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Robin Dawn Ryan, Robin Dawn Dance Academy, with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the city of Cape Coral
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The Shumans, Ken’s Auto Repair, with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the city of Cape Coral
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ACRA Electric with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the City of Cape Coral
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Raso Realty Realtor Linda Biondi with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the city of Cape Coral
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Four businesses were recognized at last week’s Cape Coral City Council meeting for serving the community for more than 50 years.
“This is something I brought forward. I thought we should recognize businesses in our community. It’s truly an honor to stand here and recognize these incredible milestones and businesses with over 50 years of community partnerships and excellence,” Mayor John Gunter said. “Today’s fast pace and ever-changing world, longevity in business is no small feat – it requires vision, resilience, adaptability and a deep connection to the community. These businesses embody all of that and more.”
Gunter said since Robin Dance Academy, Ken’s Auto Repair, ACRA Electric Inc, and Raso Realty opened their doors, the quality of the products and services have become a pillar in the city. He said generations of families have walked through their doors due to their trusted expertise.
“I want to say thank you. Thank you for your perseverance, heart and unwavering dedication to our community. Congratulations,” Gunter said.
Robin Dawn Dance Academy
In 1975, Robin Dawn Ryan ended up in Cape Coral by accident. The owner and artistic director began her dancing career at the age of 2 in Indiana. In 1970 the family moved to Venice, Florida where she trained with the Sarasota Sailor Circus and traveled to Alaska.
“My mom had always wanted me to open a studio. I didn’t do it because I didn’t think I was ready,” she said.
When her mom asked her to come further south so she could open her a studio, Ryan came. Her mom found a place on Cape Coral Parkway and paid $200 from her checking account for the studio.
“My family had to work hard. I was 18 years old,” she said, adding that she said, “OK, mommy.”
Her success is due to “mothers know best.”
“She always believed in me and always supported me and never stopped. She was very pushy,” Ryan said laughing. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I get to share what I love so much.”
Ryan said she never bought a building in the early years because every year she had a different dream.
“I wanted to dance professionally. I didn’t want to tie myself down, and that was 51 years ago,” she said. “God had a whole other plan for me. Now I do own my own building. Six years ago, I bought that property.”
Her mission once she opened – provide the opportunity for those who wanted to have a career in the arts.
“I knew they had to have someone that had the knowledge and connection. To be really good at what I did, I had to have connections to help other dancers and performers achieve their dreams,” Ryan said. “I went to New York. I studied. I went and took every dance I could take.”
That first year she started off with 30 kids.
Those early years were not easy – she slept in her studio, her car, locked up for the summer and joined the circus. Letters from her students asking her to return, and her mother asking her to give it another year, brought her back.
“The next year I opened I had 75 kids and then I had 125 kids and then it just kept going,” Ryan said.
More than 50 years later, she now has 500 students.
“Definitely, dance has changed in 50 years. I am a master teacher. I teach all over the country. I teach for different organizations,” she said, adding that she also does choreography at a theater in Fort Myers for their musicals.
Ryan spent the early years growing up fast but is thankful for where her career has landed – at her forever home on Santa Barbara Boulevard.
“I love the arts very much, the dancing, and entertainment. I love the kids and love seeing their success,” she said, adding that she enjoys helping point her students in the right direction and keeping them out of trouble. “I have a great studio staff. One of my teachers has been with us since she was 3 years old, almost 47 years.”
Another teacher she taught, as well as her two daughters.
“Things like that make you feel good. The kids – the kids are happy,” Ryan said. “It’s not a stressful place for them. I want them to be happy and come and forget about everything for the day and enjoy what they are doing and feel safe.”
She said she never left Cape Coral because Cape Coral has always been loyal to her – the people, community – something she was not going to let go.
Ken’s Auto Repair
Ken Schuman bought land on Del Prado Boulevard in 1972 and opened the doors to Ken’s Auto Repair in 1973 when Del Prado was just two lanes – one south and one north with no center strip.
The Schumans had vacationed in Cape Coral several times from Cleveland, where he was a department manager for Sears. He said he decided he was going to leave the company and move to the Cape where it was an opportune time to start a business.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of anything,” Schuman said. “We had come down in ’67 and ’68 and it was just really nice and clean.”
As a Navy veteran who was a submarine tender that worked on mechanical engines, his background in automotive and mechanical served a good foundation for his new endeavor. Schuman’s family also had a strong background in automotives.
“I grew up in the industry, even though I didn’t follow it with Sears. Eventually I went back to automotive,” he said.
With moving to the community in its infancy, everybody knew everybody, and he became involved in coaching and managing Little League baseball for a few years.
Ken’s Auto Repair began as an auto electric shop rebuilding starters and alternators in Cape Coral and Fort Myers.
“I set up 40 consignment gas stations and garages. Back then about 10 pieces – five starters and five alternators would cover about 90% of the cars on the road,” Schuman said. “It was a good little business. We rebuilt a lot of starters and alternators.”
In 1980-1981 Ken’s Auto Repair went to a full-service automotive business – adding three lifts to the shop and adding space to the building.
The small shop normally has two technicians but, due to the economy, they are down to one.
“We have one of the best mechanics in Cape Coral. He is very meticulous. He is very picky – it has to be right, or it won’t leave the shop,” he said.
The business continues to thrive with 90% of their work coming from referrals.
“We have a lot of customers for a little shop, and those people have been very nice to recommend us to other people. As long as we can make them happy, they come back and recommend us to someone else,” Schuman said. “Most of the people that are in business and have been in business are doing it right or trying to do it right. That is why they are here.”
ACRA Electric
In 1975, ACRA Electric was started by Anthony Sr. and Carmella Greco, and their sons Robert and Anthony Jr. – a business name that is an acronym of their first names.
ACRA Electric Director Rae Montellano, who is Robert’s daughter, said when Anthony Sr. and Carmella retired in the 1990s, their sons kept the business going.
“They are bringing in two of their children to come in the business when they leave,” she said.
One of the cool things about their business?
“We have employees that started in the ’80s working with us,” Montellano said.
“Our office manager has been with the company for 34 years now. There are a lot of really good people here. It is really nice here,” she said.
The business started with wiring residential properties throughout Cape Coral and Lee County. A year later a permanent office was opened in downtown Cape Coral where it remains today.
Since then, the business has grown with commercial and marine departments as well.
When they began specializing in marina work, it became a niche that they pursued.
The marine department does marinas and boat lifts and everything electrical wiring over the water.
“We’ve grown and shrunk,” Montellano said with a nationwide bubble burst in 2008. “It has been a lot of rolling with the punches. We roll with what the community needs. The entire company became a service department after Hurricane Ian. We are there to pick it up and do what is right by the community.”
The aftermath of Hurricane Ian kept the business slammed, which continues to this day with the large marinas that had to be completely redone.
“It’s been years of really hard work on the projects that came out of that,” she said, adding that all the departments except marina, are back to normal.
Robin Dawn Ryan, Robin Dawn Dance Academy, with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the city of Cape Coral
The Shumans, Ken’s Auto Repair, with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the city of Cape Coral
ACRA Electric with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the City of Cape Coral
Raso Realty Realtor Linda Biondi with Mayor John Gunter.
Photo provided by the city of Cape Coral
Raso Realty
Joe Raso opened Raso Realty on June 11, 1973.
The family had moved to Cape Coral in 1960 where Raso was the first bartender in the Cape before he decided to get his real estate license. The business began after he left Gulf American Corporation.
“Most of the Gulf American men that worked for the company, they all retired and opened their own real estate offices,” said Gloria Tate, Raso’s daughter, adding that when Wonderland closed its doors last year, Raso Realty is the only independent office left.
Joe’s kids began getting involved in the business, Cathy became a broker, followed by Tate and then her nephew got involved 25 years ago.
“We celebrated 50 years right after Hurricane Ian, after we rebuilt,” said Tate, who has served two different times as a Cape Coral City Council member. “We have been in the same place, same phone number for that many years. We were damaged, but rebuilt.”
She recalled the building in its early years with royal blue carpet on the wall – wall to wall carpet.
“As much as we hated it, he loved it,” Tate said.
Throughout the more than 50 years, she said there have been changes to the Multiple Listing Service, the city, and the housing market.
“We have hung in there that long through trials and tribulations,” Tate said.
After Hurricane Ian, which heavily damaged the South Cape — there were some real conversations about what they were going to do and go. That conversations led to what her dad would do – stick it out.
“Things are great now. It was a very trying time after Ian – losing my house, office, condo – it was a lot,” Tate said.
The family-run business continues to be successful, as the agents are also considered family.
Tate said Linda Biondi has been with Raso Realty for close to 40 years.
“She has been sitting beside me for close to 40 years. We have a lot of other agents – none as close as she and I,” she said.