Big Crowds Mark 40th Shell Club Show

Shell enthusiasts were waiting outside the door for the start of the 40th Marco Island Shell Club Show, held March 10th through the 12th at New Life Christian Church. When the doors opened Thursday morning shell club members were inundated with the first of over 600 visitors who were excited to add to their collection of seashells and shell art.

 “The first day is always very, very crowded,” said John Tunnel, the shell club’s publicity chairman. "People rush in here when we open the first door because they want to go in there and buy some of that really neat stuff before it’s all gone. But the show is not only about the art stuff that we sell, but about the contests with the artistic people and the scientific people. The judges were in here Wednesday afternoon and put out all the ribbons.

“We were packed yesterday, said Cindy Wesolowski, President of the Marco Island Shell Club. "We had close to 600 people come through yesterday. Everybody wants to get here the first day for the first choice of whatever they’re looking for. We’re celebrating our 40th shell show. In addition to that, we’re honoring Emily Savage, who is a longtime member of the shell club. We had a little ceremony with her. She had Shells by Emily, the shop. We were all sad when that closed. But she’s still been an active member of our club. She is amazing. She’s like the Energizer Bunny, she just keeps going.”

 “I’ll be 93 next week,” Emily Savage said proudly. “I feel great.”

Wesolowski thinks those digits might be backwards.

"She acts like she’s 39,” Wesolowski quipped.

Savage has been a fixture in the shelling scene on the island since the 1970s, both with her business and with the shell club. She enjoys reflecting on the club’s success.

"I think it’s been phenomenal,” Savage said. "When you think that the shell club started with two card tables and a few people in a garage in 1978. Look at it now. I consider it a collage, all the people are a little composite part of it. When it was all done it came out as the Marco Island Shell Club, a success story. They have overcome so many things. They didn’t always have a meeting place. They managed to find another. They didn’t always have storage space. They found storage space. It was on the second floor - and that was a problem, having to go up and down stairs every time there was a shell show. You had to bring the shells down, then bring them back up after the shows. That was hard. They finally had to find another meeting place and a place for the shells. But they did it. And here we are 40 years later, having a very successful event.”

The 40th shell show had to be put on hold due to the COVID pandemic.

"With COVID,” Wesolowski said, "we haven’t been able to have a show for the past two years. This is the first time we’ve had actual juried exhibits in the last three years. We have our exhibits broken down by artistic on the left side and on the right side are our scientific exhibits. We have people come from all over the country that exhibit. Yesterday we had all of the judges here. They came in and judged all the exhibits Wednesday evening. So, the people came in and found out if they won prizes or trophies."

Wesolowski said there are always surprises at the show.

“There are some amazing things here,” Wesolowski said. "Sometimes it’s not such a rare shell, but an anomaly. It’s different than it’s supposed to be. It has a repair. It has different coloration. It could be an albino. We have lots of rare shells on exhibit on the science side.”

Shelling is a big deal on Marco Island. With a three-and-a-half-mile crescent beach, beautiful shells can be found from tip to tip.

“We have people who go shelling every day,” Wesolowski said. "It hasn’t been a great year for shelling, but after some strong westerly winds, a couple of days later we’ll get some good shelling. Most of the activity is at the points, South Beach and Tigertail. Unfortunately, it seems like the 10,000 islands have been discovered by the tour companies. So, if you go down to Kice Island, or Cape Romano or even Second Chance Island, there’s lots of people down there shelling, where it used to be hardly anyone went down there.

The most sought-after shell is the junonia.

“The rarest shell is the junonia,” Wesolowski said. "Everybody wants to find a junonia. We do have some here on display. The most common shells we find are the lighting whelk, the Florida fighting conch. And they come in various sizes. People have their favorites, shark’s eyes, lettered olives."

Wesolowski said people do find junonias on Marco Beach and nearby islands.

“Oh yes,” Wesolowski said, "after a storm you’ll watch the social media and see people reporting they found a junonia on Tigertail or Kice.”

But the coveted junonia is not Wesolowski’s favorite.

"My favorite shell is my birth shell, the baby’s ear. There’s a shell for every month of the year. I’m born in October and that makes my shell the baby’s ear. They’re a little rare to find, but I have found three in the last 10 years on Marco. I found a junonia on Kice Island about two years ago.”

The Marco Island Shell Club is a 501(c)(3) organization. All of the hard work of their 80 members goes toward helping others.

“The proceeds from our shows and our sales are used for our education scholarship fund,” Wesolowski said. "Every year we have an endowment with FGCU. We give an undergraduate and graduate scholarship to a student who is studying marine biology or environmental sciences. We also support the local schools. This year we partnered with the Bailey Shell Museum up in Sanibel. We brought over 600 students to experience touching live mollusks and shells by having their Mollusks on the Move live tanks come to the schools in the county. We will continue to do that. We also support the science departments in the local schools. We buy them microscopes, seine nets. We use our funds to educate people on all things seashells. From the very young, teaching them to respect that there are live animals in seashells and they shouldn’t take them home if there are still critters living in them. To people who shell all the time and want to know what to do with their shells. We hold workshops for people who want to learn how to craft and make artwork with their shells.

Because of space limitations, the club has had to cap their membership. Consequently, there are some disappointed shellers.

"Because of COVID,” Wesolowski said, "we were forced to switch from our old facility to a new facility. We are meeting at Mackle Park. Because of that, our room has a limitation. So, we had to cut off our membership at that capacity. We had a lot of people who were disappointed. That’s the way it goes."

One eager newcomer is Sharon Lewis, who decided she wanted to do something more with her shell obsession. Her name tag had a bright yellow sticker that read **NEW**.

“It’s very zen-like,” said Sharon Lewis, explaining her love of seashells, “when you’re working on shells it’s quiet, peaceful. This is my first year. I’m very new. I’ve always loved shells. It’s the shells, everybody loves the shells. It’s a big hit. I like everyone I’ve met. Everyone is generous with their time. They’re willing to teach you.”

Lewis started as a customer. Now she’s part of the team, creating shell art for the customers who are hungry for the club members’ creations. All of Lewis’s creations sold out the first day.

 "I saw this being advertised,” Lewis said of her introduction to the shell show. "I’m a big consumer of it - I’d come and I’d buy it. So, I thought, 'I’m buying everything, and I love it. I wonder how I can become a part of it?'  They have a limited number of members. I think it’s 80 members. They had some openings in January. So, I thought, ‘Wow I’d like to be a part of it.’  You just apply and tell why you want to do it. And you have to come every Friday, that’s when we make all of this. They start in October and go through March. I think it’s just fabulous. The fact that you just make it and put it here for sale."

Just then a customer approaches Lewis, holding her bucket of shell creations.

“You got cleaned out,” the customer said, looking at the half-empty table in front of Lewis.

“They told me yesterday they had swarms of people,” said the customer.