Chamber says thanks to all for successful MangoMania
To the Editor:
On behalf of the entire board of directors of the Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce, I would like to say a huge “Thank you!” to all who helped make the 13th annual MangoMania Tropical Fruit Fair a successful event. The weather cooperated with us this year – no rain, so there were no interruptions in the schedule of events during the two-day festival. For all those who braved the sweltering heat to come out and enjoy everything offered, we thank you, and hope you were pleased by what you saw and experienced. I know that many plants and trees were purchased, arts and crafts items were sold and the variety of food dishes should not have left anyone hungry.
I would like to personally thank all the many volunteers, both individuals and groups, who helped make the festival a success. Thanks to all the hard-working board members for rounding up volunteers for the gates and handling the tasting table, the games, contests and more. Thanks to the Matlacha Hookers and the Matlacha Mariners for staffing the beer booths – the challenge of which group could sell the most beer made volunteering for this duty fun; the staff of TIB Bank for supervising the contests and games, along with the girls from Pine Island Dance who assisted them; Pine Island Community Church Youth group – again you were awesome with the trash collection – a necessary chore for any event. Thanks to our sponsors LCEC and TIB Bank for the souvenir shirts, Suncoast Beverages/Budweiser as an entertainment sponsor, SW Florida Happenings Magazine, Lee County Family News, Breeze Newspapers, HONC Industries and the News-Press. Special thanks to D.J. Ruscik, Wayne Reed and Jim Griffiths for all their “sweat work” laying out the vendor spaces – and to Wayne and Jim as the “Mango Police” (thanks for not arresting me). There are many more individuals whose hard work made this event run smoothly – thanks to all of you.
Last, but certainly not least, thanks to my unexpected “gift” volunteer, Gwen Stewart, who appeared out of the blue to gain experience in Special Events for her college major; I hope we will see more of her smiling face when we are planning events at the chamber.
Lisa Benton,
Executive Director
Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce