Cape Harbour’s New Year’s celebration draws thousands
Cape Harbour’s New Year’s Eve celebration continues to be the city’s most famous party, drawing people from not only Cape Coral or Lee County, but from around the nation.
The thousands that flocked to the waterfront community Friday night to ring in the New Year were treated to live music, a ball drop and fireworks when the clock struck midnight.
Bill Marshall was having a great time, hanging out with family and friends.
Visiting from Missouri, Marshall said Cape Coral was one stop on a whirlwind tour of Florida that also included the theme park circuit in Orlando.
He said he was enjoying his first visit to Cape Coral, and Cape Harbour.
“I really like it here, this is a great area. Everyone has been really friendly,” Marshall said.
Looking back at 2010, Marshall said he had no regrets, and was thankful for all of the positive things in his life, especially his job.
“I was one of the lucky ones who wasn’t unemployed,” Marshall said.
Revelers came to celebrate, of course, but they also provide lots of exposure for Cape Harbour’s shops and restaurants.
Ellen Bianchi from the Harbour View Art Gallery said that while people like the Marshall family are discovering Cape Harbour for the first time, so are others who live right here in Lee County.
Bianchi, also a successful artist who creates unique paper castings, thinks the New Year’s Eve celebration is invaluable to Cape Harbour.
“It is about added exposure but its also improved sales,” Bianchi said. “But there’s also a lot of people from Fort Myers and Cape Coral who’ve never been to the gallery.”
Shirley Hale was using the celebration as an opportunity to spread the word about next weekend’s Paint the Cape, an “En Plein Air” competition and exhibition that’s attracted 20 local and national artists, and is hosted by Cape Harbour.
Hale said last year’s inaugural competition faced adversity from some cold, rainy weather. But this year’s forecast was looking much more inviting, a message she tried to share with those who made their way through the gallery while awaiting 2011.
Hale said people were buying tickets for the artist’s reception.
“It was so cold last year but this year its going to be nice. Many of the artists are coming back,” Hale said. “I’ve been letting people know how much fun it’s going to be.”