Azil Mellon shows off her winning Mahjong hand at Dillards. -STEPHANIE DAVIS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Summer is nearly over, and while full-blown season won’t start gearing up until around November, mini-social season starts now.

It was such a busy week that I would have needed to clone myself to be at everything I wanted to go to, but I flitted around from event to event just fine.

Fun at Foxtail

Bright and early last Thursday, I was so happy to be at the grand opening of the brand new Foxtail Coffee Co. on Cleveland Avenue between downtown and the Edison Mall. It’s a beautifully done newly constructed building and the look is as fresh as the delicious coffee. Diana and Scott Willis of Jason’s Deli are behind the Fort Myers location of Foxtail — and I’m excited! Diana and Scott are excellent restauranteurs and super hard workers. I don’t know how they find the time to give back to the community, but they always do. I’m involved with some local nonprofits and whenever I call Diana for help, she’s always the first to give back. When you check out Foxtail, you’ll notice it’s not just the coffee — there are also breakfast sandwiches, croissants, muffins, and lunch sandwiches as well — and even ice cream! I was thrilled to run into bunches of friends including attorney Kelly Fayer, journalist David Dorsey, City Councilwoman Teresa Watkins Brown, City Councilwoman Diana Giraldo, Dawn Belemarich of the Collaboratory, attorney Bruce Strayhorn, Marcia Davis of the Housing Authority, Noelle Casagrande, public information officer for the City of Fort Myers, and I loved seeing former Fort Myers resident Rosie Bernal-Tchekmeian visiting from Orlando — Rosie and her family developed the Foxtail concept, so seeing her was a real treat!

Mahjong at the mall

I kept the bright and early thing going on Saturday morning when I headed off to play mahjong at the mall! I’ve been playing this ancient Chinese game for almost two years every week with a close-knit group of friends, but I’ve never been at a public, open play event before — and it was so exciting. Dillard’s generously hosted and they had all sorts of awesome perks for us including yummy snacks, juices, coffee smoothies, and goodie bags that included a discount on already discounted merchandise. So Help Me Mahj, led by certified mahjong instructor Liz Abbott taught newbies, while other ladies from her group helped out with open play. Lots of familiar faces were spotted the crowd of about 50 mahjong afficianados like Maureen Prather of the Broadway Palm, Azil Melon of the Tropical Tile Society, Marc Collins of the Uncommon Friends Foundation, PR maven Lynn Schneider, educators Katy Hagen Madden and Jennifer Lessinger and so many more! Follow So Help Me Mahj on Instagram and/or Facebook for the next event.

Hope springs eternal

Afterward, I headed to Mount Olive Church in Dunbar for an event called Rally for Hope, a nonpartisan gathering to mark the 63rd anniversary on the March on Washington. It was super inspiring as recently retired Gulfcoast News anchor Kellie Burns did a beautiful job emcee’ing a line up featuring inspiring speakers, music, and more. I saw former Lee Health CEO Jim Nathan and his wife, community organizer, Karen Nathan, actress/director Sonya McCarter with her husband actor, Cicero McCarter, Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson, Rabbi Nicole Luna, Lee County school board member Debbie Jordan, former school superintendent Bobbie D’Allessandro, and a whole church full of others getting inspired and energized by unity — something we need more of lately. Such an incredible week — now let’s bring on September!

 

Stephanie Davis is a recovering girl-about-town formerly known as the Downtown Diva. A nearly native Southwest Floridian, when she’s not photographing events for Florida Weekly, she’s perfectly content to stay at home binging Netflix with husband, Todd, and four cats Tennessee, Lilibet, Jack, and Baby.