In 2013, Florida commemorates the 500-year anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s journey of discovery and the first recorded landing of European explorers on the North American mainland. Although Florida’s cultural history dates back more than 12,000 years, to the Native American groups that were its first discoverers, Spain’s claim to La Florida in 1513 was a milestone that began a new chapter in our state’s unique history. Explore and experience the rich heritage and cultures of Southwest Florida through a year-long offering of special exhibitions, programs, demonstrations and events at each of the Collier County Museums, including:
- January 8
VIVA Florida 500 Opening Ceremony
Proclamations and a special flag presentation to the Collier County Board of
- January 9
Program: Ancient Lives: Native American and Spanish ContactPeriod
Over 13,000 years ago,
- January 16
Paradise for Sale: Florida’s Booms and Busts by Dr. NickWynne
Once marketed as the happiest place on earth, Florida experienced a brief anddizzying economic boom in the mid-1920s as promoters, real estate developersand con artists became overnight millionaires by creating luxury seasideresorts, elegant country clubs, and imaginary communities in mosquito-riddenswamps. Dr. Nick Wynne, the former executive director of the Florida HistoricalSociety, will explain how bank failures, new federal income tax laws, and aseries of destructive hurricanes turned
- January 19
Presidents in Florida: How the Presidents Have Shaped Florida and How FloridaHas Influenced the Presidents
U.S. Presidents have played a major role in shaping Florida, whether wagingwars, protecting the environment, seeking votes, or just drawing media attentionto the state's attractions. UCF Professor of History, Dr. James Clark, examinesthe role of the President in shaping the development of
- January 23
Program: The Birth of Fashion by Guest Lecturer Carlos Bico
From the Silk Road to the kings and queens of centuries ago, all the way to themodern day runway, find out about how and why clothing developed into fashionand the history behind some of these unique trends. Explore the forms andevolution of clothing as it developed into the styles that we wear today. Someexamples of clothing will be displayed during program. The program will beginat 2 p.m. Free admission. For more information, please call (239) 252-8476.
- January 26
Pirate Day on Marco!
Marauding pirates were a constant headache for Spanish sea captains during the1600s, and tall tales of swashbucklers and buried treasure abound in
review in photos. 9 of 21...
for kids visited the children at Seattle's Children's Hospital. Nights like this remind me how lucky I am, and to never take my health for granted....
different painting based on the colors of the flag of Brazil... The first public exhibition of the A-29 will be closed at an event at the Air Force Academy in Pirassununga (SP), on Tuesday, when there will be an exchange of Squadron commander, taking over Lt. Col. Marcelo Cardoso Gobett.... 
B-29 FIFI, after the airplane's No. 2 engine suffered damage on its last air show flight of the season.
Soviet Union that never happened. In 1962, he was involved in the “Cuban Missile Crisis.” “I flew an Air Force [...]
$25,000 Orteig prize (about $335,000 in today’s dollars) and the adulation of the world. The...
wows spectators with outside loops, vertical rolls, snaps, tumbles and inverted passes in his Super Decathlon. He and "The Alabama Boys" also entertain air show audiences as the hapless, farmer and somewhat unwilling "student pilot" Clem Cleaver in his zany "first lesson" J-3 Cub Comedy Act....
1930’s. The airbrushed blood in the paint comes straight from the opening scene of a horror movie. The modern prop, nearly full span ailerons, and attention to detail on the weight are 21st century technology. The Franklin Demon 1 biplane, known as “Dracula”, bursts onto the air show scene at the ICAS convention in Las Vegas this week. Air show legend Kyle Franklin has completed and tested this radical one of a kind biplane, which...
done the last two years, this year I'm looking to have an AirPigz meetup at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC on January 25-27 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), 2013.... 
installed on the tail of a Mig-29 and inside the cockpit of a Su-27 of the so-called “Kubinka Diamond”, the Russian Air Force display team made by four Flankers of the “Russian Knights” and and five Fulcrums of the «Strizhi» (Swifts)....
at the Eastern West Virginia Regional Airport (MRB). He circled the field three times, making a couple of low passes over the runway for pictures, and softly set his plane down. That would not be extraordinary, but Reynolds flew Dec. 1 on his 100th birthday... 
(UCAS-D) taxiing around the flightdeck on the USS Truman while the aircraft carrier is under way off the east coast of the US....