{"id":290526,"date":"2026-05-31T00:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T00:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/290526\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T00:11:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T00:11:06","slug":"from-ruins-to-revival-matlacha-welcomes-visitors-back-after-ian-lee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/290526\/","title":{"rendered":"From ruins to revival, Matlacha welcomes visitors back after Ian | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"

MATLACHA, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Matlacha<\/a> continues to rebuild nearly four years after Hurricane Ian<\/a> devastated the island community.<\/p>\n

Business owners say the colorful fishing village isn’t just recovering\u2014it’s coming back stronger. At a WINK Listens<\/a> event in Matlacha, two business owners shared their love for the island and their message to the community: the island is open for business.<\/p>\n

The bright colors, local art and waterfront charm that made Matlacha a destination for visitors are slowly returning. After Hurricane Ian left much of the island in ruins, business owners say the community has spent years rebuilding, and they’re finally seeing results.<\/p>\n

Joe Perry recently bought the Matlacha Menagerie and says he’s watched the island come back to life.<\/p>\n

“Seeing not only our store, but the other stores opening up along our strip, and it’s, you know, reassuring, you know, I made the right decision,” Perry said.<\/p>\n

While there’s still work to do, he says the community’s progress is hard to miss.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the buildings have been removed, and when you drive through the town, you don’t feel demoralized anymore, and there’s hope,” Perry said.<\/p>\n

For Stacy Artis, the recovery is personal. 15 days after buying her waterfront vacation rental property, Hurricane Ian hit.<\/p>\n

“We had a plan to come in and renovate and make our property bigger and beautiful, and to encourage more to come out, and then we were closed for eight months,” Artis said.<\/p>\n

Now, she’s helping spread the word that Matlacha is ready to welcome visitors again.<\/p>\n

“A lot of our businesses are back, and they’re up and running, and we’re just trying to encourage the community to come back and support our islands,” Artis said.<\/p>\n

Both Artis and Perry say what carried Matlacha through its toughest days is the people who call it home. Their message is simple: come see the new chapter of Matlacha for yourself.<\/p>\n

Business owners say while recovery efforts continue, they’re encouraged by the growing number of visitors returning to the island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MATLACHA, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 Matlacha continues to rebuild nearly four years after Hurricane Ian devastated the island community.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,28,5381,5382,75624],"class_list":["post-290526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-florida","tag-matlacha","tag-pine-island","tag-pine-island-causeway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}