Right after the purchase, a local newspaper ran a story with the headline “Local Developer Saves Landmark Attraction.”
“So we had to work harder to make it work,” Pam says. “It absolutely became a labor of love.”
The Cronin's added bumper boats, miniature golf, gem mining and, more recently a zip line. Pam loves Christmas, so she added the 6,000-square-foot holiday house full of decorations, a holiday train, Christmas village's and more.
“I wanted to have the hugest Christmas house in Southwest Florida,” she says. “It just makes me happy.”
She also added fun things such as drag queen bingo on Sundays.
“It is a hoot,” she says. “They do all kinds of crazy antics. We are always looking for the next crazy new thing to do.”
Pam’s quest is also to balance the future with the past.
“This is an old roadside attraction,” she says. “The tradition is so important. Everybody has a Shell Factory story. Grandparents will come in to the Pick-a-Pearl, and they will say, ‘I did this when I was little and then I brought your mother and now we’re bringing you.’ That is probably the No. 1 thing that people come back to.”
The Cronin's added a nature park 15 years ago that has also become a refuge for injured wildlife. Pam created the Nature Park Environmental Education Foundation, which aims to give the public experiences with plants and wildlife and to offer nature-based educational experiences. The foundation also gives back to Lee County school children with transportation for field trips and education. It also provides a permanent home for animals that are no longer healthy enough to live in the wild.
Pam often uses her business to help the public. More than 300 charities each year ask for a goodie basket for fundraisers, and she supplies them with a donation package, including tickets to all the attractions, food, a T-shirt and more.
Every year she hosts Nam-Jam at the Shell Factory. Admission is free for everyone, and veterans get a free round of golf for four, food and drinks.
“Nam Jam — that is really nice,” she says. “Vietnam veterans — they weren’t really well received when they came home. It is really for the Vietnam vets — to say thank you for your service.”
Pam scurries between the Nature Park, restaurant and shop as she oversees everything while also balancing a long list of charity work. She becomes shy and very modest when talking about her volunteering.
For 21 years, Pam was on the Lee County Tourist Development Council.
“That is my favorite board,” she says. “Tourism in Lee County is very significant. It really feels like we make a difference in the community.”
In 2007-08, Pam was president of the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce.
“That was quite an honor,” she says.
She has been chairwoman of Arts for ACT. She has helped with Valerie’s House, the iCAN AIDS Network and with One More Child.
“One More Child is a charity that sends missionaries to Haiti and other places to help,” Pam explains. “It’s just a wonderful thing that is great for the kids.”
Pam says when she can’t volunteer time, she donates money.
“Normally the ones I do, I like the small ones,” she says. “I really focus on local.”
When the Player’s Circle Theatre was looking for help, she stepped in to not only help financially, but to offer the group a home. She is turning her Dolphin Room into a rehearsal space and theater for the group.
“I was very familiar with them, and I wanted to help them,” she says. “It will be their permanent home. It was a special event room. Now it will be a theater.”
Pam is a fixture in Southwest Florida. She has lived here since 1974.
“I was born in New York, near Buffalo,” she says. “I moved at age 18 months. My dad didn’t like the cold.”
They spent 10 years in the Washington, D.C., area before heading farther south. Pam graduated from Fort Myers High School and got her bachelor’s degree in science and education from Florida State University. She secured her master’s degree in tourism administration and event planning from The George Washington University.
After Tommy died about two years ago, Pam continued to devote herself to her work and charities. She said the key to running a business and helping so many charities is good planning.
“And just have good people around you,” she says. “I have a great general manager. It’s just making the good decisions, surrounding yourself with really good people.”
When work gets too stressful, she has just the places to go.
“If it gets a little stressful, I go to the Christmas house and listen to the music or go to the nature park and feed the lemurs some grapes.”
One of her latest projects was restoring a 1927 carousel.
“It is absolutely beautiful,” she says.
She has really enjoyed sharing it with the public, and to make it family-friendly, she only charges a dollar for rides, free for people with special needs.