Wrapping up another ’season’

As Good Friday dawned this year, it found women lined up around the block outside The Palm on Park Lilly Pulitzer store in Boca Grande as usual. By the end of the day, though, shop owner Jennifer Burch would end up saying the words, “Never again.”

What wasn’t anticipated by those working in the store that day was the sheer force of the crowds will in getting a great bargain. While it is considered a tradition on the island in past years, this year it took a toll on everyone working there, including Burch, who couldn’t believe the frenzy.

“It was so chaotic, we will never do that again,” she said. “Before we had it kind of contained, but this year we just had canopies on the sidewalks. Customers were going in the alley, hanging clothes on fences, garbage cans, things they didn’t want they just threw in the dirt. It was disrespectful, and not to be believed.”

Burch said that at least 200 people showed up for the sale.

“There was no control, I felt helpless,” she said.

The rest of the season for Ariel, Ltd., Ltl. Ariel and The Palm on Park, all Burch’s stores, was business as usual.

“We did a little slower business at Ltl. Ariel due to our relocation, I think,” said Burch. “Maybe some people didn’t find us. But in all, it was about normal. We really started in the first part of January, and we had a good Christmas season. We did well during the open house weekend around Thanksgiving, ‘Black Friday.’”

Nancy Blank at Fugate’s said she could only sum it up as “odd.”

“Originally we thought season was a little slow to begin,” she said. “We kept wondering where all of the people were. I would say that normally our business picks up in November or December, and for the most part it didn’t happen in either of those months.”

Blank said that in anticipation of the possibility of a market downturn, she ordered less merchandise, just in case. It worked out well.

“There was that secret little whisper of the possibility of a recession, so we were leary even then, back when we were buying for this season,” she said. “Then, in January it kicked in and we also had a great February. March was pretty good; we didn’t break any records, but it was good. Then it was all over. With Easter being early it was odd … it was quick, late to start then early to end. We just hope the tarpon remain in for tarpon season.”

The state park system on the island did report record-breaking numbers of visitors, even if shopkeepers didn’t.

Gasparilla Island State Park numbers were up 83 percent in the first quarter of 2008, at 151,000 visitors through the end of February. Stump Pass State Park was up 57 percent for the same time period, at more than 88,000 visitors.

Eva Wright, who manages the gift shop at the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse, said that they had two days that were record-breaking for sales.

“We had a good Thanksgiving week, then we had nothing until February,” she said. “February and March were decent, and I think we were lucky that Easter was early. New Englanders had a late spring break, and that’s what we’ve been enjoying the last couple of weeks. Now, they’re gone. But we had two record-breaking days for sales in late March or early April.“

The Gasparilla Island Bridge Authority also reported a sporadic season for the number of cars crossing the bridge. In January of this year numbers were slightly down, coming in at 84,000, as compared to 2007 when numbers reached 85,000. February, however, showed a strong increase from 88,000 vehicles in 2007 to 95,000 in 2008. March numbers were almost exactly the same for the two years, at more than 110,000, and April was down by only about 1,000 cars for 2008 at 92,000.

Cooper said another change he had noticed was the fact that many regular visitors to the island have stopped paying the cash toll and purchased passes.

“We have a greater number of people paying with cards than cash than last year,” he said. “We’re up by about five percent, I think. We have had good traffic as far as visitors go, and more and more of them are starting to get more focused on getting the discount. I think a lot of people that normally pay cash are getting the pass cards.”

Fishing line and bait are starting to prevail over shopping bargains in the minds of visitors to Boca Grande. With gas and diesel prices higher than ever before, it might stand to reason that less boaters would be out on the water.

Local fishing guides say that right now the fishing is fine, and it has been for about a month.

According to Cappy Joiner, the president of the Boca Grande Fishing Guides Association, said that fishing has been fine, particularly offshore.

“There’s still a lot of good fishing out there, we just gotta get to it,” he said. “It’s some of the best fishing I’ve ever seen.”

Capt. Tater Spinks, who owns the Anejo, agreed.

“We started in the last week in March, and fishing has been awesome but it slowed down a little bit now,” he said. “There’s more traffic, the fish are more finicky, and the bull sharks showed up for a few days and put a squash on everything. But spring was early this year, and it started the fishing earlier, too.”

Capt. Mark Becton, who loves to fish the flats and backwater, said that fishing there wasn’t good at all for snook season, which closed on April 30.

“We have nowhere near the number of snook we used to have,” he said. “There were noticeably fewer fish this year … our snook are in trouble. A lot of it might have to do with the hard winter we had, and fishing pressure in general. For a few years we had bad red tide, but not recently. But it doesn’t matter who is causing what right now, I haven’t killed any snook this year.”

He said at this time, guides are basically “eating” the price of their gas in order to not raise guide prices.

“When you used to get a tip, it could go toward your emergency cash fund, or something nice for your wife or kids. Now, it all goes back in the gas tank. Even in my skiff, it gets expensive. I don’t use anywhere near the amount of fuel the guys that fish the pass do.”