Good Bye to an Old Friend in Cortez, Florida from Rose Lipke

April 16, 2025
Sunrise

I was the first to arrive as I parked next door at Johnny Jet’s shop and walked in the early morning darkness out onto the Cortez Bridge to get a shot of the sun rising for the final time behind our beloved little bait shop. As I walked out onto the bridge, something I have done literally thousands of times throughout my life, the first wave of deep sadness came over me. I looked north to the Seafood Shack knowing that it would soon meet the same fate as Annie’s. Even the bridge below my feet would not stand in the way of “progress.”

I was born here and came home to the hospital to the house next door to the Shack. I spent my entire childhood and most of my adult life here. My grandparents lived directly across the bay on the island. This street was my street. This was my neighborhood store. This feels intensely personal. The sense of loss is real.

Anna and her pup Daisy were the first to arrive. We hugged and tried not to cry but failed. I first met Anna when she was about three days old. Her parents, Bruce and Kim, who own Annie’s Bait & Tackle had brought her in to meet everyone. Her whole life was spent inside that bait shop and among the community here. I can’t even imagine how heartbreaking this is for her to have to endure. It wasn’t long before about 20 or more people had gathered, including Bruce who brought a cooler of beer and a small Bluetooth speaker.

There were neighbors, patrons, employees from the past and present, and even a few people from the press. In the background from that little speaker spilled some good old Texas blues, which I felt was a fitting musical sendoff. Everyone milled around, sharing stories and expressing their grief and anger over the counties’ decision to demolish the 70-year-old piece of Cortez history. Stickers that read “45.8” and “No Tal Anyone but Tal 2028” were handed out. The first refers to the 50-50 FEMA Rule, of which Annies fell under the threshold and by their standards could be rebuilt. The latter refers to Tal Siddique, the newly elected Manatee County commissioner whose “vision“ for the newly acquired Seafood Shack property clearly did not include saving Annie’s Bait & Tackle. Many feel he was instrumental in persuading the board to vote to demolish the historic bait shop, the last of its kind left anywhere in Manatee County.

The first crunch of the dozer crashed through the front of the building and hush quiet came over everyone. There were lots of hugs, and tears flowed freely. In less than an hour, she was gone.

“Another piece of old Florida gone, “ I overheard Jim Davis say. In reality, it’s not just another piece; she was a pivotal piece. She stood proud and celebrated an era where life wasn’t measured by clocks and schedules but by the tides, the seasons, and the weather. A time when Cortez was made up of hard-working, blue-collar families. A time before short-term rentals and golf carts dominated the landscape. A time before traffic clogged our roads, making it impossible to get anywhere. A time when things were quieter and the water was cleaner.  All of us who grew up here knew change would come. It’s inevitable. And our story is no different than any other Coastal community anywhere in this country. Money and politics take over, reshape the land to attract more money, always squeezing out a little guy and the deep history they hold. With that destruction, the whole “Old Florida“ mystique is quickly fading to memory. Annie’s was one of the very few places left that embodied every bit of old Florida. To me at least, her demolition marks the passing of that era, and paving over our history that future generations will only read about in books and never experience.

Fair Winds and Following Seas Old Girl.
We will never forget you.

Photo Credit, Rose Lipke and bottom photo, Anna Shearer-Gaffney.