Times Square market returns on Fridays
The season has been jolted to a new, fresh start for the Times Square market on Fort Myers Beach one year after the market lost a year due to the impacts at the tourist center from Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Milton.
Market organizer Linda Miller said the Friday market has been a success, reinvigorating Times Square at a time when the commercial center is still recovering three years after Hurricane Ian. Many of the properties where shops once stood continue to sit vacant and fenced off.
“It’s picking up,” Miller said. Miller, who sells recycled quality cloths from India as beach blankets at the market, said the vendors are happy to be back at Times Square.
“We’re just really thankful for being here and the customers are too,” Miller said. “This whole market brings life and replaces some of the shopping that was lost.”
The market features an assortment of clothing vendors, jewelry dealers, food vendors, sunglasses booths, arts and crafts and a variety of other goods every Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m..
This past Friday, Andrea Rocque and husband Brad, of Chicago, were checking out the jewelry at the market. Brad’s parents have a home in Fort Myers.
“It’s great,” Mrs. Rocque said of the Times Square market.
“We haven’t been here since the hurricane,” she said. “We are glad to see it’s coming back.”
Emily Reiser of Indiana University, was perusing the vendor booths at Times Square with her mother Lisa. They visit Fort Myers Beach a couple times a year.’
Browsing through the artwork, jewelry and clothes of the Sol Huna booth, Emily said she “loves the pictures.”
“We’re just here for the season,” Mrs. Reiser said. “Everybody has quality stuff,” she said of the vending booths.
Cher Charest, the artist who operates Sol Huna, is also a member of the Fort Myers Beach Art Association.
She does all of the artwork herself and also designs her own clothes and makers her own jewelry.
She studied illustration at the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit.
“I’ve always loved to paint,” Charest said. Charest said she has been expanding her line of paintings at the vending booth, which include portraits of a sea turtle and an octopus.
“My joy is painting,” Charest said. She uses acrylic paints, which she said dry better than oil paints.
The jewelry-making is “very therapeutic for me,” Charest said. Her jewelry includes bracelets and necklaces featuring pearls, jade and turquoise. “It’s my personal therapy,” she said.
Among the other clothing vendors were Marjorie Morgan, who designs her own line of clothing, which is made in Bali.
Nikki Taylor, who sells her own handmade micron pen and colored pencil art, had some of the more eye-catching works on display. The fine pen art included a portrait of the old Fort Myers Beach Pier, a sea turtle and other prints of beach-related artwork.
Taylor said she took up art while hospitalized in the Bahamas. Taylor has a degree in neuroscience from Florida Atlantic University and is a former volleyball player.
“I like being by the beach,” she said of the market. “It brings life to this area.”
Miller said organizers are expanding their offerings this year with a new artsfest which will be held a couple times a month on Saturdays at Times Square, as well as one at Santini Marina Plaza.
Miller has reorganized the markets several times since Hurricane Ian in 2022. A regular market used to be held at the Beach Baptist Church property, before Hurricane Ian destroyed the church. A market off Old San Carlos Boulevard near Moss Marina was scrapped this year.
The next arts and crafts fair is scheduled at Times Square for Jan. 24 from 9-1. There will be an artisan market at Times Square on Feb. 14, followed by a bazaar on Feb. 28. There will be an art fair at Times Square for shrimpfest on March 7. At Santini Marina Plaza, there will be an arts and crafts show on Feb. 7, March 28 and April 11 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Santini Marina Plaza Farmer’s Market operates Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.