Taste of Beach faced challenge on permit
Last week, officials from the Greater Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce disclosed the 20th annual Taste of the Beach was nearly sabotaged due to a last minute complaint issued to the Department of Business & Professional Regulation’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco.
Two days before the event was to happen, at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, May 1, Chamber officials received a call from the licensing division about an unknown challenge that questioned the authenticity of a permit that enabled the non-profit organization to utilize the 501C(3) status of the Fort Myers Beach Friends of the Arts to serve alcohol at the event. The challenge claimed net profit sales generated from event alcohol sales would not go to the beneficiary Arts “Friends,” even though post-event fundraising announcements have proved otherwise in the past.
“We received a call from the Board State Bureau for permitting of alcohol. There had been an anonymous challenge for our permit that had been presented to them during the last minute that included information that had come from an information request from the town,” said FMB Chamber Chairman David Anderson to Town officials at the most recent Beach Council meeting. “The officer involved stated it was the most thorough and complete set of documentation that they had received on a challenge.”
Anderson said the claim was that Beach Chamber officials fraudulently filed for the permit and that money intended to be donated to the Fort Myers Beach Friends of the Arts would remain with the Beach Chamber.
“This is factually untrue,” he said. “This cowardly cheap shot was taken with the intent of trying to torpedo the event, and we’ve seen this kind of action before.”
Last Thursday, Beach Chamber President Bud Nocera stated the person who made the anonymous challenge had not yet been divulged. FMB Manager Don Stilwell stated that Town officials have not had any formal records request that ties back to that challenge. Anderson questions how a “complete set of documentation” be obtained without a formal request.
Nocera did report that Beach Chamber wrote a check to the Arts “Friends” for $3,037 last year and, while the revenue totals have not been fully counted this year, he expects a bit more from last year’s projections will be donate to the beneficiary this year.
“I anticipate it will be in the neighborhood of $3,000 to $3,300,” he said. Nocera is a board member of the FMB Friends of the Arts.
The Chamber reported approximately 3,000 people attended the 2015 “Taste.”
Money raised at the event for the Arts “Friends” was cited to maintain most of the organization’s annual budget. The mission of the FMB Friends of the Arts is to facilitate and fund arts presentations in the greater Fort Myers Beach area.
Beach Chamber contributes to fireworks fund
Greater Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce officials announced a monetary contribution to the Beach Fireworks Fund.
“We have for the Town a donation in the amount of $1,500 for the fireworks fund,” said FMB Chamber Chairman David Anderson. “We also had buckets out with volunteers marching in Fourth of July outfits. We are still counting, but there will be another $600 or $700 that will also be donated to the fireworks fund.”