The City of Punta Gorda held a citizens’ meeting April 16th about the downtown building height zoning change. A standing-room-only crowd attended. The well-run event empowered lively, informative discussion.

In March, Punta Gorda Airport announced the busiest month for air traffic EVER in its history. Commercial, private and charter aircraft traffic posted a record-setting 36% increase compared to March 2017. Tourism in the area also posted significant increases.

Renown jazz musician on sax; Gerald Albright duo-ed with Norman Brown at the 2014 Wine & Jazz Festival. He’ll be back to play for Punta Gorda once again! Also in the line-up, JUST ANNOUNCED, The Sax Pack and Matt Marchak! Another star-studded festival, Wine & Jazz Tickets are already on sale for the 2019 Festival.

Punta Gorda, FL, has been selected a top retirement destination by Where to Retire, the only magazine in America geared toward helping people with retirement relocation decisions. Punta Gorda is profiled in a feature titled “8 Gulf Coast Beauties” in the May/June 2018 issue. READ THE PRESS

Inspired by Libby Shafer’s book “The Ladies of Punta Gorda,” the newest mural in Downtown is being created on the Bayside Center (the southeast corner of Olympia and US41 North).  There are several new murals around town – a PGCC Trolley Tour is an easy way to view them.

Popular SWFL author Randy Wayne White, visited Punta Gorda recently. A reception at Copperfish Books hosted hundreds of fans to kick off his newest New York Times bestseller book, “Caribbean Rim”. White resides on Sanibel Island and sets many of his tales in Southwest FL.

For our local European residents and world travelers: Check out Kiwi.com to find air travel to places all around the world. It is an online travel service that can help “you figure out where you can fly within your budget.” The service can route you right out of PGD for reasonable prices.

Punta Gorda Pub Crawl did a record-breaking take on food donations of 6,554 lb of food and a record $2,300 for the Harry Chapin food bank. With nearly 700 people showing up for the food drive, we were also able to give $1,700 to the local Salvation Army and $1,400 to the Homeless Coalition of Charlotte County. Charlotte High Interact Club, ROTC and the Mock Trial Law students were also able to raise money for their causes. Harry Chapin food bank announced that the Punta Gorda food drive is the largest and most successful food drive this past year.

Charlotte Community Foundation will award more than $117,000 in higher education scholarships for the 2018-2019 academic school year. Applications have been submitted and are being evaluated. Awards will be presented in April.

Sunseeker Resorts will break ground this Spring. 22 waterfront acres in Charlotte Harbor, FL Sunseeker Resort will include a hotel, condo towers, restaurants, bars, shops, marinas and more.Currently planned to open December, 2019.