Twenty years ago, however, Matlacha was strictly a fishing village, until a ban on net fishing essentially put the fishing industry out of business. At about that time, a woman named Leoma Lovegrove and her husband were traveling to Boca Grande in search of a place to live — except they’d taken a wrong turn and found themselves the perfect place to call home. Today, Leoma Lovegrove is a celebrated artist — with a gallery in Matlacha that generates 500 visitors a day, plus distribution in 125 Bealls stores — and is in
effect the founder of the arts community that so very colorfully defines this slice of funky Florida.
“I think Matlacha is unique in the whole state,” she says. “It’s funky, with unexpected surprises at every turn. We have so many great shops and stops. You can buy art, go next door and pick up sandals, stop and have a beer, drop your dog off to be groomed, get your nails done, get a massage and go fishing, and a hundred more things. We’re a one stop shop for a day of entertainment like nowhere else in the world.”
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