🌴 Fort Myers Brief: September 21 - 27

Island Hopper moves onto the mainland this week, which means LoCash on the river Wednesday, Edwin McCain unplugged in Cape Coral Monday, free shows downtown midweek and a pool party with Michael Ray to close it out on the beach Sunday. The MACC off Daniels is running four straight nights of completely different things, the YMCA is turning the Davis Art Center into ancient Egypt on Friday, and the city puts a shovel in the ground for a $147 million police headquarters Tuesday morning if you want to watch. Here is the week, in the order we would actually do it.

We recommend confirming with event hosts for complete details and current schedules.

_*Ad

🎸 Island Hopper Comes to Town

🎤 Westin Unplugged with Edwin McCain
📅 Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
⏰ Time: Doors 6:00 PM, show 7:00 PM
📍 Location: The Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village, 5951 Silver King Blvd, Cape Coral
🎶 Details: The guy who wrote I'll Be, playing it acoustic in a hotel ballroom on the water, is this year's Island Hopper headliner and the one ticketed show worth crossing the bridge for on a Monday. He tells the stories between the songs, which is the whole point of this festival. Tickets through the Island Hopper app or islandhopperfest.com.

🌟 Stars on the River: LoCash and Alexandra Kay
📅 Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
⏰ Time: Gates 6:00 PM, show 7:00 PM
📍 Location: Caloosa Sound Amphitheater, 2101 Edwards Dr, Fort Myers
🎸 Details: The first time Island Hopper has used the amphitheater, and they filled it with a platinum country duo and an opener whose voice is currently all over your feed. General admission is $42, reserved seats $60, and your ticket gets you 10 percent off at any Luminary restaurant that night, so eat first. Sitting on the lawn with the river behind the stage is the best seat in the county for the price.

🍽️ Luminary Dinner Experience with Nate Bass
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM
📍 Location: The Workshop Culinary Theater, Luminary Hotel, 2200 Edwards Dr, Fort Myers
🎶 Details: Three courses in the teaching kitchen with a Nashville songwriter playing between them, from $110 a head. Small room, close enough to see the chef's hands and the guitarist's, and out in time for the free show upstairs.

🏊 Free Pool Deck Concert at the Luminary
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:15 PM
📍 Location: Fourth floor pool deck, Luminary Hotel, 2200 Edwards Dr, Fort Myers
🌇 Details: Festival artists, not yet announced, playing on the pool deck four floors above the river at sunset, free and open to anyone who walks in. This is the one to tell friends about who say they never do anything downtown.

🎻 ACMA Singer-Songwriter Showcase
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, 2301 First St, Fort Myers
🎤 Details: Roy Schneider, Anthony Wayne, Bill Metts, Tim McGeary and Matt Hannam, the local writers the Americana Community Music Association has been putting on stages for years, get the festival's downtown night at the Davis. If you only know them from Music Under the Stars, this is the indoor, air conditioned version.

🏝️ Island Hopper Beach Weekend
📅 Date: Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, 2026
📍 Location: DiamondHead, Pink Shell, Margaritaville, The Whale, The Lighthouse, Yucatan, Bayside Park, Mound House and Matanzas on the Bay, Fort Myers Beach
🍹 Details: The last three days of the festival land on Estero Boulevard, with free sets rotating through nine venues from Friday afternoon through Sunday. Park once at the north end and walk it. The app has the day by day and it changes, so check it that morning.

🐚 Music on the Mound with Frank Myers and Lauren Mascitti
📅 Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
⏰ Time: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
📍 Location: Mound House, 451 Connecticut St, Fort Myers Beach
🎶 Details: Two Nashville writers on the lawn of a 2,000 year old Calusa shell mound overlooking the back bay, which is the most Fort Myers Beach sentence in this issue. Tickets are $50 to $100 and it was down to the last couple when we checked, so if it is gone, the Sunset Songwriter Cruise with Robinson Treacher on Adventures in Paradise runs the same day.

🏖️ Pink Shell Pool Party with Michael Ray
📅 Date: Sunday, September 27, 2026
⏰ Time: Doors 4:00 PM, show 5:30 PM
📍 Location: Pink Shell Beach Resort & Marina, 275 Estero Blvd, Fort Myers Beach
🎤 Details: The grand finale, a country headliner playing poolside on the Gulf as the sun goes down behind him. Ticketed, and it sells out most years, so do not plan on walking up.

Struggling to lose weight? Get personalized GLP-1 plans from $99/month

Over 300k people have trusted Found with their weight loss journey. Offering affordable access to brand-name and compounded medication options with personalized treatment plans by board-certified clinicians. With flexible, transparent payment options either with insurance or cash, you can find the plan that fits your needs and budget. Plans start as low as $99/month.  Now offering $100 off your first month.

Get started with Found now

🎻 Four Nights at the MACC

💃 Benise: 25 Years of Passion
📅 Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: Music and Arts Community Center, 13411 Shire Lane, Fort Myers
🎸 Details: An Emmy winning Spanish guitarist with four dancers, a drum section and a screen, doing flamenco, salsa, samba and tango in one show they call the Latin Riverdance. Tickets $57 to $82. Same night as LoCash downtown, so this is the pick for anyone who would rather sit indoors.

🎷 Gulf Coast Jazz Collective: The Standard Bearer
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: Music and Arts Community Center, 13411 Shire Lane, Fort Myers
🎹 Details: The symphony's house jazz trio plus a guest vocalist working through Gershwin, Porter, Berlin and Kern, torch songs to up tempo swing. The kind of night the MACC does better than anyone else in Lee County.

🕯️ Candlelight: Queen vs. ABBA, then 90s Hip Hop on Strings
📅 Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM
📍 Location: Music and Arts Community Center, 13411 Shire Lane, Fort Myers
🎻 Details: A string quartet surrounded by a few hundred flameless candles, playing Bohemian Rhapsody against Dancing Queen at six and then Dr. Dre at half past eight. Pick one or stay for both. It photographs better than any concert in town.

🎩 The Conjurors
📅 Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
⏰ Time: 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
📍 Location: Music and Arts Community Center, 13411 Shire Lane, Fort Myers
🃏 Details: A British duo doing magic, mind reading and theatrical illusion, with a matinee for the kids and an evening show for the skeptics. The matinee is the right call if you have anyone under twelve in the house.

In partnership with

Replace 16 supplements in one daily drink.

David Beckham. Giannis Antetokounmpo. Aryna Sabalenka. Inter Miami CF. The world's best choose IM8 because performance starts with what you do every day.

Daily Ultimate Essentials and Longevity deliver a complete, clinically formulated system for energy, digestion, sleep, focus and healthy aging. In a 12-week randomized controlled trial, 95% felt a boost in daily energy, 85% felt less bloated with better digestion, 80% reported better sleep and 75% reported sharper focus and mental clarity.

IM8 is NSF Certified for Sport, tested against 280+ banned substances and recommended by 300+ clinicians. With 50 million servings sold across 46 countries, discover the IM8 routine trusted at the highest levels of sport—and built for everyday life. See the clinical results.

Discover David Beckham's Routine

🎭 Dinner Theater, a Mystery Movie and a Chocolate Factory

📼 '80s Rewind at Broadway Palm
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24 and Friday, September 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:30 PM
📍 Location: Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre, 1380 Colonial Blvd, Fort Myers
🎸 Details: Darrell Nutt pulled together a band of the best working musicians in Southwest Florida to play the decade live, every vocal and every synth. September pricing is $55 with dinner or $25 for just the concert, which is the cheapest Broadway Palm gets all year. Box office 239-278-4422.

🎸 Forever Everly: The Everly Brothers Rockumentary
📅 Date: Through Sunday, October 25, 2026
📍 Location: Florida Repertory Theatre, ArtStage Studio, 2267 Bay St, Fort Myers
🎶 Details: Second week of Florida Rep's season opener, two performers doing the harmonies live over archival footage in a studio where no seat is more than a few rows back. Word from opening week is the Bye Bye Love sequence is worth the ticket on its own. Box office 239-332-4488.

🎬 Michael's Monthly Mystery Movie
📅 Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: Alliance for the Arts, 10091 McGregor Blvd, Fort Myers
🍿 Details: An '80s classic and they will not tell you which one until the lights go down. The Alliance's screening room is small, the crowd is loyal, and someone always guesses it from the first frame. Call 239-939-2787 if you need to know whether to bring the kids.

🍫 Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
📅 Date: Through Sunday, September 27, 2026
📍 Location: Cultural Park Theatre, 528 Cultural Park Blvd, Cape Coral
🎭 Details: Closing weekend for the community production across the river, $12 to $26, with a Friday night and weekend matinees. The golden ticket bit still lands with a seven year old every single time. Call 239-772-5862 for showtimes.

The CBD Brand that Actually Does What It Says

When it comes to CBD brands, CBDistillery sets itself apart. Since 2016, their products have been made with:

• Non-GMO, US-grown hemp

• No corn syrup

• No artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweeteners

Special Deal for Our Readers: Save 50% on orders of $75+ with code NEWS50!

Shop Trusted CBD

_*Ad

🏛️ Egypt on First Street, a Groundbreaking on Fowler

🐪 River Nights: A Night on the Nile
📅 Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM
📍 Location: Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, 2301 First St, Fort Myers
🥂 Details: The Fort Myers YMCA's big night, and the most talked about listing on this week's calendar by a mile. Cocktails, dinner, live music and an auction inside the Davis dressed as ancient Egypt, cocktail attire encouraged, $150 a ticket, and the money goes to swim lessons, summer camp and food help for families who cannot pay for them. Tickets at ymcaswfl.org/events.

🚔 Fort Myers Police Headquarters Groundbreaking
📅 Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
📍 Location: 2150 Fowler St, Fort Myers
🏗️ Details: The city breaks ground on the 182,000 square foot headquarters at Fowler and Market, a $147.2 million building with a $109.1 million Wharton-Smith construction contract and an August 2028 finish date. It is open to the public, it is the biggest thing the city has built in a generation, and you will drive past it for the next two years, so go see the empty lot while it is still empty.

🍅 Downtown Fort Myers Farmers Market
📅 Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
📍 Location: Fort Myers Farmers Market, 2200 First St, Downtown River District
🧺 Details: Every Saturday, rain or shine, under the bridge on First Street, with Kaye Krest's jewelry table back again. Go at nine before the produce is picked over and the heat has arrived.

🎧 Live from 2 to 5 at Point Ybel Brewing Co
📅 Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
⏰ Time: 2:00 PM
📍 Location: 2180 W First St Ste. 110, Fort Myers, FL 33901
🍻 Details: An afternoon set in the taproom, no cover, and the natural place to land after the market if you are not driving out to the beach for Island Hopper.

🧘‍♀️ Poses and Pints Yoga
📅 Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
⏰ Time: 9:30 AM
📍 Location: Point Ybel Brewing Co, 2180 W First St Ste. 110, Fort Myers, FL 33901
🍺 Details: Yoga on the brewery floor, a pint after, done before eleven. Do the market first, this second, and you have earned the rest of Saturday.

🧠 Trivia Night at Point Ybel
📅 Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:30 PM
📍 Location: Point Ybel Brewing Co, 2180 W First St Ste. 110, Fort Myers, FL 33901
🍺 Details: Free to play, and the regulars are good. Same night as farm trivia out on Penzance, so it comes down to whether you want chickens or a taproom.

👟 Point Ybel Run Club
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:30 PM
📍 Location: 2180 W First St Ste. 110, Fort Myers, FL 33901
🏃 Details: Every Thursday, run first and drink after, all paces welcome. Finish the loop, shower, and you can still make the free pool deck show at the Luminary a few blocks away.

🍻 Summer Trivia on McGregor
📅 Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:30 PM
📍 Location: 2161 McGregor Blvd, Fort Myers, FL 33901
🧠 Details: The Wednesday option for people who missed Tuesday. Smaller room, earlier start, and close enough to downtown to make the LoCash show after if your team loses early.

Afternoon energy. Minus the afternoon coffee.

Pique’s new X·E Fountain energy drink delivers clean, caffeine-free energy without the jitters, crash, or dehydration. Vitamin B Complex, magnesium, and electrolytes help support steady focus, while crisp cucumber-celery-lime makes every sip ridiculously refreshing.

Get 15% off for life.

_*Ad

🐐 Out on Penzance

🧘 Pilates and Pints
📅 Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:30 PM
📍 Location: Southern Fresh Farms, 8500 Penzance Blvd, Fort Myers
🍺 Details: The second most popular listing in this week's pack, which tells you something about Monday nights in September. A pilates class on a working farm after dark, then a beer with the goats still awake. Bring a mat and bug spray.

🧠 Tuesday Trivia at Southern Fresh Farms
📅 Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: 8500 Penzance Blvd, Fort Myers
🐔 Details: Trivia with the animals nearby and the kitchen open, more relaxed than downtown and with real parking.

🐄 Goat Snuggling with Marsala the Highland Calf
📅 Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM
📍 Location: 13151 Pinto Lane, Fort Myers, FL 33912
🐐 Details: Sit in the grass, get climbed on, and let a Highland calf named Marsala inspect you. Monday morning is the quiet session, and the goats are noticeably clingier when there are fewer of you.

🧘 Goat Yoga with Marsala
📅 Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM
📍 Location: 13151 Pinto Lane, Fort Myers, FL 33912
🐐 Details: Same farm, same goats, downward dog added. Nine o'clock beats the heat and still leaves time for the beach in the afternoon.

⛳ De LaSalle Academy Golf Tournament
📅 Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
⏰ Time: 1:00 PM
📍 Location: Legends Golf & Country Club, Fort Myers
🏌️ Details: Second year of the fundraiser for the school that serves kids with learning differences, and a real crowd is going by the look of it. Shotgun start at one, which in September means water in every pocket.

🐢 Sea Turtles: Caretakers of the Oceans
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM
📍 Location: Mound House, 451 Connecticut St, Fort Myers Beach
🌊 Details: Cindy Johnson from Turtle Time on the loggerheads that nest on this beach every summer, what the season looked like, and what the rest of us can do to keep them coming back. Free to $5, refreshments at five, talk at half past.

🧶 Midweek, Early Morning and Free

💃 Weekly Line and Partner Dance Lessons and Open Dance
📅 Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: 3061 E Riverside Dr, Fort Myers, FL 33916
🕺 Details: A lesson first, then open floor, no partner required for the line portion. Indoors and cold, which is why it keeps showing up near the top of the midweek listings.

✍️ Writing Workshop
📅 Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: 1342 Colonial Blvd, Unit C18, Fort Myers, FL 33907
📝 Details: Bring pages, get read, read someone else's, and leave with a reason to write more before next month. Same room as the Friday board game night, same welcoming crowd.

🎨 North Fort Myers Paint and Wine
📅 Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM
📍 Location: Three Fishermen Seafood Restaurant, 13021 N Cleveland Ave, North Fort Myers
🍷 Details: Step by step instructions toward a moonlit canvas, $39, wine and seafood on the side. Nobody's painting is good and that is the fun of it.

🌴 We Back at Lani Tiki
📅 Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM
📍 Location: Lani Kai Island Resort, 1400 Estero Blvd, Fort Myers Beach
🍹 Details: The tiki bar at the Lani Kai reopening its Friday night party the same weekend Island Hopper lands on the beach, which means the whole north end will be loud. Go for the sunset, stay for whatever happens next.

🏃‍♀️ Let's Get MOVING, City of Fort Myers
📅 Date: Monday, September 21, 2026
⏰ Time: 11:30 AM
📍 Location: Riverside Community Center, Fort Myers
💪 Details: Free movement class run by the city, indoors, built for people who want to move without anybody shouting. A good Monday reset.

📄 Resume Writing, Job Search and Job Application Workshop
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 9:00 AM
📍 Location: 5100 Tice Street, Fort Myers, FL 33905
📝 Details: Free, hands on, out on the Tice Street campus. Bring whatever resume you have and leave with one that works.

⌨️ Self-Paced Typing and Computer Digital Training
📅 Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
⏰ Time: 1:00 PM
📍 Location: 5100 Tice Street, Fort Myers, FL 33905
🖥️ Details: Drop in, go at your own speed, leave when you are done. Same building as the morning resume workshop, so it can all happen in one parking spot.

💻 Senior Planet Lectures, Workshops and Courses
📅 Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
⏰ Time: 1:00 PM
📍 Location: 5100 Tice Street, Fort Myers, FL 33905
📚 Details: Technology classes for older adults at a pace that assumes nothing. Free.

💬 Uplift Peer Group
📅 Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
⏰ Time: 6:30 AM
📍 Location: 2506 Second Street, Suite 106, Fort Myers, FL 33901
🌅 Details: Early morning peer support downtown, same time every week. Quiet, steady, and there whether or not the week went well.

⚠️ Please verify all event details with the respective organizers before attending, as schedules and venues may change.

_*Ad

📰 What's Happening in Fort Myers

🔗 Lee Teachers Declared Impasse After 74 Percent Rejected the District's Offer
The Teachers Association of Lee County walked away from the table on September 18 because the state's $2,340 raise skips anyone with under 10 years in Florida schools plus counselors, nurses and itinerant staff, the union wants $2,320 for them and $1,000 on starting pay against the district's $800, and president Kevin Daly pointed at $19 million in bonuses approved two years running, so a special magistrate now gets it.

🔗 Commissioners Pulled the 500 Page Lee Plan Rewrite Off the October Agenda
Kevin Ruane said "I feel there's a gun to my head" and cited 28 resident meetings already booked, David Mulicka seconded, and the board cancelled the October 7 hearing on amendments that would have folded 17 community plans, Pine Island, Alva, Buckingham, Captiva, Matlacha and Bayshore among them, into the countywide document while staff builds an outreach plan with no new date.

🔗 Fort Myers Is Leaning Toward the Biggest Fieldhouse Option for City of Palms
With a $356,180 site scoping nearly done, the city and Indiana developer Card & Associates are zeroing in on the largest of four concepts, a 200,000 square foot indoor anchor projected to throw off $62.7 million a year in economic output on the Midtown site where the old stadium is coming down, with commercial and residential wrapped around it.

🔗 Pile Driving at the Beach Pier Starts Now, Three a Day, 108 in All
Crews are pulling the last of the old piles and will start hammering 108 concrete ones landside and work west toward the end of the pier at roughly three a day, with a 150 foot safety perimeter set each morning and taken down each night, hearing protection recommended for anyone nearby, and brief flagger delays on Estero Boulevard when pile deliveries roll in.

🔗 A Rust Tide Bloom Is Sitting in Pine Island Sound
A Calusa Waterkeeper pilot spotted a Margalefidinium bloom near Sanibel, Tarpon Bay, Captiva Pass, Pine Island Sound and Cayo Costa, a cousin of red tide that can cause big fish kills but does not put respiratory toxins into the air, and SCCF is tracking it while nobody has said how long it will hang around.

🔗 Cape Coral Approved a $46 Million Garage and Reported $2.9 Million in School Zone Fines
Council voted 5-2 for a $23.2 million Charles Perry Partners contract toward a $46 million fleet maintenance facility on 30 acres off Kismet Parkway West that takes 17 months to build and is sized through 2045, then heard the school zone cameras issued 37,191 violations and collected $2,894,550 in their first year with no child hurt, approved a $10.1 million stormwater loan and raised the city's commercial paper line from $150 million to $500 million.

🔗 Florida TaxWatch Came Out Against the Property Tax Amendment
The watchdog says No on Amendment 3, which would exempt the first $150,000 of homestead value from non-school taxes on January 1, 2027 and $250,000 a year later at a cost legislative staff put at $4.6 billion to local governments in the first year, because CEO Jeff Kottkamp argues tax policy belongs in statute rather than the constitution, and it needs 60 percent on November 3.

🔗 Alva Gets a $7 Million EMS Station and Babcock Ranch Gets a Trailer Until Its Own Is Built
Commissioners handed Stultz Inc. nearly $7 million for a 7,794 square foot station on State Road 80 starting in October and done within a year, a copy of the Treeline prototype to save design money, and signed a rent-free 36 month lease on Neal Communities land at 12850 North River Road for a modular ambulance post until the permanent State Road 31 station opens.

🔗 The City Wants a Restaurant and a Music Hall Back Inside McCollum Hall
The CRA is taking proposals through October 2 for a restaurant and October 6 for a performing arts center at the National Register building on Cranford and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald played the Chitlin' Circuit, empty for years and finally getting a second act.

🔗 FGCU and NOAA Will Spend Four Years Figuring Out What Actually Protects Our Beaches
Christopher Daly of FGCU's Water School is leading a study running September 2026 through September 2030 with NOAA and USGS that will test sand replenishment, dune building and vegetation against doing nothing at eight spots including Sanibel, Bunche Beach, Fort Myers Beach and Lovers Key, so the next rebuild is based on data instead of guesswork.

🔗 Fort Myers Native Noel Devine Was Arrested Hours After Coaching a Win
The 38 year old West Virginia assistant and former Mountaineer running back was booked into the North Central Regional Jail on a felony strangulation charge the Sunday after WVU beat UT Martin 52-7, held on $40,000 bond, put on indefinite leave by Rich Rodriguez, and has a preliminary hearing September 23 while his son Andre plays running back for the same team.

🔗 Fort Myers Beach Is Getting a Beerfest, and Tickets Are On Sale Now
The Woman's Club's first Sand & Suds Beerfest lands October 10 at Bay Oaks with seven regional breweries, food trucks, live music and hand painted picnic tables going to auction, $50 general at 1 PM or $75 VIP at noon, with the money going back into the club's island programs.

🔗 The Beach Will Hold a Budget Town Hall at The Whale in October
Mayor Dan Allers and Town Manager Will McKannay will take live questions on the budget, projects and recovery from 5 to 7 PM on October 15 at The Whale, streamed on Facebook, and the full FY27 proposed budget with the fee schedule and millage went up for public review on the town site this week ahead of the final hearing.

🔗 Fertilizer Stays Off Your Lawn Through September 30
Lee County's summer ban on nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer runs through the end of the month across unincorporated areas and most cities, the county put out a guide this week on cutting runoff during the heat, and with a rust tide already sitting in the Sound it is not the year to jump the gun.