FREE Take Me Read Us Online at Home IslandSunNews.com VOL. 13, NO. 29 From the Beaches to the River District downtown Fort Myers JULY 25, 2014 Big Backpack Event Set To Distribute Free School Supplies eonardo Garcia, founder of The LMulticultural Centre of Southwest Florida, announced that the organiza- tion’s 15th annual Big Backpack Event, held this Sunday, July 27 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will serve a record number of students. Celebrating 15 years and 30,000 smiles in 2014, the committee is gearing up for its biggest give- away ever. The first 2,500 students ages 5 to 12 will receive free Floating by Eileen Amster backpacks and school supplies thanks to ded- Community Foundation icated sponsors, event committee members Presents Limited Summer Exhibition and volunteers. he Southwest Florida Community Foundation will feature special artwork in a continued on page 4 School children with their backpacks limited summer exhibition of its Art & Community series at the foundation’s Tmain headquarters, 8771 College Parkway, Building 2, Suite 201 in Fort Myers. The exhibit will include varied works of art including acrylic, watercolor, photography Redfish Challenge and mixed media from artists Barbara Benton, Ursula Cappelletti, Eileen Amster, Shirley Blake, as well as several others from the Art Council of Southwest Florida. All participat- Returns At Cape ing artists will give 35 percent of any sale to the Fund for the Arts in Southwest Florida, which benefits art organizations in the region. Harbour Marina The summer exhibit will run through August 27 and is on view Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To schedule a tour, call Kim Williams at the SWFLCF he 10th annual Flats Invitational office at 274-5900. Redfish Challenge is coming back Tfor its 10th anniversary on August 29 and 30. The charities for this year’s event will be The Cape Coral Municipal Charter School Foundation and The Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Southwest Florida. The event kicks off at the marina at Cape Harbour at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, August 29 with dinner, an open bar, live music, raffle and Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament. The fishing tournament School Foundation is a 501(c)3 organiza- begins with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. tion provides support to the four Cape on Saturday, August 30 with a kids’ fish- Coral Municipal Charter Schools. Those ing tournament from 10 a.m. to noon schools are: Oasis Elementary, Oasis featuring Ronald McDonald. The first Middle, Oasis High School and Christa 100 children to pre-register receive lunch MacAuliffe Elementarty. The foundation’s with Ronald at noon. Live and silent auc- mission is to assist the City of Cape Coral Rotarians Cliff Parker, Jeffrey Green and John Doramus honor community winner Lori Riti, tions, dinner and awards begin at 5 p.m. Municipal Charter Schools in its quest to director of De LaSalle Academy Lodging is available at The Westin Cape provide students with a unique learning Coral Resort at Marina Village. experience in preparing them for suc- Four-Way Test Award at the club’s July cess and participation in the community Rotary Honors 6 meeting. Riti is the director of De All net proceeds will be donated to The Cape Coral Municipal Charter School as responsible and productive citizens. LaSalle Academy, and was awarded as Support from the foundation includes Four-Way Test the club’s non-Rotarian community win- Foundation and The RMHC of Southwest Florida. Proceeds from the kids’ tourna- scholarships, teacher recognition pro- ner. Ramos-Williams is president and grams, mini grant programs and capital Award Winners CEO of CONRIC PR & Marketing and ment will also benefit the Cape Coral First United Methodist Church. Over $400,000 contributions. otary Club of Fort Myers South was awarded as the club’s Rotarian win- Since 1996, more than 2,000 families announced that Lori Riti and ner. has been raised in the past nine years of this tournament. from Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Glades and RConnie Ramos-Williams were This prestigious award recognizes Hendry counties, as well as other states continued on page 7 The Cape Coral Municipal Charter each awarded the Rotary International continued on page 15 2 THE RIVER - JULY 25, 2014 Historic Downtown Fort Myers, Then And Now: The Langford Building is now undergoing renovation Texts Beneath Our Feet into commercial and resi- by Gerri Reaves, PhD dential space. Will the name Diana be preserved as a mes- ome of the most interesting features of downtown’s his- sage for future history lovers? toric buildings are literally beneath our feet – decorative Then there’s the “RPS” Sinscriptions in terrazzo or tile at entrances. inscribed in tile in a doorway Compared to the more noticeable texts on cornerstones, on the east side of Hendry plaques, signs, and monuments, these doorway messages seem Street between First and mundane. Main. But their sheer ordinariness helps to conjure up the atmo- That abbreviation marks sphere of daily life in historic downtown and provide clues to the the former doorway of the origin and purpose of a structure. Royal Palm Studio. For instance, have you ever wondered about “Diana” written In the circa-1950 photo, in large letters in terrazzo at the Langford (aka Miller) Building’s the business’s vertical oblong doorway near the southwest corner of First and Jackson? sign (center) reading “Kodak” The Diana Shop was located in the Langford/Miller For long-time residents, that name evokes memories of the Diana Shop, a women’s is clearly visible, as is the Building for more than three decades clothing store that occupied the east side of that building’s first floor from the late business’s name across the 1940s until the mid-1980s. façade. During most of that period, downtown was thriving, and Diana’s was nestled into The studio was first located a swarm of activity, with JC Penney next door and Sears Roebuck across the street at in the McCrory’s storefront, Jackson corner – just to name two other nearby stores. but around 1950 moved into Taff O. Langford built the brick structure in 1911, after demolishing the first wood- the one-story building just en Langford Building. Both the old and new structures housed the Grand Theatre, the south of it, where it remained town’s first public motion picture theatre, opened in 1908. until the late 1950s. The travel agency was added the middle of that decade. The former photography studio is now a nightclub, and the tiled “RPS” survives. Some decorative entrance designs are lost forever, such as the terrazzo map of Florida that once greeted visitors at the Civic Center on Edwards These initials mark the former entrance to the former Drive. Royal Palm Studio on Hendry Street The design, one of two, disappeared when the build- ing was demolished in 2007. (The other design was an elaborate compass.) The Civic Center, once adjoined the Hall of Fifty States, was constructed in 1943 with materials left over from the demolition of the Pleasure Pier at the foot of Heitman Street. The center served as a social center for countless sol- diers stationed in Fort Myers at Buckingham and Page Fields during World War II. Post-war, it was the Chamber of Commerce. This terrazzo map vanished with the Civic Center demoli- The Royal Palm Studio was located in the one-story building adjacent to McCrory’s, circa 1950 In 1981, the “Fort Myers tion in 2007 courtesy Southwest Florida Museum of History continued on page 4 floor photos by Gerri Reaves Read Us Online: www.IslandSunNews.com Contributing Writers Click on The River Jennifer Basey Shelley Greggs Kimberley Berisford Tom Hall Advertising Sales Graphic Arts/Production Photographer Suzy Cohen Dr. Dave Hepburn Isabel Rasi Ann Ziehl Michael Heider Justen Dobbs Audrey Krienen George Beleslin Sarah Crooks Writers Ed Frank Capt. Matt Mitchell Co-Publishers Kristy See Gerri Reaves, Ph D Max Friedersdorf Patricia Molloy Lorin Arundel Office Coordinator Anne Mitchell Priscilla Friedersdorf Di Saggau and Ken Rasi Patricia Molloy Jim George Jeff Lysiak The River Weekly News will correct factual errors or matters of emphasis and interpretation that appear in news stories. Readers with news, tips, comments or questions, please call (239) 415-7732 or write to: The River Weekly News, 1609 Hendry Street, Suite 15, Fort Myers, FL 33901. Fax number: (239) 415-7702. E-mail: [email protected]. The River Weekly News reserves the right to refuse, alter or edit any editorial or advertisement. PRINTED ON RECYCLED Independently Owned And Operated • COPYRIGHT 2014 The River Weekly News • LORKEN Publications, Inc. PAPER THE RIVER - JULY 25, 2014 3 Fort Myers Public Art: time until the night of October 29, 1997, when one or more vandals knocked off The History Of The her head along with a piece of one arm and some toes. The culprit(s) were never Headless Siren caught and the head has never been by Tom Hall recovered. “I was hoping when they cut away all the bushes and brambles, then n July 20, they’d find the head,” said Sally Jane, 1955, who was the reference librarian at the OEvelyn D. time. “We never knew who did it. It Rea signed her last wasn’t like they left a note saying, ‘I got will and testament. your head.’ It just disappeared.” The document con- The library staff wrapped the dam- tained a provision aged statue in plastic and tape while they that bequeathed contemplated what to do. The damaged her 1880 white Lorelei caused a rift among library per- marble sculpture sonnel.