Your top choice for compassionateIn-Home Care in Cape Coral, FL

SunSplash Family Waterpark has announced its 2024 season begins on Saturday, March 9, marking the beginning of an exciting season filled with special events and fun-filled activities for the whole family.

The season will run from March 9 through Dec. 1. After opening weekend, SunSplash will be open daily for Spring Break from March 15 to April 1. The park will then go to a Thursday to Sunday schedule through May. Summer daily hours of operation take place from May 24 through Sept. 2 and return to a Thursday through Sunday schedule through October and weekends only November through Dec. 1.

Season Passes are on sale for $59.99 plus tax for a limited time. The 2024 Season Pass comes with a variety of benefits including unlimited visits; early entry 30-minutes before opening; discounts on food, beverage (excluding alcohol), and cabana rentals. The Pineapple Pass, which offers all the great pass perks of a Season Pass, allows the pass holder to bring a friend with them for every visit to the park plus provides the pass holder with an unlimited (non-alcoholic) drink wristband on every visit.

One-day admission tickets are available online with a $5 savings discount off the at-gate admission.

As a premier destination and Southwest Florida’s largest water park, SunSplash Family Waterpark features thrilling water slides, lazy river, pool, interactive play area, and more. Guests can look forward to entertainment, delicious food options, and a vibrant atmosphere that will make every visit memorable.

“We are excited to welcome guests back to SunSplash Family Waterpark for another season of sun-soaked fun,” said Eric Reed, general manager. “Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure that this year’s lineup of special events will exceed expectations and create lasting memories for our visitors.”

Special events taking place this season include:

• Opening Weekend – March 9 and 10

• Spring Break DJ Dance Parties – March 15-17 and March 22-24

• St. Patrick’s Day Food & Fun – March 17

• Easter Weekend – March 29-31

• Champion’s Day Spring Celebration – April 13

• Sunsets @ SunSplash – April 27

• Viva La Fiesta Cinco De Mayo Party – May 5

• Mother’s Day Celebration – May 12

• Memorial Day Weekend – May 25-27

• Prince & Princess Day – June 8

• Sunsets @ SunSplash – June 15

• Dad’s Day – June 16

• World’s Largest Swim Lesson – June 20

• Half-Way to Christmas – June 25

• Independence Day – July 4

• July Family Fun Fridays – July 5, 12, 19 and 26

• Sunsets @ SunSplash – July 23

• Champions Day Summer Olympic Day Celebration – July 23

• National Water Park Day – July 28

• Aloha Back to School Supply Drive – Aug. 5-9

• Sunsets @ SunSplash – Aug. 16

• Season Pass Appreciation Month – September

• Spooky Splash Bash – Oct. 26

• Share What You Can Food Drive – November

• End of Season Holiday Celebration – Nov. 29 – Dec. 1

Complete details of special events and the operating schedule can be found at SunSplashWaterpark.com.

About SunSplash

SunSplash Family Waterpark is Southwest Florida’s largest waterpark with slides, pools, flumes, food, and fun for all ages. It is located at 500 W. Lake Kennedy Drive, 2.5 miles north of Veterans Parkway in Cape Coral. For additional information, please visit SunSplashWaterpark.com. Follow SunSplash on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The March 19 Presidential Preference Primary will be here soon. If you plan to vote by mail in this year’s elections, you must submit a new request. I encourage you to act now! Voting by mail is the most convenient way to cast your vote. Visit lee.vote to request your mail ballot.

To continue providing superior election services, we implemented BallotTrax — a secure ballot tracking and notification service that provides you with a series of updates on the state of your Vote-by-Mail Ballot through email, text and phone alerts during the election.

When you sign up for this free service, you will receive notifications every step of the way — from the time your ballot is mailed, to when it is received and counted. If an issue arises with your ballot, you will receive an alert with instructions on how to resolve it.

To sign up for BallotTrax and customize your notification preferences, visit our website at lee.vote.

Instilling trust in the election process and increasing transparency in conducting elections in Lee County is paramount. Physical security and cybersecurity remain top priorities in keeping our elections safe and accurate.

Beginning this year, we will use Clear Ballot — a post-election audit system certified by the state of Florida to verify election results. This system allows us to scan 100 percent of the ballots used in an election and compare election results from Vote-by-Mail, Early Voting and Election Day to ensure the accuracy of our tabulation system. This will further strengthen our election process and provide greater assurance to voters.

Florida has the strictest election laws in the United States to prevent voter fraud. My team and I, together with the Supervisors of Elections across the state, work diligently to uphold the statutorily mandated voter registration and election procedures that work to preserve the integrity of the election process.

As your Supervisor of Elections, let me assure you that my team and I remain committed to safeguarding the integrity of elections in Lee County by continuing to conduct accurate, secure and transparent elections.

As your trusted source for election information, please contact me or my staff with any questions or concerns.

Tommy Doyle is the Lee County Supervisor of Elections. For more information, visit lee.vote or call 239-533-8683.

COMMENTS

Letters To The Editor

To the editor: Looks like another brilliant idea is going to bless Cape Coal, the new “Pedestrian Bridge.” I ...

Cape Coral City Council will hold a joint conversation with the Oasis Charter School board to discuss use of the planned Oasis Multi-Purpose Athletic Field.

A majority of Council agreed the complex will be a public facility not solely dedicated for school use.

Councilmember Richard Carr said the interaction with the board of the city’s charter school system to have their input is extremely important.

“I like the idea of having everyone in the room — an informal, less formal, round table discussion with their board and us would be beneficial to us,” he said. “Their input and their participation is critically important to the success and buy in. I would like to have that open dialogue before we finalize any plans for this complex.”

The facility was discussed during Wednesday’s Council workshop. The presentation stated that the design elements could include football, soccer, and lacrosse fields, running track, bleachers, locker rooms, pavilions, concession facility and restrooms.

This complex, although utilized by the charter schools, would be open to the public.

City Manager Michael Ilczyszyn said he views the school as part of Cape Coral.

“The question I have is, do we want their board to provide input, or just you,” he said. “They are us; they are part of the city. We view them just like we do parks, fire department when building a fire asset. How do you want us to incorporate their governing board as input before you all make a plan.”

Mayor John Gunter said the board recommendation is important.

He said because of previous discussion as a Council, he sold the complex as a public facility.

“What I don’t want to do is put the emphasis on the school. We have this as a public facility,” he said.

Gunter also suggested talking to potential youth organizations that might use the field to get their input as well.

A big concern for Councilmember Tom Hayden was communication.

“It’s a priority to have conversation now,” he said. “I have no problem having some kind of joint meeting. I would hate to see this turn into some kind of rights battle. I just believe this school is probably thinking of this facility a little bit differently. We need to get that cleared and clarified as we move forward with this.”

Oasis Charter Schools is a four-school municipal school system offering education for students from kindergarten through high school.

Cape News

It was exciting this week to see my first yellow butterfly of the season! Swooping up and down. Darting back and forth. It seems like such a random pattern, yet this butterfly has found the only plant in the neighborhood that she can lay her eggs on. It’s a privet senna (Senna ligustrina); some call it a cassia. The bush is about 5-6 feet tall, with small pointed leaves, and clusters of yellow buds getting ready to open. It blooms off and on most of the year. The seed pods look like string beans and if they are cut off right after blooming, the bush will bloom again sooner!

These yellow butterflies are called sulphurs. Although there are many kinds of sulphurs, there are three likely to be seen here. The largest and most dramatic is the orange barred sulphur, bright yellow with spots of orange on its forewings and a 3-inch wingspan. Slightly smaller is the lemon-yellow cloudless sulphur with a few dots on its wings. The sleep orange sulphur has just a 2-inch wingspan. The adults live from two to four weeks, with the goal of finding a mate and laying eggs on any kind of senna bush.

There are many plants in the senna family in a variety of sizes. Almost identical to the privet senna but shorter is Bahama senna (or cassia). It gets about 3 feet tall and lives three to five years. Both shrubs have an attractive oval shape, keep their leaves all year and are frequently covered in yellow flowers. They are easy to trim, but usually don’t need it. They are native Florida plants, so they grow just fine in our sandy Cape Coral soil. However, I have not seen it sold in big box stores. You can find it in a nursery that sells native plants or at the plant sales at Rotary Park. Often, they are passed along from gardener to gardener.

Members of the Garden Club of Cape Coral are having a huge plant sale on March 9 at Jaycee Park, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which they call “March in the Park.” Gardeners in the club will bring hundreds of plants they have grown to sell at this event, including some senna bushes.

Partridge pea is an even smaller plant in this family, which also attracts the yellow butterflies. There are non-native sennas, such as the candlestick plant (Senna alata). These have much larger leaves, dramatic flowers and seem especially attractive to sulphurs. Also, desert cassia, native to the Caribbean, grows to be a small 10-foot tree with tiny leaves yet similar yellow flowers. It thrives in our rainy season as long as it is able to drain freely.

On any of these senna bushes, caterpillars do eat a few leaves, but it is hardly noticeable. I do have milkweed plants for Monarch butterflies. Monarch caterpillars sometimes do eat the entire plant down to bare stems! But not those on the senna bushes. Why not plant a senna bush? Add these lovely yellow flowers to your neighborhood, and entice the yellow butterflies to your yard!

There are many upcoming garden activities this time of year at Rotary Park:

• Florida-Friendly Yard Tour, March 2, 9 a.m. to noon

• Butterfly Garden Design, March 8, 1 to 3 p.m.

• Wild Edibles Walk, March 13, 10 to 11 a.m.

• Design a Florida-Friendly Yard, April 12 and 19.

Sherie Bleiler volunteers at the Cape Coral Library Butterfly Garden and is a member of the Garden Club of Cape Coral. Visit gardenclubofcapecoral.com. Like us on our Facebook page.

Local Columns