HOLMES BEACH – The Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce awarded trolley grants to 18 local organizations and announced three business of the year award winners during a ceremony at the Key Royale Golf Club clubhouse on Jan. 23.
LaPensee Plumbing, Pool and Air owner Karen LaPensee served as the evening’s master of ceremonies, assisted by Chamber President Terri Kinder.
The annual trolley grants are funded by a portion of the advertising revenues generated by the businesses that advertise on the trolley buses that Manatee County Area Transit operates on Anna Maria Island at no charge to trolley passengers.
When applying for the annual trolley grants, local organizations propose a specific use or project and an estimated cost. A panel of Chamber board members interviews each applicant and determines who receives a grant and the grant amount. The differing grant amounts are based on the request and the surplus advertising revenues available, which this year totaled nearly $18,000.
This year’s grant recipients included Anna Maria Elementary School, the Anna Maria Island Art League, the Anna Maria Island Garden Club, the Anna Maria Island Historical Society, the Anna Maria Island Privateers, Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring, the Annie Silver Community Center, the Artists’ Guild of Anna Maria Island, the Cortez Village Historical Society, Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum, Friends of the Island Library, The Island Players, the Kiwanis Club of Anna Maria Island, the Roser Food Pantry, Roser Memorial Community Church, the Rotary Club of Anna Maria Island, The Center of Anna Maria Island and Wildlife Inc.
Businesses of the year
Shore Thing Tiki Cruises is the chamber’s large business of the year, Bungalow Beach Resort is the medium-sized business of the year and Slicker’s Eatery is the small business of the year.
When accepting the large business award, Adrienne Cardinale, joined by her husband, Rick, and Capt. Frank Galati, thanked the Chamber and said, “If it wasn’t for the networking events, the support and the ambassadors who really helped us integrate with the Island and the other business owners, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We started from scratch and we’re super-thankful for the award.”
The Bungalow Beach Resort in Bradenton Beach sustained significant hurricane damage and several ground-level bungalows built in the 1930s were destroyed.
When accepting the award, Jason Luper said, “This is amazing and we’re very honored. We’re able to rebuild and we’re excited to keep the soul of Anna Maria Island with what we have.”
His mother, Gayle Luper, said, “We’re very thankful for this and we’re thankful for the Chamber. Our new project, we call it ‘old Florida with modern durability.’ We’ll keep the reclaimed wood and ambiance and even though it’s going to be a brand-new building, it’s still going to have the ‘old Florida’ look.”
Slicker’s Eatery in Cortez sustained significant flood damage during the hurricanes and had not reopened as of last week, but their reopening is expected soon. Owner Bob Slicker couldn’t attend the ceremony because he was recovering from surgery, so Donna Woodruff accepted the award on his behalf. When contacted the following day (his 118th day of closure) Slicker expressed his gratitude for winning the award despite being closed for four months.
“Since we first dreamt of building our own little family eatery, we promised to keep things local and keep kindness at the forefront. It has never been about competition or getting rich. We still haven’t stopped working, serving and growing and we’ve never been known to give up. Simply put, we care about people and people care about us,” Slicker said.
Dr. Katie Fradley and Jen Serra represented the Anna Maria Elementary school. - Joe Hendricks | Sun
Marilyn Margold and Gale Tedhams represented the Anna Maria Island Art League. - Joe Hendricks | Sun
Renita Bertoluzzi and Kathy Morgan represented the Anna Maria Island Garden Club. - Joe Hendricks | Sun
Kris Martinez represented the Cortez Village Historical Society. - Joe Hendricks | Sun
Anna Juarez and Karen Bell represented the Friends of the Florida Maritime Museum. - Joe Hendricks | Sun
Rebecca Gill and Judy Rupp represented the Rotary Club of Anna Maria Island. - Joe Hendricks | Sun
Jillian Ptak and Chris Culhane represented The Center of Anna Maria Island. - Joe Hendricks | Sun
