{"id":403750,"date":"2026-09-18T17:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/403750\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T17:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T17:26:11","slug":"new-rainbow-bridge-pet-memorial-opens-in-fort-myers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/403750\/","title":{"rendered":"New ‘Rainbow Bridge’ pet memorial opens in Fort Myers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An artist’s rendering of the new Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial at Fort Myers’ Alliance for the Arts. The actual memorial will be unveiled Saturday, Sept. 19 at a dedication ceremony.<\/p>\n

Provided by Gabrielle Bolen<\/p>\n

USA TODAY Network, Reuters<\/p>\n

It’s been her passion project for 1\u00bd years. Now, finally, Gabrielle Bolen can unveil it to Southwest Florida animal lovers: A literal rainbow bridge that gives people a place to go to grieve and remember their former pets.<\/p>\n

Bolen cuts the ribbon this Saturday, Sept. 19, for the dedication of the new Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial at Fort Myers’ Alliance for the Arts.<\/p>\n

And she can’t believe that moment has finally arrived.<\/p>\n

“I have so many emotions,” the Fort Myers resident says. “I can’t believe we’ve actually gotten to the finish line. I feel like there have been so many obstacles along the way. \u2026 I really was just a dog mom on a mission to give our community somewhere to honor our pets.”<\/p>\n

Saturday’s dedication is free and open to the public. It takes place during the Alliance’s Morning Market and Family Fun Day, a free community event that features an artesian market and family-friendly activities throughout the campus.<\/p>\n

Rainbow Bridge memorial inspired by poem, sister’s loss of dog<\/p>\n

The 18-foot-long, rainbow-painted wooden bridge was inspired by the famous poem “Rainbow Bridge,” which describes an imaginary place where pets go after they die and wait to be reunited with their owners.<\/p>\n

“Your pet passes away and crosses the bridge and waits for their owner on the other side,” Bolen says. “Then you cross and you enter the afterlife together.”<\/p>\n

She got the idea for the project after her sister lost her dog and went through the grieving process. That got her thinking about her own dogs, cavapoos Mia and Koda, and her deep bond with them. <\/p>\n

“They’re still with me, but I’m going to have to go through that one day,” Bolen says. “And I just feel like there’s nowhere (in Fort Myers) \u2026 that has that sense of community where people can kind of gather.”<\/p>\n

People tend to grieve alone, in silence, she says. And pet grief hasn’t been normalized enough in our society.<\/p>\n

“People just kind of look at it like \u2018It was just an animal. Let’s just move on,'” she says. “And it’s not that. \u2026 My goal was to give the community a place where they can come and hang (their pets’) collars and feel a little less alone in that grief, and then also to allow their pet’s legacy to live on.”<\/p>\n

Rainbow Bridge joins Alliance’s ArtsPark project on 10-acre campus<\/p>\n

The Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial is part of the Alliance’s ArtsPark initiative, an ongoing improvement project on the 10-acre campus that includes walkways, permanent and rotating sculpture installations, the restoration of existing public art, a pavilion for outdoor artists and much more.<\/p>\n

“The Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial is creating a place where residents and visitors can experience the arts alongside nature as a source of healing, connection and enjoyment right in the heart of Fort Myers,” said Neil Volz, executive director of the Alliance for the Arts, in a news release about the memorial. “The Alliance is honored to be the home of this special space.”<\/p>\n

People are encouraged to bring a pet collars or tags to hang on the bridge and honor their beloved pet (but no toys or other items). Those tributes are meant to be part of a living testament to the special bonds between people and their pets.<\/p>\n

Bolen describes the Rainbow Bridge as more of a symbolic art piece than an actual, walkable bridge. People aren’t allowed to step onto the 6-foot-wide bridge, she says. It’s designed as something to be looked at, instead: A structure wrapped with cable wire for people to hang their pets’ collars and tags as they reflect on their lost friends.<\/p>\n

‘I’ll see you soon, never soon enough’<\/p>\n

The memorial will be surrounded by peaceful landscaping, a bench and a sign that includes the message “I’ll see you soon, never soon enough ” – something Bolen says to her own dogs every time she leaves the house without them.<\/p>\n

“I hate goodbyes,” she explains, “and I truly hate anytime I can’t bring them somewhere with me. So somewhere along the way, that became my saying to them.<\/p>\n

“They’ve been beside me through every chapter and every hard part of my life. So putting those words on the memorial felt like putting a little piece of us there too.”<\/p>\n

The approximately $30,000 project was built with the help of many people and businesses who volunteered their services and materials, Bolen says. That includes the Alliance for the Arts (which donated the space for the memorial); Shoreline Lumber, contractor The Structure Pros and consulting and engineering company APEX Companies LLC (see full list below).<\/p>\n

It wasn’t easy building the memorial, Bolen says, and there were many challenges along the way. “But through each and every single one of those obstacles, it gave me the opportunities to meet some really incredible people – people that truly believed in this project just as much as I did.<\/p>\n

“And so, although I’m honored to be able to stand there and cut that ribbon, I truly could not have done it without the help and support from every single person that had had a hand in it.”<\/p>\n

More about the Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial dedication at Fort Myers’ Alliance for the Arts<\/p>\n

The dedication takes place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at Alliance for the Arts, 10091 McGregor Blvd. Fort Myers.<\/p>\n

People and companies that worked on the project include the Alliance for the Arts, structural engineer Michael D. Stewart, Shoreline Lumber, Driftwood Gardens, contractor The Structure Pros, Shoreline Property Company (which helped obtain the building permit), consulting and engineering company APEX Companies LLC, FASTSIGNS Naples and TriCircle Landscape Co.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Alliance, call 939-2787 or visit artinlee.org.<\/p>\n

Charles Runnells covers arts and entertainment for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@usatodayco.com. Follow or message him on Facebook (@charles.runnells.7), Instagram (@crunnells1) and X (@CharlesRunnells).<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: New ‘Rainbow Bridge’ pet memorial opens in Fort Myers<\/p>\n

Reporting by Charles Runnells, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News \/ Fort Myers News-Press<\/p>\n

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\"Gabrielle Gabrielle Bolen, founder of the new Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial in Fort Myers, with her cavapoos Mia and Koda Provided by Gabrielle Bolen USA TODAY Network, Reuters \"An An artist’s rendering of the sign at the new Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial at Fort Myers’ Alliance for the Arts. The memorial will be unveiled Saturday, Sept. 19 at a dedication ceremony. Provided by Gabrielle Bolen USA TODAY Network, Reuters <\/p>\n

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

This story was originally published September 18, 2026 at 8:55 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An artist’s rendering of the new Rainbow Bridge Pet Memorial at Fort Myers’ Alliance for the Arts. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-403750","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\/403750","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=403750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}