Yo-ho-ho: Fort Myers Beach businesses say Pirate Festival will go on

FORT MYERS BEACH — It's still a pirate's life for Fort Myers Beach businesses.

Hotel, restaurant, marina and other business owners vow to hold the Pirates Festival Oct. 5-7 after the event promoter said in a Tuesday email the festival was postponed.

"We actually told our promoter to walk the plank and we're still having a pirate festival," said Glee Ann Aguis, marketing director of Salty Sam's Marina, 2500 Main Street.

"It's a big weekend for that area on the beach, for the hotels, the restaurants, the retail. The businesses do a lot of the pirate events that are part of the festival."

Suzie King, with SIK Promotions Inc. in St. Petersburg, was unavailable for comment Wednesday. The promotion company sent out an email Tuesday afternoon that the seventh annual Pirate Fest would be postponed "due to circumstances beyond our control."

The email offered no details, including when the festival would be rescheduled.

"This year, due to obstacles both new and old, we feel it is in the best interest of all parties, both those investing their time and money and those paying patronage, that we postpone the event to ensure that we are able to provide the best show possible to our sponsors, vendors and patrons," the email states."We apologize for any inconveniences, but we firmly believe that something worth doing is something worth doing right."

Aguis said the marina's pirate ship, Pieces of Eight, is an integral part of the weekend and will be again this year. The ship will invade the beach and take part in a ship-to-shore battle, firing its cannons — one of the highlights of the weekend for many, she said.

Festivities such as a pub crawl, a best-dressed pirate contest and other events are planned, the same as previous years, said Tom Kolar, owner of the Yucatan Beach Stand Bar, 250 Old San Carlos Blvd..

"It's not going to be the official Pirate Fest, but we do honor the local people so we will put something on," he said. "Different businesses will have different entertainment. We've got a lot of fun stuff planned."

Koar, Aguis and other Fort Myers Beach business owners expect to have their plans for the festival weekend solidified by Friday.

"There's a lot of people in the surrounding area who have commented that they already have their costume and they're ready to invade the beach," Aguis said. "A lot of the events are put on by the businesses anyway.

"And, there's a number of people coming into town, still planning on arriving here that weekend, so we want to make sure they have a good time."