mbradbury@breezenewspapers.com<\/a> <\/p>\nLast week local businesses, organizations and first responders gathered at the Sundial Beach Resort & Spa to celebrate the 2026 Best of the Islands winners. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Best of the Islands is one of the most loved events that the Island Reporter puts on each year. After a three-year hiatus, we came back in 2025 to a rousing number of votes. This year, for the 2026 contest we had almost double the number of voters and votes,\u201d Breeze Newspapers Advertising Director Laurie Ragle said. \u201cWe capped off the voting with an event at the beautiful Sundial Resort to celebrate the winners. It\u2019s a wonderful time for the winners to network and have photos taken with their awards. We are very proud to bring this contest to the island.\u201d<\/p>\n
The community voted in more than 100 categories ranging from destinations, services, restaurants, shops, sweet treats and the best mascot on the island. <\/p>\n
The first to be recognized was Sanibel Fire & Rescue District Assistant Chief Chris Jackson. He has been with the district since 2003 and in the profession for 30 years. He said receiving the Best Firefighter of the Islands was very cool. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to get appreciated, and recognized \u2014 all of us \u2014 for the hard work and our dedication to the island,\u201d Jackson said. <\/p>\n
He wanted to thank the community. <\/p>\n
Rachel Pierce took home two awards this year \u2014 Best Furniture of the Islands and Best Pet Store of the Islands. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible honor to be recognized,\u201d she said, as the voting means the community values them. \u201cI don\u2019t take it for granted.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pinocchio\u2019s Original Italian Ice Cream added three more awards to their more than 40 awards over the years. This year they received Best Dessert Cafe, Best Gelato and Best Ice Cream. <\/p>\n
Donna Puma, owner of Pinnocchio\u2019s, who attended with her husband, said to receive the awards is something very special for her family. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt validates our relationship with the community,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The full photo gallery and list of the 2026 Best of the Islands winners can be found at www.captivasanibel.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The community gathered last Tuesday at Sundial Beach Resort & Spa for the annual Best of the Islands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-427307","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\/427307","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=427307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}