Seminole

Pow Wow at

the Hard Rock

     

   Florida’s Seminole tribe is celebrating the 52nd annual Tribal Fair & Pow Wow, January 30-February 1 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood. in Hollywood, Florida. 

   This annual family-friendly event is a celebration of Seminole culture and arts feature vendors, exhibition dancing, wildlife shows, arts & crafts contests, drumming exhibitions, movie screenings, and a free concert on Sunday, February 1. 

   The Seminole Tribe’s Tribal Fair & Pow Wow, is January 30-February1, 9am-5pm. Admission is free. Primitive camping facilities are available.

   The Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood is located at 1 Seminole Way in Hollywood, Florida. For information, call 866-625-5374.

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Christmas Carol

Sing Moves

to Saturday

   

   “The Carol Sing has traditionally been on the first Tuesday of December, but we thought we would try it on a Saturday this year, in hopes that more families will attend,” said the church’s Pastor, Rev. Dr. Paul deJong.

   Because of the overwhelming popularity of the event, two sing-alongs are planned at 1 & 4pm.Doors will open 30 minutes prior to show time.

   The 75-minute performance will include the Carol Sing Community Choir, soloists, and other special guests singing favorite holiday carols with audience sing-a-longs. Santa Claus will be making an appearance. 

   Admission is free, although organizers request voluntary donations of at least two cans of non-perishable food for The Soup Kitchen, operated by Community Cooperative, a nonprofit organization made up of social service entrepreneurs dedicated to ending hunger and homelessness in Southwest Florida. 

   Voluntary cash donations are encouraged. Community Cooperative can buy five times as much food for the same amount of money that residents spend at local grocery stores. Funds will support initiatives like

   Sam’s Community Café & Kitchen, Mobile Food Pantries, Meals on Wheels of SWFL, Mobile Hot Food and Social & Education Resource Centers, Community Cooperative works every day to ensure families and individuals have access to nutritious meals, stability, and hope.

   First Presbyterian Church is located at 2438 Second Street in downtown Fort Myers, between Lee St. and Royal Palm Ave. For information, call 334-2261.

 

Edison & Ford

States Celebrates

50 Years of

Holiday Nights

     

   The Edison & Ford Winter Estates celebrates the 50th anniversary of their Holiday Nights with displays on view through January 4, 5:30-9pm.

   This year’s ‘Golden Jubilee’ will feature gold lights and decorations. Guided Holiday Tradition Tours will be offered at 6 & 7pm nightly. Visitors can also stroll around at their own pace on a self-guided tour. Inside-the-Homes tours will be offered on December 3, 10, & 17 at 6:30pm for a special up-close look at the homes’ decorated interiors. 

   The family-oriented event includes the Children’s Tree Trail, which features 50 trees decorated with handmade ornaments from Lee County school children. Holiday films will be shown on the Ford lawn at 6:30pm each night. From 6-8pm Sunday evenings through December 21, children can visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. 

   On Wednesday nights from 6-8pm, there will be a family science show and guests will have an opportunity to learn about the diffraction of holiday lights, the chemistry of slime, and how to drive a robot. 

   There will be holiday music on several nights, including strolling carolers, a pianist, and saxophone and trumpet players.

   Holiday Nights is open through January 4, 5:30-9pm (closed for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve & Christmas Day). Edison & Ford Winter Estates, located at 2350 McGregor Blvd. in Fort Myers, is open daily (except Thanksgiving and Christmas) from 9am-5:30pm and until 9pm during December for Holiday Nights. For information, call 334-7419.

 

Festival of Birds

at Rookery Bay

   

   Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve’s annual Festival of Birds will be held January 15-19. There will be guided field trips to wildlife hotspots around Southwest Florida, bird-featured activities throughout the month and a special keynote presentation and reception.

   The Festival features field trips including birding walks, boat trips, kayaking adventures, swamp tromps, swamp buggy excursions, a moonlight hike, boardwalk walk, biking and car caravan to locations such as Six Mile Cypress Slough, Bunche Beach, Clam Pass, Corkscrew Swamp, CREW Marsh Trails, Eagle Lakes Park, Fakahatchee Strand, Six Mile Cypress Slough, Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, Harns Marsh, Rookery Bay Research Reserve and Tigertail Beach. 

   There are three new adventures this year: Picayune Strand Forest, Sunrise Walk; Tigertail Beach, Sleuthing the Lagoon; Big Cypress, Birding Caravan and Wet Walk in the Swamp and Rookery Bay Research Reserve, Sunset Kayak Trip.

   Special activities include:

   JANUARY 16: Nature Collage (9:30am), Nature Journaling Workshop (1:30pm), Birds & Butterflies: Shell Decoupage (1:30pm).

   JANUARY 17: Essentials of Digital Photography (9:30am)

   JANUARY 18: Moon Walk: Nights in Nature (5:30)

   The Keynote Speaker is Paul N. Gray, Audubon Florida’s Science Coordinator in Everglades Restoration Program. His presentation is titled, ‘Brief History of Ornithology in the Americas, Florida and the Birth of the Audubon Societies.’ The reception is January 15 at 5:30pm.

   Preregistration is required for all field trips, keynote presentation and activities.

Rookery Bay Estuarine Research reserve is located at 300 Tower Rd. in Naples. Call 530-5972 for information.

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'Minute Masterpieces' at Tribby Art Center

   

   Tribby Art Center hosts ‘Minute Masterpieces: Fine Art by Miniature Art Society of Florida Artists and Urbanscapes by Alberto Chailosky,’ an exhibition of 143 miniature paintings by 38 artists living in 15 states across the United States, as well as five works from mixed-media artist Alberto Chailosky of Fort Myers. The exhibition is on view through January 17, 2026.

   'Minute Masterpieces’ is the first exhibition in Fort Myers to feature works by members of the Miniature Art Society of Florida. Headquartered in Dunedin, Florida, and with members throughout the United States and several other countries, it has brought Florida to the forefront in the rising resurgence of interest in miniature art.

   To qualify as a miniature fine art painting, the subject in the painting must be no larger than one sixth the size of the actual subject in real life. 

   “These are not works you will find in a doll house, but instead fine art of the caliber you might expect to find in any art gallery. The only difference is that they are very small in size,” said Tribby curator, Marge Lee.

   Some paintings on display are as small as 2.5 inches in width and height. Many are so small, in fact, that magnifying glasses will be hanging and available for use by all visitors to see their fascinating minute details. The magnifying glasses will also be useful to fully appreciate the intricate miniature artworks also being displayed in this exhibition of miniaturist Alberto Chailosky of Fort Myers.

   Chailosky is widely known for his ‘urbanscapes’ depicting scenes of urban locations in minute, exacting detail, each work a time capsule transporting the viewer to a specific time and place. A ‘scratch’ builder, he makes every detail specifically for each work, at a scale and effort that can be difficult to comprehend. For just one detail in ‘Captain Tony’s Saloon,’ Chailosky created and then hand-cut 500 tiny dollar bills, each one just 1/4 inch in width, as well as 150 license plates, each just 3/4 inch wide. 

   Tribby Arts Center, located at 17281 On Par Blvd. within the Coastal Commons neighborhood of Shell Point, is open Tue-Sat 10am-3pm (closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day). For information, call 415-5667.

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