at the Fish Drop draw- is Elliott (Giles Davies), ing with a $1,000 grand prize, $500 second place prize and $250 third place prize. second violin Alan Fish drop tickets may be purchased at the event or in advance at select Pine Island (Chris Clavelli), Dorian locations including Century 21 Real Estate, TIB Bank and the Pine Island Chamber of (Brendan Powers) on Giles Davies, Chris Clavelli, Tom Nowicki and Rachel Burttram Commerce. viola, and Carl (Tom in Opus The day’s events are family-friendly with live music and children’s activities includ- Nowicki) playing cello. photo by Chip Hoffman ing rock-climbing, train rides and bounce house. Tickets are available at the gate for Due to what one $5 and children 10 and-under are admitted free. Event planners expect over 3,000 to member of the quartet calls “crossing the line,” Dorian is replaced by Grace (Rachel attend. Burttram). We watch as she auditions for the group, wondering all the while why The Taste of Pine Island is the primary fundraiser for the Kiwanis Pine Island Youth Dorian is no longer with them. Scholarship Fund. This year the club hopes to raise over $15,000 to assist Pine Island The play balances present day with a few flashbacks and it suddenly becomes clear students with their higher education costs. Since 1985, the Kiwanis Club of Greater what happened. It’s kind of a mystery with an unanticipated twist. All five actors are Pine Island has provided over $200,000 in scholarships. wonderful in their roles. They work with choreographic precision as they mime their The Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island is a community service organization that continued on page 5 continued on page 5 2 THERIVER JANUARY 15, 2010 Historic Downtown Fort Myers, Then And Now: Victoria Apartments by Gerri Reaves ictoria Apartments once stood at the southeast corner of Victoria Avenue and Heitman Street facing Grand VAvenue. Set well back from the street, the Victoria Apartments were fronted by large Australian pine trees and palms. Screened porches ran along the front of the floors to catch breezes. The apartment units were reputedly small and extremely hot in those pre-air-conditioning day. How odd that this wood-frame structure with a venerable past should end up as it did. When completed in 1916, it was the Lee County Hospital, the beginning of what evolved into today’s Lee Memorial Health System. This building’s modest appearance actually belies some dramatic episodes in The landscape has certainly changed since the reputedly teeny-tiny Victoria Apartments Fort Myers history. met their demise. In the northwest view from Grand Avenue today, busy Cleveland To begin with, the wood used to construct the hospital’s first section came from the Avenue is visible through the chain-link fence. infamous (some thought illegal) all-night demolition of the first Lee County Courthouse. photo by Gerri Reaves At least the community benefitted when the county commissioners bequeathed the lumber to the long-desired community hospital. Originally a two-story building with only four patient rooms, it lacked basics such as In that time of racial integration, African-Americans were denied medical care at the visitors chairs and kitchen equipment and utensils. hospital, although they could work there as cooks, janitors, orderlies and cleaners. Over the next 25 years, two additions increased the patient capacity to 16 rooms In Allen’s second year at the hospital, an African-American patient of Dr. MF or 22 patients. Johnson was in critical condition. Visiting the patient at her home, the nurse saw that The third floor operating facilities were a mysterious source of anxiety for children she was in convulsions and required an immediate Cesarean section. who could only imagine what really went on up there, according to John Sheppard in Allen told the physician to bring the patient to the hospital for the operation, refus- his recently published book, One Man’s Family in Early Fort Myers, 1898-1945. ing to risk the procedure in the patient’s home. Perhaps the most dramatic chapter in hospital lore is the short career of Superintendent Allen was fired for not following hospital policy. She continued her Superintendent LaVeta Allen, RN in the early 1920s. career as a private nurse, however, and lived to see the racial integration of the medi- cal facilities in the 1960s. Never entirely suitable as a medical facility for a growing town, the old hospital was eventually vacated when WPA funds, secured in 1939, made possible a new hospital on Cleveland Avenue. That hospital opened in 1943, and the old hospital at Victoria and Grand began its second life as housing. Despite the cramped, steamy accommodations, the apartment building must have been welcome in a time of severe apartment shortage. After all, World War II had begun, and Fort Myers was struggling to house the many soldiers and their families who were stationed at Buckingham and Page Field. Walk down to the former site of a much-needed medical facility where no one, especially children, wanted to end up. Then walk the short distance to the Southwest Florida Museum of History at 2031 Jackson Street. Starting on January 16, you can see the new exhibit, Tutankhamun: Wonderful Things from the Pharaoh’s Tomb. Meanwhile, ask about the historic down- town walking tours. For information, call 321-7430 or go to swflmuseumofhistory.com. The museum’s hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Continue your historical research at the Southwest Florida Historical Society at 10091 McGregor Boulevard, where you can explore family and local history. Call 939-4044 or drop by on Wednesday or Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon. Ask about the annual Cracker Dinner on February 15. Sources: The Story of Fort Myers by Karl H. Grismer, the archives of the Southwest Florida Historical Society, Early Fort Myers: Tales of Two Sisters by Alberta Colcord Barnes and Nell Colcord Weidenbach, and Dick Jungferman. The 1916 Lee County Hospital at Victoria and Grand avenues embarked on a second life as the Victoria Apartments around 1943. It was demolished in the mid-1960s. photo courtesy of the Southwest Florida Historical Society Read Us Online: www.IslandSunNews.com Contributing Writers Click on The River Jennifer Basey i} ÌÃÊ iiÌ>ÀÞ Advertising Sales Production Manager Photographer Kimberley Berisford >Ê«iÀ Ã>LiÊi`iÀÊ/ ià Stephanie See V >iÊi`iÀ Suzy Cohen Brian Johnson Ed Ibarra Jenny Evans Audrey Krienen Graphic Arts/Production Writers Ed Frank Scott Martell Co-Publishers Terri Blackmore Ann Ziehl iÀÀÊ,i>ÛiÃ]Ê* Ê Max Friedersdorf Ê->}}>Õ Lorin Arundel Office Co-ordinator Katherine Mouyos Anne Mitchell *ÀÃV>ÊÀi`iÀÃ`Àv Capt.