Former interim Fort Myers Beach Town Manager Keith Wilkins made a quick decision several months ago that so many of you are going to be extremely happy he made.
One day back in February, while biking down Estero Boulevard, Wilkins took a picture of every hand-painted street sign from the Big Carlos Pass Bridge to Margaritaville. At the time Wilkins knew how much those signs meant to residents on the island. Every street sign was wiped out by Hurricane Ian and volunteers decided to hand-paint the colorful signs, not only to give people direction but to give them hope. It was one of the first signs that the people on the beach were ready to build back. They loved the signs and the beach vibe they threw off, especially with so much destruction around them.
This week Wilkins was joined by Estero Island Historical Society President Ellie Bunting at the Fort Myers Beach Town Council meeting. Wilkins and Bunting showed the pictures Wilkins took as a poster and as coasters. Both will be sold by the Historical Society to raise funds to help the 501c3 pay for repairs to the Historical Society buildings at 161 Bay Road.
While the poster only shows 12 of the signs, Wilkins took 75 pictures and he tells Beach Talk Radio News that if you want coasters made from your street sign they are able to do that for you. The 75 street signs are along Estero Boulevard only. There were not any pictures taken down the side streets.
Bunting is putting together the pricing for both the posters and coasters and as soon as that is set we will update this story and post everything to our Facebook page.
I don’t live there our even close but have become attached to this island .. thanks to beach talk radio, Ed and Kim and Stephen Clark i learned all about ft Myers beach and have followed since I found you on Facebook after Ian.. I feel apart if this island!!!
Love this idea – a great way to save the beautiful signs that Katrina and Ryan made – will watch for link to order mine!! Thanks for doing this!!
I’d love some coasters with my street sign on them!
I’m thinking the actual signs should be incorporated into the handrails of the new pier, covered with some heavy duty epoxy or something so they can live on forever!!
A fine way to commemorate the early stages of FMB’s resurgence and an excellent fundraiser. Thank you, Katrina, Ryan and Keith!We Board members hope the Estero Island Historic Society can one day house and display the hand-painted original street signs.
Keith is forever an honorary FMB resident!
Who do we contact if we want coasters from one picture that is not part of the ones above
The credit for those sign goes to the organizers, Katrina Young and Ryan.
Their idea, money, and also every Saturday they gathered volunteers to not only clean up after Ian, and also many volunteers gathered to paint. They also supplied all of the clean up tools, painting supplies and fed volunteers.
What a great idea!
Great idea!
Fantastic idea Keith! Thank you. We will definitely be purchasing!