Chamber announces annual business awards at Islands Night
As SanCap Chamber President and Chief Executive Officer John Lai and Board Chair Calli Johnson noted during the cool spring evening on May 3, the 30th Annual Islands Night at the Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers was not a typical event. For one, it combined the longstanding island tradition with the chamber’s annual meeting by presenting business awards pre-game.
Typically, the chamber awards recipients in four categories. Although those remained the same this year, it awarded two recipients instead of just one the New Business of the Year award. For its community support immediately following Hurricane Ian and her bright and giving spirit, the awards went to The Shack of Sanibel and the Rachel Pierce Art Gallery.
The Shack began cooking food in its parking lot and offering islanders comfort in other ways before the Sanibel Causeway even opened. Pierce set up a marketplace outside her gutted gallery and invited local businesses and organizations to participate. She also designed special jerseys for Islands Night.
Johnson and chamber Board Chair-elect JR Ramirez made the presentations at field’s edge following the traditional Islands Night parade, which represented a robust sampling of island businesses and organizations and potent demonstration of island unity and pride. The 4,086 attendees who came out for the game nearly doubled last year’s record attendance.
Ramirez started the presentations with the Sue Rosica Gray Volunteer of the Year. It went to Bill and Laurie Harkey, who moved permanently to Sanibel in 2019 after 17 years of visiting the island.
“Laurie, a retired medical social worker, immediately became involved in the community, primarily volunteering at ‘Ding’ Darling and supporting CROW,” he said. “Bill is active in the Sanibel-Captiva Rotary Club and is vice president of the ‘Ding’ Darling Wildlife Society.”
The Business of the Year and Citizen of the Year awards were both related to community service in the wake of September’s hurricane. Jerry’s Food, which led island businesses toward recovery when it reopened with a chamber ribbon-cutting on Oct. 25, accepted the business award.
The chamber honored the selfless generosity of Billy and Sally Kirkland, owners of Billy’s Bikes, with the citizen award. Johnson reported that Billy Kirkland not only opened their bike inventory for free use following the storm, but helped islanders and businesses in countless ways in the weeks that came.
“In a normal year, we would announce new board officers and members at our annual meeting,” Lai said. “But, again, this not being a normal year, I have asked the board to remain static to provide needed stability as 2023-2024 continues in full-blown recovery mode. We thank the board and executive committee for its steadfast yet flexible leadership in the months since Ian.”
The chamber also recognized the role of the Sanibel City Council in supporting island businesses and residents as recovery progresses. Councilmembers, too, accepted special awards that evening.
The Minor League Baseball game of the Florida State League’s Fort Myers Mighty Mussels versus the Dunedin Blue Jays followed the awards presentation. The home team wore the Pierce jerseys featuring the island’s iconic Sanibel Lighthouse — in its three-legged, post-hurricane stance — against a colorful swirl of sunrise sky. The Mighty Mussels club is auctioning off the jerseys to benefit the chamber and other island organizations. For more information or to place a bid, visit bit.ly/3I287bp.
“A huge thanks to Rachel and the Mighty Mussels for their support, and to all of our sponsors who helped make this feel-good event truly feel as good as it gets when it comes to island camaraderie and hope for the future,” Lai said.
Major sponsors for the event included Sanibel Captiva Community Bank at the homerun level; Bailey’s General Store/The Island Store and Ted Ney Drywall and Stucco at the triple level; and, at the double level: Adventures in Paradise, Ashton Kircher Group, Bank of the Islands, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille, Fort Myers Brewing Company, Heidrick & Co. Insurance, J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge and Tarpon Bay Explorers, Sanibel Captiva Beach Resorts, The Sanibel Captiva Trust Company, Servpro of North Naples, Sanibel, Captiva, and Fort Myers, and Simple Social.