Friends of Lovers Key start fundraising for Welcome Center exhibits
Last year, the Friends of Lovers Key got the news it had been waiting for: funding to build a welcome center at the state park.
The state approved a $4 million budget item to build the facility – but now, the FOLKS group is tasked to fill it full of educational material.
The group launched its fundraising efforts in March with a goal of raising $1.5 million to design and build the educational displays that will inform visitors within the center.
Debbie Voorhees, a FOLKS board member and grant coordinator, was the guest speaker during the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce April luncheon.
She showed renderings of the future building, which is being built by Sarasota firm Sweet Sparkman.
“We got involved in the design,” she said. “We wanted an iconic building for our park.”
The welcome and discovery center has to be elevated due to flood elevation rules. It will have a community area available for rent for meetings, events and weddings. The other area will be filled with educational and engaging displays about barrier island ecology, the different natural habitats on Lovers Key, and local cultural information as well.
“Black Island is named for a pirate, Black Augustus,” Voorhees said. She researched the pirate and found the legend was true. Lovers Key State Park is made up of four different islands now, and the area now known as Black Island was a refugee for a band of pirates.
A firm has already been chosen for the display designs: Split Rock Studios of Minnesota. This same firm built the displays at “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel.
The firm has has already mocked up some designs; Voorhees said her favorite is a display featuring mangroves, but it’s designed to make the visitor feel as if they are below the water among the roots.
FOLKS is seeking out donations to help build the displays. Smaller dollar donations can be made online at friendsofloverskey.org, but the group is also accepting larger donations that will grant the individual or business its name on the donor wall inside the center. FOLKS is also seeking donations for “naming rights,” if someone donates at a specific level he or she can have different parts of the building named for them.
Interested donors can contact Voorhees at 239-233-8007 or emailing her at heydeb25@gmail.com.
The organization has raised $250,000 so far.
Lovers Key State Park is the second most-visited park in Florida. Last year, it received 1 million visitors, with 74 percent of them being from out of the county, Voorhees said at the Chamber meeting.
Despite that, the park only gets 12 percent of its budget paid for by the state. It must make up the other 88 percent on its parking and entry fees.
The FOLKS group helps to supply the park with anything it needs when its budget runs out.
From copy paper to wifi to bullets for nuisance alligators, FOLKS helps the staff at the park with what they need, Voorhees said. It also helps to fund the different educational programs offered.
“Because of (Hurricane) Irma, we’ve had to really help with funds,” she said.