ANNA MARIA – The first of two city-sponsored “Ring in the Recovery” events drew residents and visitors to Pine Avenue on Saturday afternoon.
A second “Ring in the Recovery” event is scheduled on Saturday, Dec. 21 from 1-5 p.m.
The events are a celebration of the Anna Maria businesses that have reopened since the city was struck by hurricanes Helene and Milton in late September and early October.
Mayor Mark Short invited Santa Claus to sit outside the Anna Maria Historical Museum and visit with youngsters, who were also given gifts. Santa (played by Anna Maria General Manager Dean Jones) was joined by Mrs. Claus (his wife, Laurie) and a helpful elf (Administrative Assistant Barbara Jeffries), whose son, Jackson, handed out candy canes while Mike Sales performed Christmas songs.
“We’re trying to show how much we’ve recovered from the hurricanes and we want to promote the businesses along Pine Avenue and throughout Anna Maria. The city is helping get the word out that they are open for business,” Short said. “This is our first celebration. We’ll have another one next Saturday and we hope to see more people here as we ring in the holiday season.”
Short was joined on the museum grounds by his wife, Pat, and several family members who later visited many Pine Avenue businesses.
Attendees included London residents Kelly and Ramanan Rajamanohara and their infant son, Rory.
Originally from Scotland, Kelly said she’s been visiting Anna Maria since she was 17 or 18 years old. She said they considered postponing their trip, but ultimately decided to vacation on Anna Maria Island as planned.
“My uncle came in the middle of November and said everything was quickly cleaned up,” she said. “It seems a lot quieter, but more businesses are up and running than I expected, which is impressive.”
Ramanan noted more businesses have reopened since they arrived.
Anna Maria resident and retired U.S. Marine Christian Ulanch posed for a photo with Santa, joined by his friend Laurie Schaal, who made a weekend escape from the winter weather in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Schaal asked Santa for some sunny weather before she returned to Michigan on Monday.
BUSINESS RECOVERY
Across the street from the museum, The Island Cabana retail store that reopened on Black Friday had several customers inside browsing and buying.
Next door, AMI Outfitters owner Jennifer Hagey said she and her husband, David, also reopened their store on Black Friday. She said business has been slow but she hopes business will pick up as more vacation rental guests return.
“It’s just nice to be open again,” she said.
Like most ground-level businesses along Pine Avenue, AMI Outfitters suffered storm surge-related water damage.
“A week before Thanksgiving, we had 4 feet of drywall cut out. We lost furnishings and we lost inventory. We weren’t starting from scratch, but it was pretty close. We appreciate the visitors and the local support we’ve been getting and it’s great to see the locals coming back in,” Hagey said.
Olive Oil Outpost owner Kelly Kari said, “We opened on Tuesday and today we’re just getting things more in order, having our doors open, welcoming everybody back and trying to get our rhythm back that we’ve had for the last 15 years. We took on about 2 feet of water. We had to have the drywall replaced and mold mitigation done. We had to buy new refrigeration equipment and new fixtures but it feels good to be open again. We specialize in olive oil, but we also have wine, cheeses, meats, pastas and pasta sauces,” she said.
She’s keeping her fingers crossed for the upcoming holiday and tourist seasons and she said, “Come on out to Pine Avenue.”
AMI Beach & Dog Supply owner Janalee Gallagher said, “We got a foot-and-a-half to 2 feet of water – just enough to take out the drywall and the electrical. We lost most of our dog food and dog treats and our dog shirts, dog bandanas and those kinds of things absorbed a lot of the smell.
“We reopened two weeks before Thanksgiving and we were the first retail store open on Pine Avenue. I don’t know that it did us a lot of good, because there was no traffic, but we’re starting to see a lot of local folks coming out, which is fantastic. And I make sure to thank the people who are coming from out of town. I say thanks so much for not canceling your vacation. We’re glad to be here because some places aren’t coming back. We’re lucky.”
Hometown Desserts owner Cindy Tutterow and her employee, Kiersten Blandon, had a table set up outside the dessert shop, next to a pink Christmas tree.
“Today we’re just taking Christmas orders and selling gift certificates and our pretty coffee mugs. We’re going to try to open next Saturday, the 21st,” Tutterow said. “We make all kinds of cakes, including our best seller, key lime coconut cake. We also make pies, cookies, decorated Christmas cookies and some gluten-free items too.”
Blandon said, “I’m excited. I miss working and seeing everybody coming into the shop.”
Shiny Fish Emporium owner Rebecca Preston reopened for Thanksgiving weekend after about 3 feet of water flooded the emporium and damaged her inventory, drywall and displays.
“It’s been quiet, but weekends are better and we are seeing some tourists,” she said.
When describing the emporium’s offerings, Preston said, “A little bit of wonderment. Resort wear, Christmas ornaments, comic books, crafts, European toys, sunglasses from Paris and artisan jewelry.”
Looking ahead to the holidays and the hoped-for peak tourist season, she said, “I’ve had people reach out and say they’re excited to come back and they’re excited the Island is coming back so quickly.”
Imari Deadrick was part of a group of visitors from Detroit who were vacationing in Bradenton while celebrating Gabriel Vasser’s 12th birthday. They took a day trip to Anna Maria Island on Saturday and enjoyed lunch at the BeachHouse restaurant in Bradenton Beach before heading to Anna Maria, where they painted sand dollars while sitting outside Shiny Fish Emporium.
When asked if they had any concerns about their vacation plans, Deadrick said, “We were a little bit nervous, but we have social media now and that kept us updated on how it was looking down here. This is our first trip here and it looks really good. We’re checking off everything we had planned on our itinerary and we leave tomorrow.”
Kelly Blanco and her daughter, Harper, also sat outside Shiny Fish Emporium painting sand dollars. They traveled from New York, were staying in Tampa for a soccer tournament and decided to take a day trip to Anna Maria.
“I’ve never been to Anna Maria. I love it. We’ll have to come back and stay with our whole family,” Kelly said.
Pizza Social owner Andrew Simonetti said they reopened the Sunday before Thanksgiving after suffering about 2 feet of water intrusion that damaged their equipment, coolers and the electrical components in the pizza oven. He and his manager did all the restoration work themselves to avoid being on someone else’s timeline.
“It feels good to be open and running a pizzeria again,” Simonetti said. “Business isn’t what it was, but we’ll build back up as more vacation rental homes become available. And we offer a year-round discount to locals. Let us know you’re a local and we’ll apply a discount to your order.”
The Sushi Ramen restaurant on Gulf Drive is now open and during Saturday’s event, owner Woody Tajawandee and employees Ton Ton Chueakuna and Nong Klainthind set up a table in front of Lazy Turtle Beach Rentals on Pine Avenue and served free samples of chicken curry on rice.
Lazy Turtle Beach Rentals and Anna Maria Island Tours Operations Manager Tom “T-Bone” Anderson said he reopened soon after Hurricane Milton.
“Our building was just high enough that we’ve been able to be open the whole time,” he said. “We had a good Thanksgiving week but the lead up to Christmas is always slow. We’re looking to be busier the week after Christmas.”
Looking ahead to the peak tourist season, he said, “We’ll be back on track just like every other year.”
The multi-vendor Pineapple Marketplace reopened on Dec. 11, and Reclaimed Soul vendors Sam (Samantha) and Jim Heil were there Saturday.
“We’re just excited to be open again. I think we look good considering how we looked a couple months ago,” Sam said, noting some vendors are still bringing back their inventory.
Jim said he and AMI Guy vendor Mark McConnell replaced all the water-damaged display walls that also help separate the vendors.
Next door, the floors inside Beach Bums are being replaced but their golf cart, bike and kayak rentals and limited retail sales are still taking place out on the front deck. Manager Kathy Manning said they hope to be back inside again by Christmas.
The Anna Maria General Store, Dips Ice Cream and gRub Tropical BBQ are open. At the nearby Bayview Plaza, Two Sides of Nature and AMI Cool Beans have reopened and Two Scoops ice cream will reopen this week. The neighboring Waterfront restaurant also recently reopened. At the other end of Pine Avenue, North Shore Café, Poppo’s Taqueria and The Donut Experiment have reopened.
BEYOND PINE AVENUE
Around the corner, The White Egret home interior store at 10006 Gulf Drive owned by Barbara and John Jaeger reopened Saturday. They also own the Egret’s Nest clothing boutique next door.
The White Egret lost its roof during Hurricane Milton.
“All the merchandise we had was put upstairs because we thought we’d get a bigger surge than Helene, so we lost tons of inventory,” John said.
On a brighter note, he said, “We’ve been open since 10 o’clock today. It feels great. We scrambled for a good month trying to get this place ready to go. We were going to try to open the Egret’s Nest first, but the roof leaked during the last rainstorm. We hope to reopen that in January.”
Director of Operations Pamela Kimmey said, “We are thrilled to be here. It’s been a great day. We have a great team that worked tirelessly to get it to look like this today. We combined the two stores for now, so we have clothing, jewelry, handbags, home interior items, artwork, lamps, gift cards and all our Christmas items. People come in year-round to take a Christmas ornament home as a token of their vacation.”
The reopened businesses along Gulf Drive also include the Nomad Collection, Bortell’s Lounge, Harry’s Grill, the Mademoiselle Paris restaurant, The Porch restaurant, the Beach Hut convenience store, Q’s Beach Boutique, Robin Hood Rentals and Slim’s Place, with Ginny’s and Jane E’s Café reopening on Wednesday, Dec. 18. The Grand Pavilion at Sandbar, at the end of Spring Avenue, has also reopened.
