Trim your tree Florida style

These lighted palm trees are available for purchase at Robb & Stucky in Bonita Springs. They are gaining popularity for people interested in decorating their lanai.

By Alejandra Diaz and Chelsea Samuel

Wake up from your turkey coma and finish that last sliver of pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving is over and it’s time to decorate.

Jump in the car and head out to replace those burned-out light bulbs, crushed wreaths and worn-out decorations that are begging for a modern twist during this year’s holiday season.

Even though Christmas is still a month away, area stores have stocked their shelves with plenty of festive merchandise.
Live Christmas trees will be available from service clubs as well as retailers.

You can find unique ornaments from the chain stores to the boutiques.

And if you want to really get into the swing of things and jazz up your lanai, you can buy your own lighted-palm tree.
Yep, tis the season.

Contemporary decorations from Target in Bonita Springs will bring versatility, color and pizzazz to the traditional green Christmas trees, white lights and plain ornaments.

“If you want your tree pink, we’ve got your tree pink,” said Ashley Schleusner, the executive team leader at Target, explaining that there are plenty of pink ornaments for a monchromatic look. “We have what is called the trendy Christmas and some more modern items.”

Rows of brightly colored ornaments become a rainbow of holiday decorations, including hot pink skates, glittery parrots and even a Santa on a snowmobile.

“We have twists on the classics and we have every color imaginable,” said Schleusner, adding that the employees try to give fast, fun and friendly service.

Schleusner's store has stocked up on outdoor decor, lights and other decorations for the home.

West Elm, a contemporary design store that opened earlier this month at Coconut Point, also offers contemporary twists on traditional decorations.

Trim a silver tree with mirrored garlands and orange goldfish and hang a teal stocking covered with giant silver sequins up by the fireplace.

“We take a traditional item and put a contemporary flair on it,” said Tony Purvis, assistant manager at the store.

Some of their quirky decroations include giant ornaments shaped like goldfish and grasshoppers and throw pillows adorned with reindeer, hedgehogs and owls.

“The holiday collections are made to complement it,” Purvis said.

But just trying to decide what style of decorations or even Christmas tree to put up can be daunting especially because there are so many options this year.

Douglas firs, Frasers, Scotch pine or mountain spruce are all options for trees whether real or fake.

“We have all sorts of (artificial) trees but people seem to be buying the Frasers because with smaller needles it’s easier to add more ornaments,” said George Larsen, the manager at the Bonita Springs Home Depot. “The Douglas firs are also popular for bigger, longer needles.”

The Fraser fir offers a contrast between the silver on the underside of the needles and the dark green on top. Douglas firs have needles that grow in rows and are perfect for lighter and smaller items.

“We just got into the business of ornaments this year. We’ve been doing mostly lights before but the ornaments are really selling,” said Larsen, whose store boasts tons of lawn decorations, lighting options and fireplaces.

“We sell more ornaments every year because lights people buy them once but they update ornaments all the time.”

Because trees this season come in all sorts of colors, textures and heights, Robb & Stuckys of Bonita Springs offers a few options people can put on their lanais - a new popular decorating spot.

“We have warmer weather and people like taking their holiday decorating outside,” said Leah Lloyd, the boutique manager for Robb & Stucky. “People like to decorate with unique items and we offer unique palm trees that have lights for the outside.”

The store also sells a fairy doll that has become “widely popular” this year because its plump body provides filler for corners, tabletops and bookshelves, said Lloyd.

Inflatable outdoor decorations are also the rage this season with options as tall as 14 feet featuring a spinning carousel inside a clear globe with snow.

“We have yard decorations, outdoor lights and blow-up yard ornaments, but when using them outdoors use the right equipment,” Larsen said.

He advises customers to decorate with weather appropriate extension cords and make sure they don't plug too many decorations into one socket.

“Read the instructions and make sure to stake all the decorations properly or they will end up in your neighbors yard,” he said.

Timers have also be a been selling at Home Depot because they prevent people from leaving their lights on all night by accident.

“Some people fall asleep and forget but these timers will take care of that,” Larsen said.

So get up off that recliner, put away the turkey leftovers and start decorating.

The neighbors are watching.

Immigrant reaches goal with own company

Rafael Robles, 39, is the owner of Rafo Corporation, a shell contracting and land developing company in Bonita Springs, Estero and as far north as Cape Coral.

But opening the company wasn’t easy. Robles was a civil engineer in Peru before he moved to the United States in search of a better life in 2002.

He accomplished his goal of owning his own company and has built more than 350 homes in less than a year.

But it took some time and patience.

He didn’t speak English and had no idea how the construction industry worked in the United States, but decided little by little he’d pick up what he needed to know, even if it took years and hours of backbreaking work.

“I started working as a laborer because I didn’t know English and it was hard to understand what was going on,” he said about his first construction job upon arriving.

“I always wanted to open my own business but I wasn’t ready at the time. There was too much to learn.”

And the learning didn’t come easy. He spent months practicing his English with coworkers and studying at home in Cape Coral until he felt he learned enough that he could start applying for state licenses.

“I used to come (to the United States) for visits and then I saw that there were a lot of big areas where it has to be developed so I left everything in my country and moved to Florida,” he recalls about his first decision to move.

That’s why he got into the development business after learning English and earning his general contractor’s and underground utility construction license.

“The system here is very different because the location of my country requires us to have a lot of structural systems because of earthquakes,” said Robles, who has owned his own business since 2005.

He has more than 100 jobs all over Lee County and hopes to expand in the future.

Rafo Corporation specializes in installing sewer mains, roads and lake excavations, but will also begin building the outer shells of buildings.

“We prepare things with carpentry, concrete slabs and then another company comes in and finishes everything off,” he said.

Currently Rafo Corporation’s jobs are mostly in Bonita Springs at Bella Terra, and other locations such as Terra Vista and a galleria on Corkscrew Road in Estero.

“Construction here is quicker than most other places because the technology is so good and the techniques are better,” Robles said.

“I’m very successful and I have yet to have a slow month. We offer good prices but it’s the quality that keeps customers happy.”

Spring Creek students step back in time to 1600s

Gustavo Marin, 10, and his mom, Elizabeth, write on hornbooks at the Ye Ol’ School House as part of the fifth-graders Colonial Craft Fair.

Students at Spring Creek Elementary School recently invited the community to spend time in the 1600s with an old-style colonial fair, complete with pumpkins, haystacks, crafts and garb reminiscent of the early days in Williamsburg and Yorktown.

The fifth-graders, with the help of volunteers, brought the 17th century to life with orange string lights along the portables, fresh corn bread and apple juice or cider.

“The kids love this,” said Terri Mancuso as she served up cider and directed students and parents into classrooms offering a variety of crafts from doll-making to hornbook writing.

The fifth grade teachers worked together to re-create the time period by having students dress in black bottoms and white tops and wear colonial headwear.

“The children love the experience they get with this because they get to see what life was like and they get to teach it to others as well,” said Karen Leonardi, the school’s principal.

As part of their curriculum, fifth-graders are in charge of creating a lesson including a colonial-type craft that can be taught to younger children. The idea is to get kids excited about the time period and express that to students in lower grade levels.

“They teach the other kids for two days so they get the real experience of colonial america,” said Leonardi, whose children used to do all the crafts in one day but the school’s population has grown.

Some of the crafts at the fair showed children and parents how to create handmade dolls, braid yarn and write using ink and a feather-writing instrument.

“We had to create something the kids could do like writing in hornbooks that were used for studying,” said Kathy Clase, the fifth-grade resource teacher.

In colonial times, hornbooks were made from hide and students wore them around their necks as a reference tool. The books included bible verses, letters, numbers and other information the teachers might ask.

Fifth-grade teachers put the colonial project together seven years ago to take the colonial experience out of the classroom and give students a different way to see what the world was like in the old times.

Movies on the lawn coming to a park near you

Movies, popcorn and drinks are coming to Riverside Park in Bonita Springs and everyone is invited to come out and enjoy the drive-in movie feel minus the vintage cars.

The Bonita Springs Estero Realtors Association (BEAR) in partnership with the Bonita Springs Area Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with the city of Bonita Springs to offer movies on the lawn as part of a new plan to draw visitors to the downtown Bonita area and to the new park.

The first movie is scheduled for Jan. 6.

“We want people to bring lawn chairs and lay out on the grass and enjoy a movie. All the movies are family-friendly,” said Arlene Houston, the city of Bonita Springs spokesperson.

She says the city received a special events application earlier this year asking to play the movies at the park with BEAR and the Chamber bearing the costs of running such an event at the park.

“We have a great band shell and this is the perfect site for movies at night,” Houston said.

The park will allow organizers to offer the movies on a 24-foot screen complete with a sound system and food that will raise funds for the Bonita Assistance Office.

“It’s nice to be able to give something back to the community and this was a chance for us and BEAR to work together to add something to the quality of life in this area,” said Nancy Keefer, the Chamber president.

Adding life to the area was more of the focus for the event.

“Wizard of Oz” has been chosen because it is family-friend and will appeal to all ages.

“We are doing this as a community fundraiser but I have to admit I stole the idea from New York City,” said Cameron Paine, the event's lead organizer and chief operating officer for BEAR.

Paine used to live in Manhattan where movies in the park night that brought out thousands.

“The event was so successful it was all standing room only and people loved it. They dressed up in costumes based on whatever movie was playing like Star Wars,” said Paine, who expects to draw 200 people on the first night.

BEAR and the Chamber will also have a couple of food vendors with 50 percent of the proceeds from food sales going to charity.

City officials say they will bear the cost of security for the event, which is estimated to cost $50 an hour for police officers from the sheriff’s office.

“We will be closing off traffic on Old 41 because of the sound,” Houston said.

BEAR and the Chamber are covering the cost of renting the movie, the speaker system and large screen.

“It will be good fun and a great use of the park and will bring people to downtown Bonita and get them excited about its future,” Keefer said. “We’ve got beautiful weather and we are bringing back the idea of having a drive-in movie theater. It’s all good fun.”

Restaurants serve 7,000 at Taste of Bonita

Dominic Calla, sous chef at the Tarpon Bay Restaurant at the Hyatt in Bonita Springs, flips diver sea scallops with roasted tomatoes, shaved onions and golden raisins at the 13th annual Taste of Bonita at Riverside Park.

No one was counting calories at the 13th annual Taste of Bonita at Riverside Park on Sunday.

Most of the food was fried, salted, dunked in sauce or just plain tasty — and that's what brought more than 7,000 to the park as part of a fundraiser to benefit local charities through the Bonita Springs Rotary Noon.

"It's a lot of fun and the restaurants are doing a super job," said Betsy Bridge of Bonita Springs while enjoying an almond crusted grouper she bought at the Tropical Reef Seafood Restaurant. "I don't have a favorite food yet, but there hasn't been anything I haven't liked."

And there was plenty for Bridge to enjoy with more than 35 restaurants from Bonita Springs and Naples showing off their best tasting foods such as Buffalo Chips' fried green tomato with special sauce, Tarpon Bay Restaurant's diver sea scallops and Naples Cheesecake Factory's Key Lime Pie.

"The food was wonderful and these ribs are delicious," said Valerie Schiessl of Estero while devouring Roy's Restaurant's samplings. "It's such a nice day to come out here and have a good time."
Event organizer Tony Valego was glad to see the turnout and thinks the weather provided a perfect day for good eating, drinking and enjoyment.

"People are sitting on their lawn chairs and blankets on the grass and spending time with their family. It's a great day to be out here and enjoying the food," Valego said.

Valego started the Taste of Bonita 13 years ago with only 10 restaurants and 2,500 people to raise money for the Rotary. He hopes this year's event raises $50,000.

Aside from good eats, attendees also enjoyed musical acts and a bigger children's area with a laser tag game, giant slide and bounce house.

"We try to add something every year to make it more of a family event that lasts a few hours," said Valego, who last year moved the event from the Sunshine Plaza to Riverside Park.

Fred Barry, 59, came out to the event with his wife, Shirley, 44, because the day was beautiful and the eating plentiful.

"I love what Bonita has done with this venue, and the quality of life here is wonderful," Fred Barry of Estero said.

"The music and the food is a great experience to taste some of the best of what Bonita has to offer."