Matlacha Isles gets 2017 facelift
The corner of Pine Island Road and Matlacha Boulevard got a facelift on Feb. 1-2. Over 15 residents turned out for the planning and re-painting of the entrance gates to Matlacha Isles.
The beautification project started in January with a meeting to select the colors to be applied to the gates and to discuss other ways to “undo” the entrance. The people who were at the meeting decided on one of several selections of drawn-up colored options. Also decided was the removal of the four large concrete balls that were placed on each corner post. They then discussed the removal of the unkempt and unsightly free newspaper/magazine boxes north of the west gate. They were deemed illegally placed by Lee County standards and will be removed. It was felt that anyone who wanted the magazines could go across the street to the Chamber of Commerce who also supplied them.
The entrance to Matlacha Isles has gained quite a history since the ’60s. With the onset of Matlacha Isles in 1966, the gates were installed early on with brown lettering hand painted on their tan walls.
In 1978, the residents of Matlacha Isles had the street light installed at the entrance off Pine Island Road. People stated it was very hard to see the street when it was dark. Only 61 of the Isles’ 130 homes had been built at the time.
According to one of the original residents of the Isles, Don Huff wrote, “Around 1980, a gal – she might have been drinking as she said she thought she was turning onto Stringfellow Road, ran into the gate on the east side and took a good part of the wall down.”
Don Huff, along with Don Brown and several others rebuilt the wall.
About 1989, concrete pelicans were installed on the posts. They had later been smashed by vandals. Vernon Plummer stated in a 1989 letter that they “must have flown away.”
Jim Marino, an artist and wood carver, was an early overseer of the gates. During his time, he re-painted and air brushed the walls three times and mounted a 40-inch hand-carved wooden tarpon and a 40-inch snook on them. They were since stolen. He then painted the same fish images where his original fish had been. These and the letters were painted in dark blue over a white background.
Cheryl Lamm, also an artist, has overseen the gates from 2003 till the present. In 2003, she painted four scenes on the side panels; a fisherman catching a fish, an osprey, a pelican and a boating scene. Then she and other volunteers added orange shadows behind the big blue letters.
In 2010, George Cavada had permanent concrete raised letters installed on the walls. These added much needed dimension to them. Again, the gates were repainted by volunteers.
The 2017 volunteers who assisted in the planning and painting of the entrance gates were Barb Peckinpaugh, Wendy Kline, Sandy Purrier, Joan Ferketich, Debbie Maynard, Fran Martorella, Kim Krugle, Orion Anderson, Mary Anderson, Bill Zaring, Barb Zaring, Joe Laupert, Jeff Mahle, Dale Mahle, Donna Yorkston, George Yorkston, Rick Shields and Cheryl Lamm.
This work was paid for by the generosity of the residents of Matlacha Isles.