Tamiami Trail's 90th Anniversary Celebration

Celebrate the 90th anniversary of the opening of the Tamiami Trail on Saturday, April 28. Beginning at 10 a.m. there will be a coffee and bake sale and arts and crafts booths will open. A guided Everglades City Walking Tour begins at 10 a.m. The official opening ceremony takes place at 11 a.m. with a welcome and introduction of local dignitaries and a speech read by Barron Collier III, descendant of Barron Gift Collier, the man who purchased the land and finished the Everglades portion of building the roadway to Miami. At 11:30 there will be a parade around the city. From 11:30 to 1:30 enjoy BBQ ($10). There will be live music at noon by the Naples Dixieland Jazz Band; at 1 p.m. Marco Island historical re-enactors; at 2 p.m. guest speaker Jonathan Ullman; at 3 p.m. Old-Timers Storytelling; and at 4 p.m. an Afternoon Tea at the historic Roc & Gun Club. RSVPs are required for the Afternoon Tea by April 5th - please call 239-695-2397.

The Tamiami Trail (from Tampa to Miami) was a brilliant engineering feat, conquering the once impenetrable Everglades and stands out as a picturesque link between the two coasts of Florida. Barron Gift Collier invested much of his personal wealth in building the Tamiami Trail, a gigantic project to link Florida's east and west coasts with a modern highway across the Everglades. The road was completed and opened to traffic on April 26, 1928.

Establishing a museum was the dream of the Everglades Women's Club which eventually evolved into the Friends of the Museum of the Everglades, under the leadership of the late Pauline Reeves, for whom the museum's front gallery is named. The Museum of the Everglades was opened 20 years ago on the 70th anniversary of the Trail.

We will also be commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the incorporation of the City of Everglades City in 1953 and the 95th Anniversary of the establishment of Collier County in 1923.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, see the Friends' website www.evergladesmuseum.org or email them at [email protected].