Saturday, July 4, 2026
Happy 250th, Naples — clean water and fireworks tonight
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Ninety degrees and the usual chance of an afternoon boomer for America's 250th birthday — a classic Naples Fourth, and the rain odds drop to just 20% after dark, so the fireworks look safe. The quiet headline of the week: Habitat for Humanity is more than tripling Las Palmas, from 60 affordable condos to 210.
Today
Fireworks tonight for America's 250th
WINK's roundup has every parade, concert and fireworks show across Southwest Florida for the big anniversary. With storm chances fading to about 20% overnight, odds are good the sky show goes off — wipe down the seats anyway.
Beach day? All clear.
FWC's latest samples show no red tide at a single Collier beach — Vanderbilt, Barefoot, Naples Pier and Marco all clean. High tide hits 3:13 p.m., prime time for a holiday float before the afternoon clouds build.
Local News
Las Palmas more than triples to 210 affordable homes
A Holecek Family Foundation gift lets Habitat Collier expand the condo community from 60 homes to 210. In a county where the people who staff our restaurants and hospitals increasingly can't afford to live here, this is the rare housing story moving the right direction.
NCH North's pediatric ER scores a 99 out of 100
The national readiness assessment puts our pediatric emergency room ahead of Florida's brand-new state standards — reassuring with the kids home all summer and the grandkids visiting.
Two downtown office buildings trade for $23.26M
Collier Place I and II, built by Barron Collier Companies in the '70s and '80s, sold at 97% leased with law firms among the tenants. Downtown office space rarely changes hands here, and a near-full complex at that price says demand is holding up just fine.
Food & Drink
Firecracker flavors for the Fourth
Florida Weekly's holiday food picks include the bangers and mash at The Pub at Mercato — a steaming, gravy-soaked nod to the country we declared independence from 250 years ago today.
Tim Aten's restaurant halftime report
The definitive scorecard of who opened and who closed in the first half of 2026, franchise casualties included. Save it for settling the 'wait, when did that place close?' debates at tonight's cookout.
The Dock turns 50 on Naples Bay
Gulfshore Life traces five decades of chalkboard menus, canoe races, hurricane recoveries and ownership changes at one of the last waterfront spots that still feels like Old Naples.