"A Doggone Good Catch!" is the winning title for the “pirate girl” painting created by renowned artist Brendan Coudal for the Boca Grande Area Chamber of Commerce's 2012 Ladies Day Tarpon Tournament.

Virginia Witty of Punta Gorda submitted the witty winning entry, beating out more than 200 other submissions. Virginia (shown above with Chamber Director Lew Hastings) received print #1 from the 500 limited edition signed and numbered series, as well as a "treasure basket" from the Chamber of Commerce.

Earlier this month Boca Grande artist Susan Shaffer’s framed paper sculpture, “Synchronicity,” was awarded first place at ArtCenter Manatee’s  juried exhibition entitled “Retrospective Color.”  The exhibit includes 80 regional artists in multiple mediums. Susan is a founding member of the Boca Grande Art Alliance and year-round island resident. She will be exhibiting in the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend Show and Summer Days Exhibition at the BGAA Art Center.

The “Retrospective Color” exhibit will run through June 1.

Tucker Michael Cera, we welcome you ...

On May 1, 2012 at 5:52 a.m.Tucker Michael Cera was born at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. He is the son of George and Cindy Cera of Boca Grande. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce at birth and was 21 inches long. Welcoming him home are siblings Jesse Jon Michael, 21, Marlana Lynn Messina, 22, and Gabriela Rose Crespo, 8. Harry and Fayma Childs are Tucker’s maternal grandparents, and Beverly Cera is his paternal grandmother.                   

About 60 island property owners recently called on our bridge authority to break a promise we, as a community, made to the state in 1995 and once again in 2000.

Who is responsible for operating, maintaining and replacing Boca Grande’s bridges and causeway? Based on that promise, we are. In 2000, the Florida Legislature passed an act re-creating the Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority it had originally established in 1995. Most of the statute's language is technical. Not what you’d consider bedtime reading. But the rest is easy to comprehend for anyone interested in taking the time to understand what we told the Legislature we would do back in 1995 and again five years later.

To the Editor:

I just want to thank the Beacon on behalf of the Art Alliance for the wonderful and timely coverage of our   25th Anniversary Celebration and Spring Show! It helped generate a lot of  interest in our beginnings and we really appreciate the support.

Cecilia Jonsson-Bisset,
Boca Grande Art Alliance Show Chair
Boca Grande

To the Editor:

GIBA and its Board are bringing us three new bridges which will be safe, functional and aesthetically pleasing for a projected seventy-five years. During the last five years, and including the coming October toll increase, the board will have raised the cash toll from $4 to $6, a 50% increase, the discounted tolls from $2.25 to $3.90, and annual passes from $450 to $780, both reflecting a 73% increase.  

Proceeds from these increases have allowed us to repay previous debt (from the purchase of the bridges) and to finance both the design of the two fixed bridges and part of their construction.