![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Marc-Collins-and-Harold-Balink-at-Harolds.jpeg\")
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Marc Collins and Harold Balink at Harold\u2019s. -COURTESY PHOTO<\/p>\n
August is an unusual time for the Southwest Florida social swirl to start sizzling as hot as the sun (which, incidentally, seems like it\u2019s so close lately that we could reach up and touch it), but there it is \u2014 and I couldn\u2019t be happier. Not that I don\u2019t enjoy sofa-rotting and watching our 8 trillion streaming services on TV. By the by, loved \u201cWidow\u2019s Bay\u201d, \u201cThe Boroughs\u201d and my husband and I just started watching \u201cOnly Murders In The Building\u201d \u2014 which is brilliant. But even I was starting to get bored. I don\u2019t have two closets filled with cocktail dresses just so they can hang sad and lonely on hangers.\n<\/p>\n
An Uncommon Dinner\n<\/p>\n
So, I was thrilled to get an invite to a recent lovely wine dinner at Harold\u2019s Restaurant as supporters gathered to enjoy a truly delicious meal with the perfect wine pairings. It was a gathering of uncommon friends to support the Uncommon Friends Foundation which raises funds to support the educations of local nontraditional students. When Uncommon Friends hosts these gatherings, guests get to hear from scholarship recipients \u2014 and this time it\u2019s especially special, as there were two ladies who had won scholarships, and they\u2019re mother and daughter! Amy Jocque and her daughter, Tiffany Jocque, spoke about the importance of education and how grateful they were for the helping hand from the Uncommon Friends Foundation. Both women were so sincere and willing to share \u2014 and guests were thrilled to hear their stories. As always, it was great to get a hug from the charming Chef Harold Balink and a lot of fun to share a table with Sandra Stilwell-Younquist, Dewey Sanders, Fran Fenning, Kim Perkins, Lisa and Rob Brosey, and Brett and Jillian Bisbe. There was also Alex Bremner, Deanne Kyle, Brenda Tate, Tom and Kerrey Hoolihan, Lisa Ballentine, and of course longtime Uncommon Friends executive director, Marc Collins who made the rounds to each table chatting us all up. I was so happy to get dressed up and go out \u2014 especially for such a fantastic cause.\n<\/p>\n
Community Cooperative at Vybe\n<\/p>\n
And then the very next night, Chef Harold stepped up for charity again! This time it was at his brand new venture, Vybe in the Bell Tower where Community Cooperative hosted a food and back-to-school drive for local families in need \u2014 plus, it was Vybe\u2019s weekly Girl Dinner, so there were plenty of tables filled with ladies enjoying $29 3-course dinners as popular bartender Jay McCauley mixed up delicious craft cocktails behind the bar. It was good to see Fort Myers mayor, Kevin Anderson, Community Cooperative CEO Stephanie Ink with Pilates instructor Angela Pruitt. I enjoyed seeing Jennifer Lana Pruitt, and Katie Bohannon and Svetlana Sassi. Community Cooperative collected lots of needed donations as school gets ready to start \u2014 and if you donated, you got a free small plate to choose from. Everything was awesome and I loved catching up with so many lovely folks.\n<\/p>\n
Looking into a crystal ball\n<\/p>\n
Ever wonder what your future social life holds? You can always ask internationally famous psychic medium John Edward who will be performing and talking to souls on the other side on Sunday, Aug. 16 downtown at Caloosa Sound Convention Center. There\u2019s a regular ticket package and a VIP one, too. Here\u2019s hoping the upcoming social season holds lots of sparkle for all of us!\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Stephanie Davis is a recovering girl-about-town formerly known as the Downtown Diva. A nearly native Southwest Floridian, when she\u2019s not photographing events for Florida Weekly, she\u2019s perfectly content to stay at home binging Netflix with husband, Todd, and four cats Tennessee, Lilibet, Jack, and Baby.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marc Collins and Harold Balink at Harold\u2019s. -COURTESY PHOTO August is an unusual time for the Southwest Florida…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-358443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358443","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=358443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}