Nestled in between the sea and the land is Siesta Key Village. A prominent part of what makes Siesta Key such a desired travel destination is its beautiful beaches and the businesses that surround it. This barrier island is home to businesses that reside on the streets of Ocean Boulevard or Beach Road. Getting back to normalcy and rebuilding after these two storms has been a journey of strength for both the residents and business owners. Siesta Key, and its surrounding areas encountered several feet of storm surge and strong winds during Hurricane Helene and then experienced a head-on hit by the eye of the hurricane during Hurricane Milton several days later. The spirit of the Siesta Key community has been evident as residents and business owners work tirelessly to restore the charm of their beloved island.
One of these businesses that closed their doors for 38 days, Sun Garden Café been a prominent location on the island for 16 years. With a combination of hippy and beachy vibes, Sun Garden Cafe is home to good food that can be enjoyed in a place that promotes happiness. From Bikini Bagels to Surfer Tacos there is something for everyone to enjoy. Rick and Suzanne Monroe, owners of Sun Garden Cafe, closed their doors for a week in mid-September for a refresh, not knowing what was waiting ahead. Wanting to add a new mural, new pavers, a new refrigerator and other changes was then shifted to having to respond to having eight inches of water inside of their restaurant after Hurricane Helene. The team at Sun Garden Cafe re-drywalled where the water seeped through, repainted and put new baseboard down. As news of Hurricane Milton came around, they made extensive preparations. “I like to say that Helene did the damage and then Milton extended the misery,” says Rick Monroe. “Don’t get me wrong, I am a cup-half-full guy. We look better than new after the refresh and the clean-up after the two storms. Being shut for 38 days brings perspective but we are in a bright spot. We’re as clean as ever, brand-new paint, and a new mural in the blue room. The revamp, in part because of the hurricanes, ended up being exactly what we wanted.” As Sun Garden Cafe opened its doors on a sunny day in late October they welcomed back their regulars along with new customers. “I believed everything was going to be okay. The staff, the customers and even Suzanne and I experienced storm fatigue. Ultimately, it was a healing experience to reopen and get back to normalcy”
A couple of doors down on Ocean Boulevard is Foxy Lady. Lorry Eible, co-owner of Foxy Lady Siesta Key, has been there from the very beginning 52 years ago. Creating a spot that brought high-end fashion to Sarasota, Foxy Lady brought a new demand to the region. In the 1970s when Siesta Key lacked the popularity it has now, Eible worked with others in the area on the beautification of Siesta Key. “We were planting every tree that is in the village and trying to make it a place that people would like to come and visit. Back in the ‘70s, there were not a lot of people visiting because there were not a lot of stores. Slowly but surely we started attracting more and more businesses leading to Siesta Key becoming a destination for tourists,” says Eible. Foxy Lady has seen and undergone every hurricane that has visited Siesta Key for the last half a century. Foxy Lady’s second location in Anna Maria Island bore the brunt of the storm. “The inside of the store was covered in sludge, sand and water. In two weeks we replaced all of the walls and fixed electrical and plumbing. It was like starting from scratch,” says Eible. With Foxy Lady on Siesta Key being located higher up, the flooding associated with Hurricane Helene affected what was in the storage, important documents disappearing as the water filled the building. As Eible and her team restored their location in Anna Maria Island to its former glory, the location in Siesta Key Island was open and ready for business. “Everybody was supporting one another, by sharing information, volunteering their time to clean up and just the overall positivity,” says Eible.
RobinHood Rentals, a one-stop destination for fun activities to help visitors enjoy the area, had no expectations for experiencing the devastation of the storms. In 2009, Mark Toomey decided to start RobinHood Rentals as a nod to where he is from in the UK—Nottingham, England. Since then, the company has flourished due to the influx of tourism that came to the area. One of the first businesses to start renting golf carts on the island, RobinHood Rentals has become a staple within Siesta Key Village. Toomey and his family run the operations at their multiple locations on Siesta Key and Anna Maria Island. As Hurricane Helene approached and RobinHood Rentals boarded up their doors in preparation for what was to come, the team only hoped for the best. Two days later, when travel on the barrier island was deemed safe, Toomey and his family went to check up on their rentals and the building itself. As they arrived they were met with floodwaters that had found their way into their storefront. “To be honest, that feeling when you are first hit with the image of everything is bewildering. All of the scooters, bikes and golf carts were sitting in two feet of water. A lot of the Siesta Key merchandise that tourists love was ruined. It was devastating on all fronts,” says Toomey. Hurricane Milton brought more debris and sludge to the businesses right as they finished cleaning up from Helene.
“It was a feeling of ‘Here we go again . . .’ with Hurricane Milton. With Helene no one expected it to be as bad as it was so we made sure to take extra precautions when Milton passed through,” says Toomey. To give back to the community they loaded up two truckloads of Siesta Key merchandise and transported them to donation centers for the Salvation Army and Florida Youth Ranch. They gave away the 100 bikes and 12 scooters to staff that worked in the village.“We stood out there and asked ‘Anyone want free bikes?,’ and let me tell you those bikes were gone in about 20 minutes,” says Toomey. As the island continues to rebuild, Robinhood Rentals proves that even in the face of nature’s fury, Siesta Key’s spirit endures. “All you can do is take it one day at a time. That’s the secret. Just keep putting one foot forward and deal with it daily.”
Photography by Wyatt Kostygan.