http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0UCS422SYE
Southwest Florida landscape photographer John Brady has re-opened Everglades Wonder Gardens as he continues efforts to change its image from a place for tourists to see exotic wildlife, to a botanical garden and community space.
The Gardens in Bonita Springs stood as one of the last remaining examples of the old Florida-style roadside attraction when it closed in April.
Since Bill and Lester Piper first opened the Everglades Wonder Gardens in 1936, it became known as a place to see wildlife like panthers, alligators and bobcats up-close. The Piper family continued to operate the Gardens for 77 years until personal hardship forced them to close this past spring. That’s when landscape photographer John Brady and his family stepped in. “What I saw was a beautiful botanical garden and jungle,” said Brady. “Again, being planted up back in 1936, with seeds and little trees from all over the world that have developed into this beautiful landscape of fruit trees and cashews and mangoes and avocados and jaboticabas and I could go on and on with some of the things that are out on this property. But nobody really saw them.”
That’s because animal cages and tall chain-link fencing protecting the cages took a large portion of the Gardent’s visual focus. -Now, with the Everglades Wonder Garden’s larger animal attractions gone, Brady has removed much of the fencing and repurposed many of the old animal enclosures, giving the Gardens more of a park-like appearance rather than that of an old zoo.
An old panther enclosure is now a butterfly garden. Animals such as pink flamingos, gopher tortoises, alligators, and a free-roaming peacock can still be seen at the Everglades Wonder Gardens, but Brady said his vision is to make the 3.5 acre site more of a community space.
“We see wedding receptions, we see wedding ceremonies, birthday parties, small corporate events, gatherings of all different types,” said Brady. “I also see things like a movie night on the lawn during the season when it’s cooler in the evening. Things that, again, make this place feel like more a part of the community and give the residents of the area more a reason to come visit us.”
The gardens are open to the public while Brady, his family, one other long-time employee and some volunteers continue renovations, but with the property available for sale, Brady admits his position is somewhat precarious.
“While I’m pouring my life savings into this project, someone else could come in and still turn this into a condominium or shopping plaza or something else. I have no control over that,” said Brady. “The property is listed, I believe, for $3.9 million. I don’t have $3.9 million. There’s no way I could buy this property, but I’m hoping that enough people that have the resources to do something like this see the beauty of it, see the benefit of it, and will step in and make this place what it should be forever.”
City of Bonita Springs spokeswoman Lora Taylor said in an e-mail that the idea of the city purchasing the site came up this summer in a budget meeting. City leaders have set aside $5,000 dollars in the coming fiscal year to appraise the property, but no specific proposal to buy it is in the works.
Meanwhile, Brady said he plans to apply for 501(c)(3) status as he continues renovations in the hopes that his ‘leap of faith’ will be able to preserve the historic landmark.
An official grand re-opening is planned for sometime this fall, but no specific date has been set. The grand opening for John Brady’s art gallery at the Gardens is Nov. 17 at 6:00 p.m.
