provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Little over three months after the SanCap Chamber celebrated the post-hurricane reopening of the Rachel Pierce Art Gallery on Sanibel Island, it cut the ribbon on Feb. 2 at the artist’s second gallery at Bell Towers in Fort Myers.
“Rachel has been such a force in the Southwest Florida community, one gallery cannot contain her energy and positive spirit,” said John Lai, chamber president and CEO. “She has done so much for the islands and beyond, and specifically for the chamber, we can’t be more excited about her branching out.”
The new location at Bell Tower’s Center Court will offer art classes ranging from glass painting and photography lessons to kids’ art and everything in between. Pierce has hired three teachers to teach the various classes.
“The hours are also much longer at the Bell Tower Gallery than Sanibel, giving shoppers more options,” Pierce said. “Business has been great on Sanibel, enough where I knew I wanted to expand and now is a great time to branch out while the island continues to heal.”
Pierce has been instrumental in supporting island nonprofits and a cheerleader for local businesses and the role of the chamber in the islands’ swift recovery.
“The chamber has always been in our corner,” she said. “They have weathered this storm aftermath with us all, an organization we business owners can turn to. They too suffered the same issues we all did – laying off employees, destroyed buildings, insurance woes. But through their own issues, they continue to help the business community in any way they can. They continue to gather info on the rebuilding efforts, timelines, and informing all our visitors about the progress happening. They have been so incredible for every business that has been able to reopen. We have the best chamber!”
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