Another Dolphin Surfaces

When Richard Brey read about the dolphin statue that was restored by Island Automotive in the Coastal Breeze News (Saving History, February 23, 2023), he immediately thought of the dolphin statue that currently resides at the Riverside condominiums on Bald Eagle Drive, where he lives.

“A number of years ago it became available from Arturo’s restaurant,” Brey said. "A previous board member at Riverside stopped and talked to the people. They told him they were going to dump it in the dumpster. They were a demolition crew. It’s been here ever since.”

Brey wants to save the dolphin statue again. According to Brey, the board of directors at Riverside is considering doing away with the statue, that has a damaged flipper but is otherwise in good shape.

“The new board wants it out of here,” Brey said. "When your article came out, that’s when I became aware that our board wants to get rid of it. I thought, ’This isn’t right.' My wife and I were talking about it. My wife saw the article. She said, ‘We’ve got to do something about it.’”

Brey contacted Keith Pershing, owner of Island Automotive, who assured him that the dolphin statue he recently restored was in much worse shape than the one at Riverside.

"My objective is that if we can keep it here fine,” Brey said. “If it has to go offsite, I’d like to contact the people who we got it from, maybe Arturo’s or the new owners of Marek’s. It won’t be thrown away now that it’s been revealed."

There were originally 36 dolphin statues created in a project dubbed Dolphin Debut, organized by Friends of Art and the Marco Island YMCA. The fiberglass dolphin statues were painted and decorated by local artists and auctioned at Marriott’s Marco Island Resort (now JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort). The Dolphin Debut fundraiser was recognized by the City of Marco Island with Resolution No. 03-29 on May 5, 2003.

The dolphin statue that Island Automotive restored used to stand in front of Marek’s restaurant in Old Marco. Somewhere along the line the dolphin’s flippers were removed and reattached. The statue was also given a waiter’s outfit. It was rescued by a local collector who wishes to remain anonymous.