Sanibel Island 2016

The 32nd Annual Luminary Holiday Stroll Sanibel: Friday, December 2nd from 5:30 to 9:00pm Captiva: Saturday, December 3rd from 5:30 to 9:00pmBeautifully lit paths will lead the way to merry landmarks, where festival goers can enjoy assorted activities, snacks and refreshments. In keeping with the “Holiday Stroll” theme, trolleys will not be provided. Gather friends and family for a charming Luminary “Holiday Stroll” without waiting in line for a trolley ride.Sanibel’s Luminary stretches from one end of Periwinkle Way to the other and offers a multitude of choices along the way. Luminary on Captiva spans Captiva Drive and Andy Rosse Lane with plenty of special treats at various businesses.

Our eighth collectible commemorative ornament has been introduced for the season. It depicts our Bull Nose Brand wheeled blue and black shopping cart. One of the first shopping carts was introduced on June 4, 1937, the invention of Sylvan Goldman, owner of a supermarket chain in Oklahoma. One night, Goldman sat in his office wondering how customers might move more groceries. He found a wooden folding chair and put a basket on the seat and wheels on the legs. Goldman and one of his employees, began tinkering. Their first shopping cart was a metal frame that held two wire baskets. This ornament is available for purchase on our website here. It can also be ordered by calling the store at 239-472-1516 or purchased in person at the Service Desk. Also available are limited supplies of the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 ornaments.

SCCF Announces Event Host Committee and Wine Sponsor Sanibel Island, FL – November 5, 2016 The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) is proud to announce that Bailey’s General Store is the first ever Wine Sponsor for the 9th Annual Wines in the Wild. This outdoor wine tasting event paired with heavy hors d’oeuvres features an extensive silent and live auction. It is set for Saturday, November 5 from 7-9 pm at SCCF’s Bailey Homestead Preserve. “It’s very fitting that Bailey’s is underwriting our wine service this year,” said event co-chair Tom Uhler. “Mead Bailey Johnson and her siblings were raised at the homestead, so it’s great that she and Richard are helping us to bring it back to life for SCCF events like this one.” Host Committee members to date include: Pete and Nancy Bender, Wayne and Linda Boyd, Bill and Tory Burch, Ron and Phyllis Gibson, Henry and Inge Glissman, Chauncey and Allison Goss, Chris Gourley and Melinda Roy, Leone Graham, Bill and Shelley Greggs, Gwenda Hiett-Clements, Janie Howland, Mike Kelly, Deborah La Gorce, Erick and Ellen Lindblad, McCallion & McCallion Realty, John and Kay Morse, Leroy and Diane Neitzel, Philip and Roberta Puschel, Don and Joyce Rice, Chip and Nancy Roach, Geoff and Robbie Roepstorff, Paul and Lucy Roth, Doug and Kris Ryckman, John and Donna Schubert, Richard Shipley, Tom and Linda Uhler, Nanelle Wehmann, Ed Wheeler and Anne Haslem, and John and Martha Wolf. “Like our Presenting Sponsor, Bank of the Islands, the Host Committee members are crucial to the fundraising success of Wines in the Wild,” said SCCF President Ron Gibson. “They’re also really fun to party with! Please call for tickets so you don’t miss out on what will be a great evening.” Reservations for Wines in the Wild can be made by calling SCCF at 472-2329. Cost is $75 per person in advance; $85 at the door. Unlike the last eight years, please note that Wines in the Wild will be held for the first time at the Bailey Homestead Preserve, located at 1300 Periwinkle Way on Sanibel. SCCF is dedicated to the conservation of coastal habitats and aquatic resources on Sanibel and Captiva and in the surrounding watershed through environmental education, land acquisition, landscaping for wildlife, marine research, natural resource policy, sea turtle conservation and wildlife habitat management. Community support through membership dues and tax-deductible contributions, in addition to grants and staff-generated revenue, makes this work possible.

  THE PREMIER ANNUAL BLUES AND JAZZ FEST will take place on November 6, 2016 FROM 1pm to 7pm at Bailey’s General Store! Attendees will hear outstanding live Blues and Jazz music including, in order: THE JAZZ-MATICS JP SOARS MARTY STOKES BAND MATT SCHOFIELD The festival will feature a variety of food and spirits. Ribs (etc), beer & wine will be available for purchase. General entry donations are $40 per person. A $125 per person donor VIP package covers food, beverages, VIP area seating, VIP parking, and a Festival T-shirt. Tickets are limited to 700 persons, first come first served. Tickets will be available at Bailey’s General Store, George and Wendy’s Sanibel Seafood Grill, The Sanibel Café, the Sanibel Captiva Community Bank, and from members of the Optimist Club. On-island parking will be available with transportation to the Festival Site. Attendees are encouraged to use bicycles to reach the Site with free valet bike parking provided. For more information, please click here.

  Great Food… Great Entertainment… Great Times!

  Join us Sunday, October 16th through October 22nd, 2016 for “Ding” Darling Days. “Ding” Darling Days’ Family Fun Day on Sunday, Oct.ober 16, kicks off a week of eco-activities with all-free Refuge tram tours, live wildlife presentations, hot dogs, kids crafts, and more. Birding, boating, tram, paddleboarding and kayaking activities fill the week. The 27th annual celebration ends on Saturday, October 22, with Conservation Art Day, where Federal Duck Stamp Winners, other artists, cartooning, and a refuge photography tram tour will highlight a day devoted to Jay Norwood Darling’s legacy as the first duck stamp artist and Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist. Click here for a full calendar of events. For more information, click here, or call the J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge at 239-472-1100

 

By Richard Johnson, Tampa Bay Times – August 18th, 2016 Credit card companies and their member banks are exploiting small retailers — the backbone of communities across America — through a recent shift to credit and debit cards with embedded computer chips supposed to enhance security.The banks that issued the cards then shifted liability for fraud to retailers until we adopt their security system. Visa and MasterCard can force this arrangement on retailers because they utterly dominate the nation’s payments system.The change is one of the most flagrant abuses of corporate power we have seen. And — as always with the credit card companies — merchants are at their mercy.I know this firsthand: I run a general store that opened on Sanibel Island in 1899 and is now the oldest and largest on the island; we operate two full-service supermarkets, a hardware store and a catering company. My background is in information technology — I joined my wife’s family business only a dozen years ago — and I was glad the card companies were finally switching from the magnetic strip, a 1970s technology long abandoned in other countries because it is easily replicated by thieves. The nightmare started in 2012, when the credit card companies told merchants they must buy machines and software to read the new cards and have these systems ready by October 2015 — or the merchants would then be liable for fraud instead of the banks. I spent more than $100,000 on upgrading my system, a huge investment for a small business, well before last October’s deadline. But the card companies weren’t properly prepared and have yet to certify me and many other Main Street retailers, which means I cannot accept chip cards. And so I’m also now liable for credit card fraud even though I’ve had the required security system installed for two years. When will they get to me? I’m told the big retailers come first, then smaller ones like me. But nobody seems to know — all I can do is sit and wait. Because it has taken so long in the United States for banks and credit card companies to modernize their outdated security system, we are one of the few places left in the world where debit and credit card fraud is growing. Half the $16 billion in card fraud in the world happened in the United States in 2014, according to the authoritative Nilson Report, even though we have less than a quarter of the world’s card transactions. Our international customers are astonished by the limited use of chip technology. Even with the chips, U.S. consumers and merchants still lack the added protection of the personal identification numbers that consumers in the rest of the world punch in during a purchase (much like the four-digit PINs Americans use now to withdraw cash from their ATMs). It’s inexplicable why banks and credit card companies would endanger consumers and merchants by depriving them of this additional security. They say it’s because customers just don’t want to remember those four digits. Absolutely false. If the banks would tell their customers that no less an authority than the Federal Reserve says PINs make transactions 700 percent safer, consumers of course would demand them. Merchants aren’t the only people appalled by this mess. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat, recently wrote to the consortium of six credit card companies that devised the new security system, EMVCo, complaining that they made unilateral decisions for murky reasons without consulting retailers, creating “chaos.” In that respect, EMVCo is very much a creature of the credit card companies, two of which — Visa and MasterCard — are so large that they dominate the market, dictating terms to retailers, raking in huge profits that wind up costing consumers big at the checkout line, and flouting antitrust law. This is just their latest caper. But it’s potentially one of their most harmful abuses. It’s time regulators such as the Federal Trade Commission sorted out this train wreck. Durbin and a group of 20 House members have also written separately to the commission. The commission needs to wake up and start protecting consumers and small merchants instead of standing by while the credit card companies and their banks rake in millions of dollars. Richard Johnson operates Bailey’s General Store on Sanibel Island. Click HERE for the article located on Tampa Bay Times’ website.

Each year the Lee County Economic Development Office and the Horizon Council celebrates local business contributions through the prestigious Industry Appreciation Awards. Awards are given each year to Lee County companies that have made a significant contribution to the local economy through growth and innovation, industry leadership or displayed superior corporate citizenship. To be eligible, the company must be a for-profit company and located in Lee County. The 2016 LocalLEE Grown Business Award was presented to Bailey’s General Store on August 25th.

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