- October 19, 2022
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After the devastation of Hurricane Helene, there were some upcoming events planned for Gilligan's Island Bar on the mind of general manager Mike Gatz.
One of them, he said, is "always" on his mind — the Gilligan's Marine Corps Birthday Celebration on Nov. 10.
A veteran of the United States Marine Corps who served for four years during the 1990s, Gatz started the event 11 years ago.
Each year, it has sold out.
"It's a great fundraiser for SRQ Vets, and as a founding member over there, I always try to make sure that we can pull this off," he said.
The situation had not looked promising after Helene.
After visiting the island the morning after the storm and receiving a ride from the office manager, who lives on Siesta Key (Vehicles were not yet allowed on the island) Gatz found coolers turned upside own, objects knocked over and bottles broken.
He said while the coffee shop only received about an inch of flooding, about two feet of water had entered the restaurant.
Outside, he found plants knocked over, and the dumpsters and a boat missing.
"As soon as staff could drive out here, our management and staff put together a real Herculean effort to get things going. ... It was just an all-hands-on-deck effort to get it cleaned up and safe," he said.
He said with four employees who have been at the restaurant over 20 years, others who have been there for all 11 years of the celebration, and some who are themselves veterans, all staff understand the event's importance.
"They all know it's a big deal to us," he said.
The only break staff received was during Hurricane Milton, which saw debris to clean up, as well as damage to the Tiki hut.
"As we see a light at the end of the tunnel, here comes Milton, and so we put everything on pause to protect what we had done," he said.
Since Helene, the restaurant replaced all coolers, freezer and friers, as well as two air conditioning condensers and drywall.
Although they're still waiting on a new Coca-Cola system, something widely in demand, the kitchen reopened on Oct. 23, with a full reopening on Oct. 25.
On Nov. 10, Marines gathered in the restaurant's courtyard to celebrate the 249th birthday of the
As in past years, the event saw a donation from Stryker Electric, who provided pint glasses for a giveaway, as well as supplies from Gold Coast Eagle Distributing and Budweiser.
There was also catering from Mission BBQ, arranged in case the kitchen was not open by that time.
"It's important for the guys and gals to be able to get together and share that camaraderie that they haven't perhaps had since they got out, and then it's good to be around other people that understand the things that they have gone through, and talk about them and laugh about them and smile," Gatz said.
Attendee Michael Hamper, a board member of SRQ Vets, said he was glad to be inside the restaurant this year.
"It's amazing, but when a Marine's involved, there's no trying," he said. "They're going to do it, ... so he made it happen, just like all Marines do."
