To the editor:

The Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce sends out a big thank you to everyone who took part in making MangoMania a successful event for your Pine Island Chamber! Everyone who volunteered to staff one of the Chamber areas – ticket booths, beverage areas, “Welcome Centers”, as well as those who oversaw all aspects of the festival – we could not have done it without you. Visitors were very complimentary of the “Welcome Center” feature, with island maps and information they could take with them. The weather was perfect — hot and no rain. The entertainment was excellent — it was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the music. The games and contests all had excellent participation, and the volunteers from TIB Bank were invaluable in staffing this area. The vendors all reported a good festival, and the food vendors in particular liked the extended hours on Saturday. Congratulations to the winners in all the contests — the games, food tasting contests, largest mango, etc.

Pine Island Community Church Youth Group came through again with their hard work in trash clean up; Queen Carie Call and her contacts in the county saw that the festival was “green” – recycling bins supplied by the county were well utilized, and the trash removal marked a significant decrease over past years.

Queen Carie Call and our mascot, Mat Mango (Richard Smith) did an excellent job — and had fun — promoting MangoMania prior to the event, and were on hand during the festival to promote excitement and participation in the on-going events. Thank you both for your enthusiasm.

Thank you to all Board members and others who put in many long “sweat” hours preparing for the festival — words cannot express my thanks to you for all working together. It is no easy task putting together a festival like this, and it would not have gone smoothly without your efforts.

We thank all the Pine Island mango growers for your participation, in particular we thank Doug Floweree, “The Mango Factory” for assisting with the mango tasting booth and encouraging our local growers to be a part of the festival. MangoMania IS all about our Pine Island mangos, and we hope to see more of our growers participating in 2011.

The revival of the Educational Seminars this year added a great component to the festival — attendees were able to receive information about a variety of topics of interest to them. The Mote Marine mobile laboratory saw steady traffic on both days; this was invaluable in promoting our waters and estuaries. All of the speakers at the seminars deserve a round of applause for their time and effort in presenting information about their various areas of expertise.

The plant and agriculture vendors all seemed to have done well — I saw many tropical plants and trees along with boxes of mangos going out to the parking areas. Thank you for your participation.

We must thank the following: sponsors — The Beaches of Ft. Myers and Sanibel (VCB), The News-Press, Suncoast Beverages, Around the Clock Fitness, TIB Bank, LCEC, Happenings, Ad&Printcraft of SW Florida, The Pine Island Eagle, Terrasi Media. The food judges – Drew Sterwald, Manny Cruz, Gina Burch – thank you; Patrick Nolan with FOX4 for leading the hat parade; Commissioner Tammy Hall for opening remarks; Megan Coite for the wonderful solo of “The Star Spangled Banner”; MC Craig “Snook Cowboy” Timbes; Nautical Mile.

My biggest thank you goes to the event chairman — Leslie Arias. Leslie put in countless hours and energy to make MangoMania a success, and it is evident. Never once was Leslie without a smile on her face, and she carried it out with courtesy and professionalism.

There are doubtless others I’ve not mentioned by name – but I thank each and everyone who helped make MangoMania 2010 a success for the Pine Island Chamber AND our community.

Lisa Benton,

Executive Director

Greater Pine Island

Chamber of Commerce