Events
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2024-2025 Season Events
2024-2025 Season Events Archive
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Let’s Talk About Florida – Anna in the Tropics
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 4:00 pm
Join in a lively conversation about Florida history as depicted in literature about Florida. Free and open to all. More details and registration coming soon.
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Let’s Talk About Florida – Tracing Florida Journeys
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 | 4:00 pm
Join in a lively conversation about Florida history as depicted in literature about Florida. Free and open to all. More details and registration coming soon.
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History Bytes – A Seminole History Discussion
Wednesday, February 5, 2025 | 11:00 am
**Registration for this event is now closed.** The Johann Fust Library Foundation and the Boca Grande Historical Society are honored to present a History Byte event focused on our neighbors, the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Registration required.
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History Bytes – David Futch: “Pirates I Have Known”
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 | 11:00 am
In the Loggia of the Johann Fust Library. Open to the public at no charge. Registration required.
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History Bytes – Dusty Hopkins: Publisher and General Manager of the Boca Beacon
Wednesday, February 19, 2025 | 11:00am
In the Loggia of the Johann Fust Library. Open to the public at no charge. Registration required.
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History Bytes – Captain Van Hubbard – “Boca Grande Through A Fisherman’s Eye”
Wednesday, February 26, 2025 | 11:00 am
In the Loggia of the Johann Fust Library. Open to the public at no charge. Registration required.
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Let’s Talk About Florida – The Ultimate Tarpon Book
Tuesday, March 18, 2025 | 4:00 pm
Join moderator David Futch to discuss The Ultimate Tarpon Book by Randy Wayne White on Tuesday, March 18th from 4 to 5 p.m. via Zoom. The book offers everything you could ever want to know about the origins of big game fishing, told in the words of those who were there. No charge to register!
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Let’s Talk About Florida – The Allure of Immortality
Tuesday, April 15, 2025 | 4:00 pm
Join author Lyn Millner to discuss her book, The Allure of Immortality, on Tuesday, April 15th from 4 to 5 p.m. via Zoom. The book tells the story of Cyrus Teed and how he influenced 200 follower to embrace celibacy and to leave Chicago and follow him to Southwest Florida and ultimately establish a Koreshan community in south Fort Myers and on Fort Myers Beach. No charge to register!
2023-2024 Season Events Archive
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Let’s Talk About Florida – Windstill Night: A Journey on the Bellamy Road
Tuesday, October 24, 2023 | 4:00 pm
In the shadow of The Great Depression in north Florida, a young girl sets off on a journey with her baby sister strapped to her back. Along the way, Lily Rose learns to trust and to love. Dark family secrets threaten to catch up to her and shatter the happiness she yearns for. In this uplifting coming of age story, things are not always what they seem. Must she choose between a life of security or a life of passion?
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History First at The History Center
Saturday, November 4, 2023 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
The first Saturday of the month 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Free and open to all
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Veterans Day Memorial Rededication on Boca Grande
Wednesday, November 8, 2023 | 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Unveiling: 5th Street & Gilchrist Ave., 10:00 am. Reception at the History Center: 2:00pm - 4:00pm.
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Lecture – The History of Boat Building on the Gulf Coast of Florida
Tuesday, November 14, 2023 | 2:00 pm
Lecture in the Community Center Auditorium 2:00pm - 3:00 pm. Followed by Reception in Woman’s Club Room.
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Workshop – What Do I Do With Collected Photographs, Memorabilia & Genealogy?
Thursday, November 16, 2023 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
In The Crowninshield Community House, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm. $50 (Includes Materials).
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One Island, Three Hometowns Exhibit Reception & Blaha Library Dedication
Saturday, December 2, 2023 | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
At the Boca Grande Historical Society History Center.
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History First at The History Center
Saturday, December 2, 2023
The first Saturday of the month 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Free and open to all
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Let’s Talk About Florida – One Island, Three Hometowns
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 | 4:00 pm
The following words were the guide and the inspiration in the creation of this compelling journey into time: The proposed book shall “… represent a new educational initiative on the part of the Boca Grande Historical Society and Museum. For the first time, the Society will make a significant part of its extensive photo-image archive available to the public in the context of the recorded recollections of people who grew up or lived a long time on Gasparilla Island, and who now have provided us with accounts of their personal memories as awakened by exposure to these images.”
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History First at The History Center
Saturday, January 6, 2024 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
The first Saturday of the month 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Free and open to all
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CANCELLED Pop Up Meet & Greet & Share Your Stories
Monday, January 15, 2024 | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
This event has been cancelled.
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The Ian Project Documentary Film: Public Showcase
Wednesday, January 31, 2024 | 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Boca Grande Community Center Auditorium. Free and open to the public (registration required).
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Sip & Shop Fundraiser
Thursday, February 1, 2024 | 12:00pm - 5:00pm
J. McLaughlin Store, 360 Park Avenue
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Watch THE IAN PROJECT on Island TV
Daily, Starting February 1, 2024
Showtimes: 10:00 am, 2:00 pm, 6:00 pm, & 8:00 pm
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History First at The History Center
Saturday, February 3, 2024 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
The first Saturday of the month 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Free and open to all
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History Bytes – Picturing The Three Communities of Gasparilla Island 1890-1960 – Kim Kyle
Wednesday, February 7, 2024 | 11:00 am
11:00 am in the Loggia of the Johann Fust Library. Free and open to all. Donations appreciated.
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History Bytes – HERSTORY: Mary Ellen Vickers Parkinson 1918-2004 – Carolyn Parkinson Nabers
Wednesday, February 14, 2024 | 11:00 am
11:00 am in the Loggia of the Johann Fust Library. Free and open to all. Donations appreciated.
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Let’s Talk About Florida – Swamp Peddlers
Tuesday, February 20, 2024 | 4:00 pm
Jason Vuic tells the raucous tale of the sale of residential lots in postwar Florida. Initially selling cheap homes to retirees with disposable income, by the mid-1950s developers realized that they could make more money selling parcels of land on installment to their customers. These “swamp peddlers” completely transformed the landscape and demographics of Florida, devastating the state environmentally by felling forests, draining wetlands, digging canals, and chopping up at least one million acres into grid-like subdivisions crisscrossed by thousands of miles of roads. Generations of northerners moved to Florida cheaply, but at a huge price: high-pressure sales tactics begat fraud; poor urban planning begat sprawl; poorly regulated development begat environmental destruction. All this culminated in the perfect storm of the twenty-first century subprime mortgage crisis.
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History Bytes – HERSTORY: Effie Sapp Joiner 1900-1996 – Leslie Porter Joiner
Wednesday, February 21, 2024 | 11:00 am
11:00 am in the Loggia of the Johann Fust Library. Free and open to all. Donations appreciated.
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History Bytes – HERSTORY: Viola Dyer, Living and Working in Boca Grande 1980s-Present
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 | 11:00 am
11:00 am in the Loggia of the Johann Fust Library. Free and open to all. Donations appreciated.
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History First at The History Center
Saturday, March 2, 2024 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
The first Saturday of the month 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Free and open to all
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Pop Up Exhibit
Monday, March 4, 2024 | 10:00 am -3:00 pm
10:00 am - 3:00 pm in the area next to Gasparilla Outfitters/Special Effects/Boca Beacon
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History First at The History Center
Saturday, April 6, 2024 | 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
The first Saturday of the month 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Free and open to all
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Let’s Talk About Florida – Dreams in the New Century
Tuesday, April 9, 2024 | 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
To have lived in Florida between 2000 and 2010 was to be an eyewitness to history. From the presidential election of 2000 to terrorist cells embedded in Hollywood and Pompano Beach, from four hurricanes in 2004 to algae blooms and increasing alarm over the Everglades and water, from Ponzi schemes and the culture of flipping to foreclosure boat tours of Cape Coral and “For Sale” signs in Lehigh Acres, from the Deepwater Horizon and Silver Springs to the Zika virus and coral bleaching, from “Por Salvar a Elian!” to “Stand Your Ground,” from “Tim Tebow for President” bumper stickers to scandals and last-place finishes, Florida seemed to be the center of the universe. Perhaps the most head-slapping moment occurred in 2010, when demographers forecast that very soon Florida would surpass New York as the nation’s third-largest state. Almost one in ten Florida residents once called New York home. Florida is the Petri Dish State.
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