Final day of Island Hopper Fest held despite effects from Helene

Reporter: Ashley French Writer: Tim Belizaire
Published: Updated:

The last day of the 10th annual Island Hopper Songwriter Festival was held on Fort Myers Beach Sunday afternoon.

Organizers of the annual festival decided to keep the party going three days after Helene swept through the island.

The storm didn’t put a stop to the event. Surprisingly, the turnout was high.

Many people were out by the pool, the bar and the stage, just enjoying themselves and having a good time.

According to the organizers, the possibility of continuing the Island Hopper Festival had been in question.

On Thursday, Helene swept through Fort Myers Beach, causing flash flooding and pushing sand onto the roads. Several businesses were impacted.

A few festival events and shows were canceled Friday due to the damage.

Ray Sarrarcino is the Director of Communications for the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau.

He said while the storm caused concern for organizing, they managed to keep Island Hopper going while also keeping safety in mind.

“There was a great deal of conversation and a great deal of coordination,” said Sarrarcino. “There’s a number of moving parts and organizations that were invloved in producing Island Hopper. We wanted to ensure their safety was first and foremost. A couple of events were canceled on Friday, but thankfully, we were able to take a big-picture view and move forward with this weekend’s events, and it’s been going really well.”

Jacki Liszak is the President of the Fort Myers Beach Chamber. She said that the community helped in ensuring the Island Hopper Festival was a success.

“We support each other, and we literally cleaned up and started to open our businesses right back again,” said Liszak. “I mean, neighbors helping neighbors. Friday morning, we were out there cleaning things up and wiping the mud off stuff and pressure washing. We were blessed this time, we had power and water. During Ian, we didn’t have that.”

Liszak said that this also highlights the importance of community fellowship and support amid the storm.

“The economic impact of this is immense for us,” said Liszak. “Even more important is the spiritual boost, the emotional boost that this means to us, the people who are in this pool, who came to Fort Myers Beach to support us. Honestly, I’m getting goosebumps just talking about it because our businesses desperately need this. Yeah, we’re a little tattered around the edges, but that’s OK. We can manage that.”

The turnout for the Island Hopper festival did not disappoint nor was the community’s spirit damaged in the storm’s aftermath.




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