Wild Wine Walks

Interested in taking a walk on the wild side? Over the next three months, Everglades Wonder Gardens will be hosting monthly Wild Wine Walks with nationally and locally recognized artists. Guests will enjoy a unique family-friendly evening of art in the gardens, including musical acts, live painting and performance art.

Wine and cheese will be available to guests strolling through the Wonder Gardens, encountering painters and musicians at work capturing the aesthetics of surrounding wildlife and landscape. Wild Wine Walks will take place 5-8 p.m. on Wednesdays, March 18, April 15 and May 20.

Naples-based and internationally recognized artist Paul Arsenault will be plein air painting and Jackie Morelisse, an international multimedia and fine art painter, will be live painting. Artsemble Underground’s Cesar Aguilera and Brian Weaver will create an interactive art piece with guest participation. The Fort Myers Beach Art Association’s Plein Air outdoor painting group will be creating pieces throughout the gardens. Jane Portoluppi Durand, a master Italian street painter, will be painting with Wonder Gardens Event Manager Zawi Borsa, who will also be singing acapella.

Musical guests include Paddle Faster Acoustic, a banjo and guitar duo, and Susanna Haslett and Rick Alpert, who will perform Celtic, classical and folk music. Debo Cumi will be playing the hammered dulcimer.

Tickets are $10 for members and $15 for non-members. For guests under 21, tickets are $5. For more information or to purchase a ticket, visit www.evergladeswondergardens.com or call 239-992-2591.

An 83-year-old cultural icon and designated historic resource of the City of Bonita Springs, the Everglades Wonder Gardens is a community centerpiece that has provided generations of Floridians and visitors the opportunity to experience rare and exotic plants and wildlife.

The environmental, educational, historical and recreational attraction is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Throughout 3.5 acres of botanical gardens, there are thousands of unusual trees and plants and hundreds of rescued birds and reptiles for visitors to enjoy.

In 2014, Bonita Wonder Gardens, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed to purchase and operate the Everglades Wonder Gardens. While preserving the iconic attraction, the nonprofit organization continues to restore wildlife enclosures, nurture the botanical beauty of the property, add education programs and further enhance this Bonita Springs jewel.

For more information, visit www.evergladeswondergardens.com.