Feb 20, 2013 4 min read

Greater Pine Island Chamber

of Commerce: Feb. 21

The February After Hours Business Card Exchange will be held on Feb. 21 from 6-8 p.m. at Koucky Studios, 5971 Bay Point Road in Bokeelia.

The GPICC Business After Hours Card Exchange is a networking event for businesses, giving you the opportunity to discuss and share ideas while learning about other local businesses. Bring plenty of business cards so you are prepared to network, meet potential new clients and make new friends.

If you would like to bring a door prize to highlight your business, it would be greatly appreciated. Please RSVP to Jennifer at 283-0888 or info@pineislandchamber.org

Pine Island Garden Club:

Feb. 21

The Pine Island Garden Club is excited to welcome Ms. Kathy White as our speaker for our Feb. 21 meeting. White is a retired science educator who moved to Florida in 2005 and became a Master Gardener through the Lee County Extension Office. She volunteers with the Florida Yards and Neighborhoods Program to help teach homeowners proper lawn care and gardening techniques that will reduce pollution from fertilizers and pesticides and protect our bays and waterways.

Her program is entitled Marvelous Mulch and attendees will learn how the correct use of mulch can reduce time spent in garden upkeep as well as reducing the dollars spent on watering. Recommended types of mulch and best methods of application in the landscape will also be discussed.

Gala Update: Date: Feb.23, location: Garden Club Park, Island Center. There will be demonstrations during the day, plant and tree vendors selling amazing inventory, local authors signing and selling their books, a fantastic “white elephant sale,” and many raffle prizes given away during the entire Gala. Mark your calendar! Raffle tickets are now on sale from Garden Club members.

Monthly Garden Club meetings are held the 3rd Thursday of each month at the Fishers of Men Evangelical Lutheran Church at 10360 Stringfellow Road and begin at 9 a.m. with coffee and refreshments followed by our guest speaker’s presentation and finishing up with a brief member’s business meeting.

Club meetings are free and open to everyone. If you are interested in attending a meeting or becoming a member (annual dues are $20), please call Kathie Reiter, Membership Chairman, at 283-3176.

Please visit our website: www.pineislandgardenclub.org., for membership information and events.

Greater Pine Island Chamber

of Commerce: Feb. 26

The Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce Business Breakfast Card Exchange will be held on Feb. 26 at 7:30 a.m. at the Island Grill Restaurant, located in the Winn-Dixie Shopping Plaza on Stringfellow Road. The guest speaker will be Elizabeth Martin with Modern Woodmen. She will provide a lecture on the island’s future with Modern Woodmen.

You will order from a select menu, along with coffee/juice/tea. Breakfast is $7 per person, payable at the door. Lectures start at 8 a.m. Feel free to bring a guest, neighbor, potential new member to this informative breakfast meeting. Bring plenty of business cards so you can also network and meet potential new clients.

Please RSVP to Jennifer at 283-0888 or info@pineislandchamber.org.

Museum of the Islands:

March 4

“A Tour of the Islands of Pine Island Sound: A Geological, Archaeological, and Historical Perspective,” a Power Point program by Denege Patterson, tour guide and author, will be sponsored by the Museum of the Islands on Monday March 4 at 7 p.m., at Fishers of Men Lutheran Church Hall, 10360 Stringfellow Road. The program is free and open to the public.

The presentation features beautiful aerial photographs of the islands of northern Pine Island Sound and the fish houses near Captiva Shoals. The narrative begins with the origins of Pine Island Sound, the formation of the islands, and opening of the passes.

For thousands of years ancient people occupied these islands seasonally; others stayed year-round. An entire indigenous culture, the Calusa, grew and became powerful. Some islands provided a meeting ground for chiefdoms, empires, and governments, and became places of political intrigue and exploitation. As the indigenous population dwindled some islands were abandoned completely. Some islands were occupied by commercial fishermen from other nations. The modern recreational fishing culture gave rise to tourism, growth, and interesting lifestyles based on the abundance of the estuary- the one constant that has held it together over thousands of years.

This program is adapted from Denege’s series of the same title published quarterly in the Friends of the Randell Research Center Newsletter, and from her narrated tours with Captiva Cruises on Calusa Heritage Day.