Time for Spring Events!

Although it feels like many people have left for the summer, I’m surprised to see how crowded our streets and restaurants still remain! We do have beautiful weather, so I don’t blame the winter residents who are not anxious to leave yet. I don’t have a place to go, but if I did, I’d stay here anyway! 

* Yes, it’s been Pickleball time again, and it is even more widely popular now than ever before! They’ve added more places for people to camp and hang out, and more things to do, more parking, and lots of stuff. They had to be very creative to find the space to get all that stuff done! Jim and Carol Ludwig took me over to the park, and Carol and I sat together as we’ve done every year since it opened. Of course, Terri and Kris were there, carefully helping everything go according to plan. These four people were the people who introduced me to Pickleball originally, and because of them, and I helped a little too, we BROUGHT Pickleball here to East Naples and really to more of America! It’s been a thrilling adventure, and we’ve all remained friends! Of course, I’m not on the Commission anymore, so I can’t help them, but the new commissioners are right there to help them. We, right here in East Naples Community Park, are the Pickleball CAPITAL OF THE WORLD! Those people who I’ve just named knew what they were doing, and we have the privilege of enjoying the results! I hope some of you got to see it at East Naples Community Park! It was thrilling! It’s now behind us, but if you go to the East Naples Community Park, it still has the 60 courts, and they are ready for you to play! There are plenty of things to do, and people start playing at 7:00 AM or earlier. No other park in the WORLD has that many courts in one Park. Well, let’s face it, how can you keep people entertained and excited to watch the games if you aren’t ready for them? At that, it still is difficult to get a court exactly when you want it. But it’s really worth the wait. There’s even SHADE! 

* The East Naples Civic & Commerce Association (ENC&C) will hold their Business After 5 Working Event on Thursday, April 27th from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM at Brookside Beer Market! Food trucks and drink specials will be waiting for you. ENC&C members are free, non-members are invited, and the cost is only $10. Not much, if you ask me! www.encivicandcommerce.org. Contact Jacob Winge at info@eastnaplescivic.com. We’ve had a good response to these Business After 5’s. Let’s hope you can attend!

Each year the Military Officers Association of Southwest Florida (MOASWF) hosts a Collier County High School JROTC Awards Banquet, and this year’s Banquet will be held on May 12th at Glen Eagle Country Club at 5:00 PM. The Awards Banquet will be attended by the cadets and their family members at no cost to them or their families. The Senior Army Instructor (SAI) from each Battalion will introduce the awarding cadet. Members of the MOASWF Chapter, local, and also the community, are invited to attend. This year the Gulf Coast JROTC Battalion Choir (this is a first for us!) will be singing patriot music under the direction of SAI Col. Michael Shoen. Each year one Junior from EACH High School Battalion in Collier County is selected by their battalion to receive the MOAA Certificate of Award and combination medal and ribbon to recognize their leadership and academic achievement. The event Chair this year is Lt. Neil Frost (USN). MOASWF grants are awarded to each battalion each year. MOASWF grants this year will be for cadets from each Battalion, who will then be chaperones for Veterans on the Lee County Honor Flights.