CURRENT ISSUE — CALENDAR — NEWS — COVERS — EDITORIAL ARCHIVES — EDITORIAL ART GALLERY
ART GALLERY GUIDE — ATTRACTIONS GUIDE — COLLEGE GUIDE — DINING GUIDE — MUSIC & THEATER SEASON GUIDE — ADVERTISER LINKS
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
A T T R A C T I O N S
BROADWAY PALM DINNER THEATRE — CAPTIVA CRUISES — EDISON & FORD WINTER ESTATES — J.N. 'DING' DARLING WILDLIFE REFUGE
MOTE AQUARIUM — NAPLES BOTANICAL GARDEN — NAPLES MUSEUM OF ART — THE NAPLES PLAYERS
ROOKERY BAY NATIONAL ESTUARINE RESEARCH RESERVE — SEMINOLE GULF RAILWAY — THE SHELL FACTORY & NATURE PARK
Broadway Palm
Dinner Theatre
1380 Colonial Boulevard
Fort Myers
278-4422
tickets@broadwaypalm.com
www.broadwaypalm.com
Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, in Fort Myers celebrates its 17th Season. The theatre is 30 minutes from Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre includes the main stage with 450-seats, a 90-seat blackbox theatre called The Off Broadway Palm, a lobby bar, gift shop and art gallery. This season includes Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Christmas Carol, George M!, The King and I, Ring of Fire & Footloose. The main stage features an award-winning buffet and seven Broadway style musicals with a live orchestra. The Off Broadway Palm presents comedies and musical revues in a more intimate atmosphere. Broadway Palm also offers three professional children's theatre productions each season. The theatre is handicapped accessible and offers hearing aids.
Dinner Theatre
1380 Colonial Boulevard
Fort Myers
278-4422
tickets@broadwaypalm.com
www.broadwaypalm.com
Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, in Fort Myers celebrates its 17th Season. The theatre is 30 minutes from Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre includes the main stage with 450-seats, a 90-seat blackbox theatre called The Off Broadway Palm, a lobby bar, gift shop and art gallery. This season includes Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, A Christmas Carol, George M!, The King and I, Ring of Fire & Footloose. The main stage features an award-winning buffet and seven Broadway style musicals with a live orchestra. The Off Broadway Palm presents comedies and musical revues in a more intimate atmosphere. Broadway Palm also offers three professional children's theatre productions each season. The theatre is handicapped accessible and offers hearing aids.
4820 Bayshore Drive
Naples
643-7275
info@naplesgarden.org
www.naplesgarden.org
Naples Botanical Garden is in the process of creating a world-class tropical garden paradise that will include three major gardens – the Vicky C. and David Byron Smith Children's Garden, Brazilian Garden, and the Kathleen and Scott Kapnick Caribbean Garden – as well as the Mary and Stephen B. Smith River of Grass and the Pfeffer-Beach Family Butterfly House. The Garden also includes a unique 90-acre nature sanctuary with seven different ecosystems that is home to a wide variety of wildlife. The Collier Enterprises South Wetlands features the James and Linda White Birding Tower where birds have been enjoying the restored marsh, and the Smith Upland Preserve, home to over fifty-five endangered gopher tortoises. The Garden will open its expanded 170-acre tropical garden with a weeklong celebration the second week of November.
Naples Museum of Art
5833 Pelican Bay Blvd.
Naples
597-1900
customerservice@thephil.org
www.thephil.org
The region's only full-scale art museum opened to the public in 2000. The three-story, 30,000-sq.-fot. museum features 15 galleries showcasing a variety of painting, sculpture and drawing by acclaimed artists from around the world. Among the permanent holdings of the museum are a major collection of about 300 paintings and drawings by American masters from1900-1955 and one of the largest collections of 20th Century Mexican art in the Southern United States. The museum features a glass-dome conservatory, chandeliers by world-renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly and entrance doors by celebrated metal artist Albert Paley. The museum has organized and presented a number of important exhibitions, including works by Andrew Wyeth, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Helen Frankenthaler, and others. The Naples Museum of Art is a division of the Philharmonic Center for the Arts.
11401 Andy Rosse Lane
Captiva
472-5300
info@captivacruises.com www.captivacruises.com
Since 1986, Captiva Cruises has been offering a variety of cruises that explore wildlife, local ecology, history and intriguing islands accessible only by boat. The expeditions depart from charming Captiva Island off the coast of Fort Myers and cruise the waters of Pine Island Sound, which promises unforgettable scenery and wildlife. Destinations include Cabbage Key, Useppa, Boca Grande and Cayo Costa State Park – great on our public cruises or as charter destinations. The newest addition to the Captiva Cruises fleet is a 40-foot sailing catamaran, the Adventure, which hosts a variety of cruises from beach and shelling sails to two-hour sunset cruises to a shoreline discovery guided beach walk on a barrier island. Captiva Cruises is locally owned and operated by an experienced staff of captains, guides and event planners.
National Wildlife Refuge
1 Wildlife Drive
Sanibel
472-1100
www.fws.gov/dingdarling
More than 6,000 acres of pristine wetlands and wildlife are protected by the federal government, thanks to the efforts of Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist and politically active conservationist J.N. ‘Ding’ Darling, a regular Captiva visitor in the 1930s. A 4-mile drive takes you through the refuge, once a satellite of the original Everglades National Wildlife Refuge. To really experience ‘Ding,’ get out of the car. At the very least follow the easy trails into mangrove, bird, and alligator territory. Look for roseate spoonbills, yellow-crowned night herons, white pelicans, and dozens of other lbirds. Narrated tram and guided canoe tours are available The education center holds hands-on wildlife displays, realistic habitat vignettes, bird sculptures, and a birders’ room. Naturalist programs take place throughout the week in season.
701 5th Avenue South
Naples
434-7340
theatre@naplesplayers.org
www.naplesplayers.org
In the heart of Naples, on vibrant 5th Avenue South, The Naples Players, popular creators of exciting live theatre, celebrate their 57th year of audience-pleasing productions. Entertainment is presented year-round in the beautiful multi-million dollar Sugden Community Theatre, in 320-seat Blackburn Hall for full-scale musicals and contemporary hits, and 100-seat Tobye Studio Theatre for cutting-edge works. An eight-play winter season and a two-show summer season of musicals, comedies, dramas and cutting-edge works are given professional presentation; additionally, there are seven youth theatre productions yearly, and widely varied classes in all aspects of theatre for both adults and children. Tickets, very reasonably priced, are available at The Naples Players' Box Office: 263-7990.
Winter Estates
2350 McGregor Blvd.
Fort Myers
334-7419
www.efwefla.org
The Edison & Ford Winter Estates is a world-class cultural and educational resource honoring the innovation and creativity of two of America's most influential individuals - Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Visitors to the Estates can enjoy 20 acres of historical buildings, beautiful gardens, Edison's Research Lab and the Estates Museum that has an impressive collection of inventions, artifacts and special exhibitions. The Estates is open daily from 9 AM - 5:30 PM. For more information visit the website: www.efwefla.org or phone 239-334-7419.
National Estuarine
Research Reserve
300 Tower Road
Naples • 417-6310
info@rookerybay.org
www.rookerybay.org
Located at the western edge of the Everglades, Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve encompasses 110,000 acres of native habitats including pristine mangrove forest, uplands and protected waters. The Reserve represents one of the few relatively undisturbed mangrove estuaries in North America. Rookery Bay’s Environmental Learning Center features interactive exhibits, aquariums, nature store, art gallery, and butterfly garden. A new children’s exhibit and living food web exhibit will open on National Estuary Day, September 26, 2009. Guided kayak tours through the estuary are also offered weekly, and pre-registration is required. The Environmental Learning Center is located off Collier Blvd. (Hwy 951) between Naples and Marco Island. Hours of operation: 9am-4pm Mon-Fri (May-Oct) and Mon-Sat (Nov-Apr).
1600 Ken Thompson Parkway
Sarasota
941-388-4441
info@mote.org
www.mote.org
Ocean adventures await year ‘round at Mote Aquarium, home to sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, manatees and more than 100 other marine species. See freaky frogfish, graceful seahorses and other wild denizens of Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast and safely pet sea urchins, stingrays and more. You can play marine archaeologist at our newest attraction, Fossil Creek, where guests can buy buckets of sand and sift out hidden sharks’ teeth and other real marine fossils using a sieve in a mini waterway. Then you can take your treasures home. Mote also spotlights sea turtles at our new exhibit, Sea Turtles: Ancient Survivors, where visitors can learn how sea turtles outlived the dinosaurs and how they need our help to survive today. Mote Aquarium is open from 10am-5pm 365 days a year. Tickets are $17 (ages 13 and older), $16 (seniors 66-plus), $12 (kids 4-12) and free for children under 4.
Murder Mystery
Dinner Train
2805 Colonial Boulevard
Fort Myers
275-8487
reservations@semgulf.com
www.semgulf.com
A unique dining experience featuring a comical murder mystery show, a scrumptious five course dinner and a nostalgic train ride. Wed through Satu at 6:30pm and Sun at 5:30pm, Year Round. Be sure to visit our gift shop featuring specialty railroad merchandise and books, as well as Seminole Gulf Railway souvenirs and toys. Call now for reservations 239-275-8487. Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun $59 plus tax and gratuity; Sat $69+ tax and gratuity. Seminole Gulf Railway also operates a daytime excursion train on Wed & Sat at 11am and Sun at 1:30pm from Thanksgiving through Labor Day, and on special occasions during the fall. Adults $19.95 plus tax; Children (ages 3-12) $11.95 plus tax. We accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover.
and Nature Park
(US 41)
2787 N. Tamiami Trail
North Fort Myers
995-2141
questions@shellfactory.com
www.shellfactory.com
The world’s largest collection of rare shells, sponges, coral, fossils and sea life specimens. The year-round Christmas House is sure to bring back happy memories of every holiday. Thousands of gifts and unique displays, exhibits and collections including the Natural History Exhibit and Money Museum. Tummy pleasers include Capt’n Fishbones moderately priced seafood & steaks, cocktails and children’s menu. Enjoy tropical weather with your four-legged friend at Dogbones’s Café. Get wet with water wars, enjoy bumper boats, and play the ‘Masters’ with a round of miniature golf. The Groovy Stop Video Arcade boasts games for everyone. Nature Park presents many species of animals, birds, reptiles and fish; two aviaries, a botanical trail, gemstone mining and many other exhibits.