Fort Myers Beach lights up with resilience and Christmas spirit

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Getting in the Christmas spirit, Fort Myers Beach style.

The poinsettia tree in Times Square is now shining bright; the community joined together Monday evening for the second annual tree lighting ceremony.

WINK News reporter Maddie Herron went to the lighting and saw firsthand how people reacted to seeing the lights come on.

On Fort Myers Beach, you don’t need the iconic clock to know what time it is; “Christmas is not just about presents! It’s also about friends and your parents, your cousins and everyone in your family,” said resident Sonny Gomez-Khan.

On Monday, the island community gathered in Times Square for a tree-lighting ceremony, and even the big man himself visited.

“We are just lighting up our poinsettia tree. We just lit the star. It is something we’ve done down here on Fort Myers Beach since 1995, and it just gets bigger and better. Even hurricane Ian couldn’t stop it,” said Fort Myers Beach’s very own Santa.

The idea for these gorgeous red flowers bloomed in the wake of Hurricane Ian after one Fort Myers Beach family decided to donate the festive plants.

Two years later and the tradition still lights up the community.

Andrew Hyatt, the town manager of Fort Myers Beach, said, “They’re just giving back to the community to make sure that people have a focal point for Christmas.”

“It’s interesting because right where you’re standing, there’s been about three to four feet of sand. So that’s the thing. Staff just did an excellent job,” said Hyatt. “There’s still a lot to be done here as we go forward, and we will continue to do more.”

A Christmas story of resilience.

The future of Fort Myers Beach is shining bright for more reasons than one.

Vanessa Khan, another resident, said, “Everything that everybody’s been through, they keep pulling together, doing wonderful things for the community, so we can show the resilience on Fort Myers Beach.”

Monday night’s fun didn’t stop at these lights; kids got to fill out these letters to Santa and write whether they were naughty or nice this year.

We are happy to report that Santa told us that all the children of Fort Myers Beach made the nice list this year, and he’ll be back in town very soon.

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