Kiwanis Taste of Pine Island to be Held Saturday, Jan. 22, 2011.
Receive a full day of Pine Island Sunshine, Family Fun, and Live Music for only $5
PINE ISLAND, Fla. – The Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island will again hold the Taste of Pine Island on Saturday, Jan. 22 from 11 a.m. until closing. The event will take place at Phillips Park on Pine Island Road behind the Pine Island Fire Station. The annual event will feature over 11 restaurants serving everything from shrimp, fried clams and fish fresh off the boat; Greek dishes; BBQ ribs and chicken; and regular faire of pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers. . . and don’t forget the area’s best Seafood Chowder. Restaurants participating in this years’ event are Waterfront Restaurant in St. James City, Sandy Hook Restaurant in Matlacha, Toucan Restaurant formerly known as Moretti’s Seafood Restaurant, in Matlacha, Perfect Cup in Matlacha, Phill's Grillin St. James City, Miceli's Restaurant in Matlacha, Jonesez BBQ, Liberty Concessions and BJ Events. In addition, over 70 arts and craft vendors including: Pine Island Garden Club, Pine Bay Gallery, Arts &Crafts, Pine Island Community Church water sales, R&B Kettle Corn, Big Daddys Sweet Licks Ice Cream, Night Hawk Venture- Mini Donuts, Easy Rider Charters Charters and Cookbook, Matlacha/Pine Island Fire Department-Margarita, F&S Sunglasses, A-Niks - Outdoor Comfort Solutions, Southern Sno Balls, Little Lilly’s Deli – Homemade Cookies, Beacon of HOPE, Suzanne Bowery – Jewelry, Walker Farms – Honey, Margaret Hampton – Beef Jerky, Kim Hall – Children CD’s, Tropical Kitchens – New Cabinets, Peggy Cozadd, – Cookbooks and more, Gloria Corroy – Shell Flowers displays and driftwood art and more, Alison Laccetti – Handmade Jewelry & Fused Glass, Jeff Ruppart – Custom Fishing Flies & Lures, Jill Martin – Hand Painted , Special Plate Journals, From Our Hearts – Jewelry & Purses, James Forrest – Shark Tooth Jewelry, Susan Carpenter – Original Artwork, Suzanne Terry – Jewelry and Accessories, Paradise Gardens – Jams and Jellies, Calusa Land Trust,T-shirts and more, Denise Gonnelli – Tupperware, Traders Hitching Post – American Indian Jewelry, Serena Mommaerts – Shells and Crafts, MPI Properties Inc. & Pine Island Cycles – Information, Matlacha Hookers Org. – T-shirts, Hats etc., Laura DeVoe –Handcrafted Jewelry,Bert’s Gallery –Arts & Crafts, Jewelry, Pine Island Spices, Juanita D’Anna - Laura DeVoe –Handcrafted Jewelry, Pine Island Dance – Bake Goods,Sherin Tinner –Handcrafted Jewelry, Richard Beautz –Crystal Yard Art, , Michael’s Lemonade, Mad Hatter Tea – Bake Goods, Chris Carroll – Tastefully Simples,Mike Woods - Jewelry BeJeweled By Renee – Handcrafted Nautical and Biker/Sports Jewelry, Glory Days Gifts – Bird Feeders & Yard Art, Susan Syphrit – Crushable HatsMike Shelton – Boat Lettering,,Crafty Rose – arts & crafts, Bridgette Chandler – Jewelry, Susan Vaccarino- Jewelry Pure Hearts- Soda Sale, Sid’s Duck Pond - Game, IwanaKiwana –Drink, Budweiser – Beer and Wine Coolers, StongMan Contest– Game, Bridgette Chandler – Jewelry, Cotton Candy-Popcorn– Food and more coming in daily. Call Pat at 239-283-0777 if you are interested in a vendor spot, there aren’t but a few left.
There will be live entertainment all day and will include Vytas, SoapBox 
one of southwest Florida's most sought after classic and new rock cover bands. This power trio includes long time Pine Island resident Jeff Walker ( aka Stix ) on Lead Vocals and Drums, Dawn Metzner ( aka Shredder ) on Guitar and Vocals and Molly Brown on Bass and Vocals. Jeff started singing and performing at only 9 years old and brings a tremendous amount of energy and experience to the group. Raised on gospel and good ol' classic rock and roll, Jeff's powerful drumming and amazing singing definitely captivate the audience at every show. His favorite bands are The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad. Born into a family of musicians from Juilliard, Dawn has been performing professionally since the age of 5. Accepted to The Berklee School of Music, she is an award winning and accomplished musician on both guitar and piano. Her favorite bands are The Rolling Stones and Pearl Jam with strong influences from legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix. Molly Brown is the self taught bassist and sound guru of the band. Playing creative grooves with several years of experience in the local music scene she adds an extraordinary edge to this unique trio. Molly's favorite bands are The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Led Zeppelin. SoapBox plays a wide variety of music covering tunes from popular groups like Cream, Cheap Trick, Uriah Heep, The Eagles, Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Green Day, The Violent Femmes, Nirvana and many more. For more information and a schedule of events and upcoming performances visit the websites myspace/soapboxrock and facebook/soapboxrock. Ending the day with the famous Van Kirk Brothers with Strange Arrangement who placed first in the 99x battle of the bands, This band has performed at Johnny Malloy’s in Estero, Florida, Zombiecon in Fort Myers, Ralph’s in Cape Coral, Stevie Tomato’s in Cape Coral, The Spot in Fort Myers, Miceli’s Restaurant in Matlacha and Eddie Fish Bones in Cape Coral. Strange Arrangement, 
Also performing; Youth String Quartet, The Calendar Girls Dance Team, and the Pine Island Dance Troop and Flashz Dance Team.
In conjunction with The Kiwanis Taste of Pine Island will be the Eighth Annual Southwest Florida Chowder Cook-off Contest. Come early and be one of the People’s Choice judges. The famous Fish Drop Drawing is always a sight to see with 2500 brightly colored fish being dropped from a crane. Get your ticket now and be a winner on January 22nd, $1,000 grand prize, and second place of $500 and third place of $250. For more information call Pat at 239-283-0777 or stop by Century 21 Realty, TIB Bank or SW Capital Bank all located on Stringfellow Road in St. James City.
The event is family-friendly with live music all day and children’s activities, train rides, rock climbing, strongman contest, bounce houses and so much more. Tickets are still only five dollars and children 10-and-under are free. Thousands attend this event every year.
The Taste of Pine Island is the primary fundraiser for the Kiwanis Pine Island Youth Scholarship Fund. Last year the club raised nearly $20,000 to assist Pine Island students with their higher education costs. Since 1985, the Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island has provided over $200,000 in scholarships and has helped other island organizations.
The event is sponsored by Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island and co-sponsored by; SunTrust Bank, Pine Island Realty, Inc., LCEC, Budweiser Beverages, Greater Pine Island Water Co., Honc Industries, Nautical Mile Publications, TIB Bank, Ad&PrintCraft Marketing, CoveSystems, Pine Island Chamber of Commerce, Southwest Capital Bank, Raymond James Financial, Adams & Brinson P.A. and Meridian Broadcasting with 94.5 Classic Rock, lite93.7 and Fox News 92.5.
The Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island is a community service organization of volunteers that meets every Friday at Bert’s of Matlacha. Log onto www.TasteofPineIsland.com to watch the Taste video or for more information on the Kiwanis Club of Greater Pine Island and the Taste of Pine Island, (just a few spots left) or;
Media Contact:
E-mail chairman, Pat Burman at printing@AdandPrintCraft.comor call (239) 283-0777.
