Charles Runnells | Naples Daily News
It’s official: Famous car enthusiast Jay Leno headlines next year’s Naples Automotive Experience, the multi-day event that includes the popular Cars on 5th.
The comedian and former host of The Tonight Show will perform stand-up comedy Thursday, Feb. 6, at Hertz Arena for Jay Leno Charity Comedy Night. Southwest Florida’s popular Ben Allen Band opens the show.
Leno will also attend an exclusive display of curated cars for a Friday, Feb. 7 event called The Ultimate Garage Tour with Jay Leno. Guests can mingle with him, learn about the cars’ history and enjoy live music, food and drinks.
In addition to Leno, Emmy Award-winning Hollywood stylist Brenda Cooper hosts a fashion event Friday, Feb. 7, called Forever Fabulous Women. The 1960s’ British-themed event includes Cooper sharing her fashion and styling secrets, a fashion show featuring clothing from the St. Matthew’s House Thrift Store fashion department, an English-style tea, a silent auction and a book signing with Cooper.
Read the full article and enjoy automobile photos on naplesnews.com.
Laura Layden | Naples Daily News
After much back and forth, Naples City Council narrowly approved a new mixed-use building downtown.
First approved by council in 2013, the larger planned development known as Naples Square, has continued to evolve at the corner of Fifth Avenue South and Goodlette-Frank Road.
The new three-story building, known as Encore, will include 15 luxury homes on two floors, with 6,825 square feet of retail and office spaces sitting underneath.
The commercial uses could include a small cafe.
The hearing ran for hours, with several council members raising concerns about the project’s impact on everything from roads to water drainage – and questioning whether it violated city rules.
In the end, council voted 4-3 in favor of the project Wednesday.
Read more about this development on naplesnews.com.
Phil Fernandez | Naples Daily News
Golf is dying? Get your head out of the bunker.
Newly arriving and redeveloping golf courses and country clubs are major drivers for the Naples area’s booming construction industry fueling the local economy.
And 105 years after the first Collier County course that eventually became part of Naples Airport, there’s good reason for that: The sport is hotter than ever after last decade’s lull led to widespread predictions of pending doom.
Established in 1936, the National Golf Federation found that more rounds were played in 2023 than at any other time in its history, and it’s trending even higher this year and more than 10% ahead of where it was in leaner times prior to the pandemic, when new and younger enthusiasts discovered the hobby and others returned to it.
“COVID hit, and it was a run on golf,” said Jason Becker, who is founder of Naples-based Golf Life Navigators, which inspired by the E-Harmony concept matches prospective members with clubs, and makes appearances on Golf Radio Network podcasts geared toward private club managers. “What happened was all the golf courses became full.”
And that hasn’t subsided…Read the full article on naplesnews.com.
Chad Gillis | Fort Myers News-Press
Hurricane Idalia brought hundreds of flamingos from Mexico to the eastern United State just over a year ago, and it appears some of the birds are lingering in the Sunshine State.
Florida has long had a love affair with American flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber). Our lottery tickets boast the image of a flamingo, although some researchers doubt the bird actually lived here in large numbers.
There was even a town named Flamingo, which now exists as a major entry point into Everglades National Park and Florida Bay.
And now it seems the birds may be here to stay after being swept up by Hurricane Idalia and blown here.
Since Idalia, Florida has a least a few dozen of the giant pink birds, mostly strung along coastal preserves and undeveloped mangroves islands.
Standing about 5 feet tall and weighing up to 8 pounds, flamingos are distributed across much of the Caribbean.
Last summer the birds were strung out across much of the eastern United States, in places like Ohio ― more than 1,000 miles away from their home Mexico.
See photos and read where the flamingos have been seen on naplesnews.com.
Are you looking for a home in Southwest Florida? Contact David at David at David@DavidFlorida.com or 239-285-1086 for more information and to view homes in Naples, Bonita Springs and Marco Island.
Diana Biederman | Naples Daily News
I remember skipping New York City’s semi-annual “Restaurant Week” because of a few disappointing meals served up during its early years.
I recall servers at higher-end restaurants seeming less enthusiastic about working those dates. Special three-course prix-fixe menus were created to make the price points work but were rarely indicative of a chef’s talent.
That first restaurant week in 1992 was priced $19.92, making it tricky for participating restaurants to make any money even though their staffs were working so much harder because demand volume was crazy.
Case in point: When working at ‘21,’ we served tilapia instead of the famous market-price Dover sole and a human-sized portion of the legendary burger with a different bun to make Restaurant Week’s price points work.
For years, the price crept up a penny.
But Sizzle Dining is different, especially during an offseason when COVID returned and it was too steamy to dine outside. It got butts in seats for restaurants during a traditionally slow month while offering sweet deals to patrons. Participating restaurants also fork over $1 for every meal sold to Blessings in a Backpack.
Making a list, checking it twice
JLB is always looking for the biggest bang for her buckaroos. So how to choose?
Find out how to choose on naplesnews.com.
Mark H. Bickel | Naples Daily News
October has arrived. For those of us living in Southwest Florida that can mean many things, but nothing bigger than cooler weather is coming soon (hopefully) and right behind it snowbirds and tourists.
It’s called season.
The fact that more people travel here in the late fall, winter and early spring, has the attention of commercial airlines like Breeze Airways. Starting back in the spring Breeze has been announcing added routes for seasonal travelers as well as some permanent routes at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers.
There are 11 total, including seven starting this week from $65* one way.
The first three new routes begin on Wednesday (Oct. 2, 2024).
Check out the new routes on naplesnews.com.
Visiting Southwest Florida? Contact David at David at David@DavidFlorida.com or 239-285-1086 to arrange to view properties in Naples, Bonita Springs and Marco Island.
