Former first lady Laura Bush was on hand to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Mote Marine Laboratory's Boca Grande Outreach office on Thursday.
Mote has used the center as a way to educate Boca Grande residents and visitors about the organization's research in the area, particularly focused on red tide, and as a nod to its original home. The marine research institution had its beginnings in Charlotte Harbor in 1955 with founding director Eugenie Clark and the Cape Haze Marine Lab in Placida.
It wasn't Bush's first visit to the center; she came in 2013 for its grand opening. She and former President George W. Bush rent a home in Boca Grande, according to a Herald-Tribune article from the opening.