40 & Under

These young couples are doing everything they can to make our community a better place.

It’s a story we hear too often, yet another Charlotte County youth who graduated from high school and moved away for college, never to return except for the occasional visit to keep mom and dad happy. They leave because they think there’s nothing to do here. They leave because they think it’s boring. They find jobs elsewhere. They raise their children elsewhere. Yes, we hear those stories all the time.

Well here are three different kinds of stories, stories about two hometown boys who chose to stay in Charlotte County and a big city girl who chose to leave the hustle and bustle behind and move to our quiet little community. They chose to start families here, to bring their children up here. They chose to become involved in their community, to help
it grow and reach its full potential. They chose to make a difference.

When Nick Nemec was growing up in Punta Gorda, there was nothing to do except go to the movies. There was very little community involvement for the area’s younger residents. If you wanted to do something, you had to leave town. No one had any real reason to come here. There was no real sense of community.

Now in his late 20’s, Nick and his wife, Casey, are doing what they can to ensure that’s no longer the case. They want
their son, Brixon, 5 months, to grow up in a community where young people want to be involved. Every day they see that sense of community growing, something they attribute to all the young families who are placing their roots here in Charlotte County and doing what they can to make people realize what a wonderful place this is to live.

“A lot of our friends are having children now,” Casey said. “All the kids are about the same age; they’re all going to grow up together. Their parents are all involved in the community, so hopefully they will be too when they grow up.”

In March 2008, Nick and Casey opened Bin 82, a wine bar and retail shop on Marion Avenue. Bin 82 is “something totally different than what downtown Punta Gorda has ever had,” Nick said, but at the same time, “it’s a great complement to River City, the Wyvern, Jacks, everything we have here.”

As they see it, having a variety of shops, restaurants, hotels and bars is the key to Punta Gorda earning the recognition it deserves. “Punta Gorda is becoming a place where people don’t just come for dinner and then go back over the bridge or back to the Isles,” Casey said. “They come for the day or for the whole night now. They go to dinner, and they go to the different bars and restaurants. They come for entertainment.”

Some of that entertainment comes in the form of the Downtown Get Down, a recurring concert event Nick and his
friend Zack Clark dreamed up last year. It started out simple, just a day to celebrate Punta Gorda’s growth with a small concert in Bin 82’s parking lot. A few months later, they did it again, this time blocking off Taylor Street in front of the historic courthouse and getting The Greg Billings Band to headline the event. More than 2,000 people showed up to celebrate Punta Gorda in music, food and fun.

So what’s next for the Downtown Get Down? Blues Traveler. That’s right, Blues Traveler. On October 24, a Platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning band will be playing in Laishley Park. The Greg Billings Band will also be there along with local band Low Rent.

Blues Traveler in Punta Gorda. “It all goes back to making Punta Gorda a better place and bringing it recognition,” Nick
said. “We want people to come from Sarasota, Fort Myers, Tampa…They come and now they’re downtown after the concert, and then they stay, maybe at the Wyvern or the Sheraton…and now they’re having a good time after the concert, having dinner and drinks. Hopefully it will make them want to come back.”

“We do all this stuff, and it’s of great significance. But the most important job we have is to raise those two kids to become the best people they can be. That’s the center of it all.”
~David Holmes

A fourth or fifth generation southwest Floridian — his family has been here since the late 1800’s — David Holmes has witnessed a lot of change here in Charlotte County. When he was a kid, the land at the corner of U.S. Highway 41 and Midway was covered in trees. “I remember it was a big deal when they opened the McDonalds in Charlotte Harbor,” he said. “That was a big event.”

Many people may see that as a reason to leave after high school and never come back. But after graduating from Stetson University’s College of Law in 1993, David did come back, bringing along his future wife, Kristy. Sixteen years later, they’re parents to Robbie, 9, and Madison, 6. And because of their children, David and Kristy are doing what they can to help make Charlotte County the best it can be.

David, who, at the age of 40, is Farr Law Firm’s youngestever president, serves on the Board of Directors for Charlotte Community Foundation and Calusa National Bank as well as the Board of Trustees for Charlotte Regional Medical Center and the Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation. Kristy serves on the Board of Directors for C.A.R.E and is a member of the C.A.R.E. Auxiliary. She’s also actively involved with Charlotte Academy, where Madison recently completed kindergarten.

“I think I have a stake in the community for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is I was born here and grew up here,” David said. “On a personal level, it’s important to me to make this the best community we can make it.” He feels that one of the greatest things about Charlotte County is that it’s still a relatively new community. For all practical purposes, Charlotte County is a blank slate. People who live here “have a real stake in determining what this community is going to be like in the future,” he said.

Kristy agreed, adding that she already loves the changes she has seen over the past few years. “There are so many more community events to take your children to, to get involved with,” she said. “No one can say there’s nothing to get involved with. There are so many organizations here now. If you have a passion for something…you can find an organization to join and help out.”

David stresses that as we build our community, we need to make sure we provide all the components of a worldclass
community for all residents. Charlotte County may demographically be an older community, but we can’t forget
about the kids, about the younger families who are trying to make lives for themselves. “The challenge is to not just think about today,” he said, “but to think about tomorrow.”

Kristy thinks about tomorrow every day, about her children’s futures in Charlotte County. She said that’s what motivates her every day. “I want my children to learn from watching me, to see that mom was always involved and doing things for the community. That’s how they’re going to learn to grow up and do it themselves.”

“We do all this stuff, and it’s of great significance,” David said. “But the most important job we have is to raise those two kids to become the best people they can be. That’s the center of it all.”

If there were ever a contest for Queen of Punta Gorda, Mitzi Maggio Rigden, president of Main Street Punta Gorda and owner of Salt Shaker Marine, would definitely be among the finalists. Her love for the city and the community as a whole is evident as soon as you meet her.

Mitzi originally came to Punta Gorda from downtown Boston to help her dad out with Salt Shaker. She agreed to come for two years. Fourteen years later, she’s still here. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else,” she said, adding that she hates it when people say there’s nothing to do here.

“There are amazing art festivals…countless city and nonprofit events…we’ve got all this beautiful water…we can drive or boat to all the islands along the coast,” she said, listing one thing after another. “Between the community efforts and the nature, we’re in paradise.”

She even has her husband, Todd, who grew up in the mountains of Vancouver before moving to Arizona, convinced
that this is the place to be. “At first he hated how flat it was. But now he can’t decide what he likes better, water or mountains.”

Mitzi became involved in Main Street when some of the program’s directors attended an event she had planned for the
Charlotte County Young Professionals. They were impressed with what she had done and asked her to join their board. “I always wanted to get into something, but nothing ever really fit. And loving the historical district, living downtown, working downtown and entertaining downtown, it seemed like the perfect fit,” she said.

She wanted to be a part of all the changes that were going on in the Main Street district, to be involved in the decision-making. She didn’t want to be one of those people who sit back and say, “Well I wish they would have done this or not done that.” She wants to leave her mark on the community she loves so much. And she has a very good reason for wanting to do so, her and Todd’s eight-month-old son, Rocky.

She speaks glowingly of all the projects going on downtown, like the interactive fountain at Laishley Park and the downtown farmers market. “I want to make sure those great things continue to happen for my little guy here” she said as she showered her son with kisses.

And although Todd is not directly involved in Main Street — his job requires a lot of travel — Mitzi says he is her number one volunteer. “He helps me brainstorm and he rolls up his sleeves and does whatever it takes to make Main Street events take off.” If Todd is Main Street’s top volunteer, then that makes Rocky the mascot. He’s there at each and every Main Street event with a huge grin on his face. He even designed his very own coconut for this year’s Coconut Craze Day. (Okay, so maybe mom helped out a bit.) I guess you could say they’re Main Street’s first family.

So what advice does Mitzi have for young people in the community who may be having a hard time finding their niche?
“It spreads like wildfire when you step out and make the effort,” she said. “You just have to make the effort.”