FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — On Tuesday, Jan Basil said preparing for a cold day at Fort Myers Beach beats a day back home in the Illinois snow.
Like Basil, families visiting on Tuesday were dressed in their hometown sweatshirts and visiting stores, like Local Color, a gift shop, Store Manager Rob Green said has been on Fort Myers Beach for 19 years.
“Every day here at the beach is a holiday because that's why people come down here," said Green.
Visitors like Debbie Michael, agree that it's never a bad time when they are at the beach.
“I come every year around this time in February it's about the time when you've had just about enough of northwest Indiana and Chicago snow," said Michael.
As businesses on Fort Myers Beach prepare for the coming weeks, Green told Fox 4 they are making sure they can keep their shelves stocked.
“What we are doing is obviously ordering more, praying that we can get those orders, hoping we can get that merchandise," said Green.
A hope, Green said is influenced by the shipping delays experienced by businesses during the pandemic.
“We hope the containers come in, we hope that the people are coming back, so ya hope down here on a daily basis is good,” said Green.
According to the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau, the number of visitors is down when they compared the past two years on Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island.
Overall, last year's numbers took a 30.3% decrease compared to the previous year, and they won't have this year’s numbers until after the season is over.
Although, if visitors like Michael are any indication, it could be a good year for Fort Myers Beach.
“A lot of people are leaving from our area to somewhere warm especially Florida because nobody wants to go through the cold and an ice storm on your face, we have suffered enough,” said Michael.
Lee County Sheriff's Office told Fox 4 that during this time, there will be a significant increase in both manpower and deployed assets down on Fort Myers Beach.
