Commissioner Jason Bearden (above) was a senior in high school when terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001.
“It’s what encouraged a lot of us at that time to do our part,” said Bearden, a combat veteran who served over eight years in the Marine Corps and rose to the rank of staff sergeant.
At the Sept. 2 commission meeting, Bearden read a proclamation that declared Sept. 11, 2025, Tribute to Heroes Day in Manatee County on behalf of the county’s current and retired first responders.
“Sept. 11 was a day that can never be forgotten,” Bearden said. “It’s important that we continue to allow the next generations to know what happened and the heroes that stepped up to the plate.”
Gathering with grandparents
Fifth grader Kyla Kotlarczyk and third grader Kellen Kotlarczyk were joined by grandparents Jeannie and George Kotlarczyk (above) for a special lunch at Braden River Elementary Sept. 4 in honor of Grandparent’s Day.
Jeannie Kotlarczyk said she was grateful for the effort by the staff at Braden River Elementary to allow them to celebrate the day by having lunch together. She said she loved seeing her grandkids in action, a glimpse into their lives at school.
“It was nice to meet other families and share the moment in time,” Jeannie Kotlarczyk said. “As any parent knows, it goes by so fast.”
The families were given an option to eat school lunch or bring their own. The Kotlarczyks decided on Chick-fil-A.
Answering the alarm for 45 years
East Manatee Fire Rescue has responded to community’s call for safety. SEE PAGE 3A
Rivalry game’s biggest play
Football captain draws up the strategy for a fundraiser to benefit those affected by last year’s storms. SEE PAGE 8A
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Several smaller transportation projects have gained favor in the capital improvement plan. SEE PAGE 5A
Courtesy image
Courtesy image
Madison Bierl
Dylan Walker, captain of The Out-of-Door Academy football team, organized a fundraiser to benefit the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund. It took place during the Thunder’s rivalry game against Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School on Sept. 5 in Lakewood Ranch.
Lesley Dwyer
Lorraine Road is shown from 44th Avenue East.
Gullett enjoys academic elbow room
B.D. Gullett Elementary School has about 1,000 students, compared to 1,400 last year.
MADISON BIERL STAFF WRITER
Fifth grader Brooke Green has been attending B.D. Gullett Elementary since kindergarten, and she remembers being scared that first day.
But as soon as she walked into the classroom, she was greeted by friendly faces, and that changed everything.
Flash forward to this year, Green is more comfortable than ever because the staff and students have become a second family to her.
But there is a difference this year. In fulfilling her duties as a member of the Safety Patrol — helping younger students get into the school as they are dropped off — she has noticed there are fewer people around.
“I feel like our school has gotten a little bit smaller, and I feel that’s better because we don’t have as many kids,” Green said. “Teachers don’t have as many kids to take care of and it just makes their lives way easier.”
During the 2024-2025 school year, the school was overcrowded with 1,400 students at the beginning of the year. The school was built to host 927 students.
The School District of Manatee County has worked to solve the overcrowding, and Lake Manatee K-8 opened this school year with an expectation of starting with 630 students and eventually having a capacity of 1,400.
Almost half of the students at Lake Manatee K-8 came from B.D. Gullett.
Along with the students leaving, 23 staff members left B.D. Gullett for Lake Manatee K-8. Gullett now has just over 1,000 students enrolled.
Gullett Principal Julie Gierhart said that’s a comfortable number.
“You need to have a lot of systems in place to make sure a school of this size is running smoothly,” Gierhart
said. “We often call it ‘running a little city’ because there are so many bodies within the school.”
Todd Richardson, the previous principal at Gullett, is now the principal of Lake Manatee K-8. Gierhart said he knew early on he was going to be the principal of that school and would keep her in the loop about what was going on.
She said they worked together through the registration process to make the transition for the students
and staff who transferred to Lake Manatee as smooth as possible.
“I hope that they have a great time and they make friends,” fourth grader Tatum Cenizario said of his friends who transferred to Lake Manatee.
“They have great teachers.”
Although Cenizario misses his friends who have transferred, it has also given him an opportunity to make new friends.
He said he has met two new boys in his class and plays Monopoly with
when it is raining during recess.
“Now we have less crowded recesses, less crowded specials and less crowded classrooms,” Cenizario said.
“It’s a little bit less overwhelming.”
Cristina Holland has been a parent at Gullett for the last 12 years and currently works as a front desk clerk at the school.
“I would say you can definitely see there’s a difference in the enrollment numbers, and you feel it in the everyday little things, like the car line isn’t as long anymore,” Holland said.
Holland’s kids have since moved on to middle and high school, but she said she has seen the school handle the heavy numbers throughout their
time in the school.
“In all honesty, the administration handled it very well,” Holland said of the overcrowding. “They made it seem as though, for the kids, that it wasn’t overcrowded. The kids weren’t negatively affected. They weren’t missing out on certain aspects of their everyday education.”
Jenna Lewis is a fourth grade teacher at Gullett who described overcrowding as a “different beast” that she only really noticed at dismissal and in places like the parking lot. She said she is glad the students who might be missing their friends who left the school can still see each other outside of school hours.
“I feel like our school is such a good community and tight-knit family,” Lewis said. “I obviously miss our coworkers who went (to Lake Manatee) but our school’s run like a tight ship. I’ve noticed a difference with specials (extracurriculars) and things like that, but as a school, it still has the same feeling.”
Gierhart said an important factor to run a school effectively, overcrowded or not, is to make sure to hire highly effective teachers who are knowledgeable and able to build strong and healthy relationships with students and their families.
“Overcrowding can cause additional stress on teachers and staff, but I do know that there’s a supportive administration team here,” Gierhart said. “We work closely with teachers to help in any way that we can alleviate some of that stress, whether it’s due to overcrowding or other factors.”
Sabrina Richards is the ParentTeacher Organization president at Gullett and she has a daughter, Demi Richards, who is in second grade. Richards said that with a high student population, there was less opportunity for families to visit and volunteer within the school. She is looking forward to more family involvement.
Gullett has 12 portable classrooms in use last school year. This school year, three of them are still used for instructional purposes, as Gierhart doesn’t want them to sit empty.
The School District of Manatee County now is going through a rezoning process. Gierhart hopes that the new boundaries provide even more relief to Gullett.
Photographs by Madison Bierl
Above: B.D. Gullett Elementary front desk clerk and parent Cristina Holland, student Brooke Green and Principal Julie Gierhart are ready to take on the year with fewer bodies in the school.
Left: Fourth grade teacher Jenna Lewis works one on one with Tatum Cenizario. Cenizario said he misses his friends and teachers who transferred to Lake Manatee K-8, but hopes they have a great time.
FORTY-FIVE YEARS OF FIRE PROTECTION
East Manatee Fire Rescue keeps climbing another rung with the community.
JAY HEATER MANAGING EDITOR
An 11th fire station, at State Road 64 and Bourneside Boulevard, is in the planning stages for the East Manatee Fire Rescue District.
Yes, the 11th station.
Such a thought would have been unimaginable in 1980, when the Florida Legislature created the Braden River Fire Control and Rescue District, a 100-square-mile special taxing district.
It was before Lakewood Ranch was more than an idea, and yet, at the time, a lot of acreage had the potential for rural fires.
How things have changed.
As Lakewood Ranch developed into the nation’s No. 1-selling, multigeneration, master-planned community, the fire district had to keep up.
It wasn’t easy.
In 2025, the East Manatee Fire Rescue District celebrates its 45th year.
“We are in the process of designing Station 9,” said Lee Whitehurst, who has been with the district in 42 of its 45 years and who has been the East Manatee chief since 2017. “It is our 11th station, but really our ninth because we inherited two from (the Myakka Fire Control District). Those two, we made Stations 10 and 11.”
Station 11 is new, as the district tore down the former station, which had to be evacuated during hurricanes because it wasn’t built to withstand high winds. The new station at 10215 Wauchula Road, Myakka, is built to withstand wind gusts up to 200 mph.
When the station, which will sit on 5.5 acres at S.R. 64 and Bourneside Boulevard, is finished, it will be about the same size and design as the new Myakka station. It will have four bays and one crew and it will have extra space to store some of the district’s auxiliary vehicles, such as a brush truck and a boat.
The district currently has nine
AND NOW
engines and two ladder trucks, with five “rescue” engines to go into service when the front-line trucks go out of service. Most of the district’s trucks are replaced every eight years. The district currently is building a second high-water vehicle, which will be somewhat of a military transport type of hardtop vehicle.
“Our other one (high-water vehicle) was sacrificed during Hurricane Debby (in 2024),” Whitehurst said. “That was the busiest day in the history of our department.”
While that new high-water vehicle still is being built, Whitehurst said it is at a point where it could be used in a major storm.
When Station 9 opens, Whitehurst notes that the district will need more firefighters. Whitehurst was one of the first two paid firefighters (along with David Gilchrist) in 1983, but now the district has 143 employees and needs to grow with the expanding population.
“We cover 346 miles of Manatee County,” said Paul Wren, deputy chief of administration. “There is no shortage of room for us to expand and grow. Our job is to provide protection and coverage. You need to live within five miles of a fire station if you are looking at your insurance premiums.”
Wren joined the department in 2007 as one of the final two volunteer firefighters, along with Derek Parker, to be hired by the department. At the time, East Manatee Fire Rescue had five stations and two main engines.
“The staffing level was low,” Wren said. “The main reason we were able to grow was the referendum in 2004. That was the beginning. We hadn’t started to see the growth until they put that ad valorem tax into place. We opened the administration building in 2008, and it was off to the races.”
Henry Sheffield was the district’s first paid fire chief in 1983, making $18,000 a year.
“He had no employees,” Whitehurst said. “He was here by himself, and his first duty was to finish (building the fire station). He was cleaning bathrooms and buying the supplies.”
The firefighters at the time were volunteers.
“Volunteer firefighters are almost a thing of the past,” Whitehurst said. “Being a volunteer firefighter is absolutely about doing it because
you love what you do.”
Wren said the volunteers when he started in that role had a sense of community and a connection to the area.
“That’s a big part of being a volunteer,” he said. “You’ve got to live near it, and I always felt a sense of community. I always felt that was a cool component.”
While Wren said about 70% of the firefighter corps in the U.S. is still volunteer, he said it wasn’t working in Manatee County.
“The volunteer program was costing money, and they weren’t seeing the return,” he said. “But it matters if you are near a tax base that can support (a paid fire department). Duette (Fire and Rescue District) is the only volunteer based department remaining in Manatee County.”
Wren said Sheffield, who was fire chief through 2007 and who died in 2019, would have been successful in any era.
“I think he was way ahead of his time,” Wren said of Sheffield. “I knew him through my dad, (East Manatee firefighter) Rick Wren. I would sum up Henry by saying he was forward thinking. Most folks didn’t operate that way at the time. I remember how he wanted to plan. Today, there is a different operational command, but I would assume he would thrive.”
Whitehurst has lived through the changes.
“Back when I joined at 18 years old, you were not thinking about all this (technology). It was do, do, do. At the time, the best firefighters ended up being your chief. Henry didn’t have to navigate HR rules, this and the other. None of it existed. You have to be more of a leader than a manager.”
Now Whitehurst manages a $32.5 million budget.
“The fire chief of a special district is the most challenging job in all of government,” Wren said. “It’s all the things you have to complete. You are part chief, part administrator, part politician.”
While Whitehurst plans to retire in January 2027, Wren is 42 and looking toward the future.
“As we continue to grow, we will grow our administration,” he said. “We have two battalions now, and we are at an optimal span of control. But I could see in eight to 10 years, a third battalion.”
KEY MILESTONES FOR EAST MANATEE FIRE RESCUE
1979 — Braden River Volunteer Fire Department formed to protect eastern Manatee County communities.
1980 — The Braden River Volunteer Fire Department leases a pole barn with a tin roof at 6521 State Road 64 (now the site of a Starbucks), as the first fire station, which came to be known as “The Tin House.”
1980 — In July 1980, the Florida Legislature created the Braden River Fire Control and Rescue District, which was a 100-squaremile special taxing district.
1981— The new district buys land to build its first actual fire station at 803 60th St. Court E., which currently houses Station 2.
1983 — Henry Sheffield was hired as the first paid fire chief of the Braden River Fire Control and Rescue District. He was chief until 2007, when he retired.
1983 — Two paid firefighters — Lee Whitehurst and David Gilchrist — were hired. Gilchrist retired in 2012 as a battalion chief. Whitehurst, the current chief, plans to retire in 2027.
2005 — Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation changing the name of the district to East Manatee Fire Rescue District.
2008 — Construction begins on the current Station 1 on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard on a 20acre site that includes offices and a training center.
2012 — The district buys two parcels from Schroeder-Manatee Ranch for future fire stations.
2020 — A seventh fire station opens in the Lorraine Road and University Parkway area with an East Manatee ladder truck, a Manatee County EMS ambulance and a Sarasota County fire engine all operating at the site.
2021 — The Myakka City Fire Control District merges into the East Manatee Fire Rescue District, adding two fire stations, 10 more employees and 240 extra square miles to the coverage area.
2024 — The Myakka City Fire Station was replaced and dedicated to Chief Bobby Maddox.
2025 — An 11th fire station is being designed to be built at the intersection of State Road 64 and Bourneside Boulevard and expected to open at the end 2026.
Courtesy The “Tin House” was the first “firehouse” in East County, located at 6521 S.R. 64.
File photos
In 2018, East Manatee added a ladder truck that reached a maximum of 107 feet high.
Sheffield
in 2019.
Don O’Leary and East Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Lee Whitehurst celebrate O’Leary’s 2019 retirement as fire commissioner. O’Leary died in January.
Division Chief Bob Mikulski, Administrative Officer Stephen Beecher and Chief Lee Whitehurst are among the key players who have helped the district grow with the community.
RETINA GROUP OF FLORIDA
the town
The Talk of the Town Restaurant Group Foundation has donated $98,373, raised through the organization’s Round Up for Charity program, to Nate Honor Animal Rescue.
Guests dining at Talk of the Town Restaurants, including Charley’s Steak House, FishBones, Texas Cattle Company and Vito’s Chop House, were invited to round up their checks to the nearest dollar to support Nate’s Honor Animal Rescue Center.
Along with help from the foundation’s corporate sponsors, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, BMW of Sarasota, and Lamborghini Sarasota, the nearly $100,000 donation was presented to Nate’s to provide lifesaving care, shelter, and adoption opportunities for homeless cats and dogs.
The funds also are meant to support the final stretch of Nate’s $16 million Journey Home campus expansion, which is expected to be complete later this year. Among the upgrades are an expansion that will double dog housing capacity, add a state-of-the-art kitty city, a public veterinary clinic and new adoption and intake centers.
“We are so grateful to the Talk of the Town Restaurant Group Foundation and every guest who chose to round up their bill,” said Dari Oglesby, executive director at Nate’s, in a press release. “This incredible gift allows us to continue our mission of saving lives, expanding our programs, and ensuring every animal who comes to us has the chance to find their forever home.”
Manatee closes on admin building
Manatee County has closed on the purchase of a Lakewood Ranch office building to be used for administrative offices.
The $23.5 million deal for the 101,000-square-foot building closed Sept. 2. The 11.28-acre property is at 9000 Town Center Parkway.
The two-story office building off University Parkway was previously owned by a joint venture between affiliates of MHCommercial Real Estate Fund, a West Palm Beach real estate investment company, and Contrarian Capital Management, a Connecticut investment manager.
According to Manatee property records, the joint venture paid $20.25 million for the building in 2021. In May, when Manatee County commissioners unanimously approved the purchase, the East County Observer reported that a pair of commissioners said the current county building in downtown Bradenton will remain in place because it lies within the “county seat,” which is defined by the Florida Constitution as where the principal offices and records of all county officers are located.
Commission meetings will be held in the Honorable Patricia M. Glass Chambers in the same building, but Development Services and other departments will relocate.
For now, there is a tenant occupying the building until January and Manatee will begin moving in in phases to accommodate the current occupant. The sale of the property was brokered by Ian Black Real Estate’s Jag Grewal and Cameron Wilson.
Courtesy photo
Manatee County Commis -
sioner Bob McCann had a priority of making progress on one road project this budget season — widening Lorraine Road.
The once rural road has seen a major increase in traffic as developments have been built along the corridor between State Road 70 and State Road 64. It even landed itself on Manatee County’s “Big Six,” a list of the top roadwork priorities in 2022.
“That road is way too cramped,” McCann said. “We have bigger bike paths than that.”
6-1 to go in another direction.
East and State Road 64 in February 2024.
within the FY 2026-2030 plan, any possible improvements will now be pushed back to no sooner than 2031. And the price is growing. Public Works’ Scott May said the values for acquisitions have come in higher than expected from appraisals. The county originally estimated it needed 87 acquisitions for the project along the 2.8-mile stretch.
THE OPTIONS
Scott May, engineering division manager for Manatee County, laid out four options for funding transportation projects in the capital improvement plan during the Sept. 2 commission meeting — two included Lorraine Road and two excluded Lorraine Road.
Option 1 — Budget by district
In this scenario, 16 other projects within District 5 would have been defunded to fund 50% of Lorraine Road. The Lena Road extension project and the roundabout on University Parkway at Legacy Boulevard and Deer Drive were among the projects listed to be defunded.
Option 2 — Fully fund Lorraine Road
In this scenario, 27 projects from around the county would have been defunded, which May said would account for about 50% of the overall transportation budget in the CIP of $400 million. This option included defunding the intersection improvements at State Road 70 and Lockwood Ridge Road, which experiences major backups, and also defunding some bridge rehabilitation projects.
Commissioner Tal Siddique wasn’t overly concerned about Lorraine Road because he said the road will benefit from the higher impact fee schedule that takes effect Sept. 9.
Option 4 — Fund trails, sidewalk infill and bridge rehabilitation May described this option as the one that offers “the most bang for the buck,” and six out of the seven commissioners agreed. It eliminates funding for both Lorraine Road and 63rd Avenue East in lieu of several less expensive projects.
McCann was the only dissenting vote.
“I would have fully funded Lorraine Road for the simple reason that (the majority of the board) keep rezoning and allowing building there without proper roads,” he said. “It’s a problem.”
McCann, along with commissioners Carol Felts and Jason Bearden, have consistently voted against everything that’s come before them this year on that stretch of Lorraine Road, including a final plat on an affordable housing project, an increase in commercial space, and a request for 35 homes on 12 acres.
There were only enough votes to deny the commercial request.
Bearden traced the need to widen Lorraine Road back to 2013 and questioned why impact fees from developments, such as Savanna at Lakewood Ranch, haven’t already paid for the improvements to the road they’ve impacted.
Despite McCann’s request that money be taken from other transportation projects and funneled into Lorraine Road, commissioners voted
Instead of large undertakings like widening Lorraine Road, commissioners are focused on maintaining the current infrastructure and making small improvements that will have an impact for the residents in those areas, such as connecting sidewalks that don’t meet, bridge rehabilitation projects and creating a trail system.
The project included lighting, two additional car lanes, a raised median, a 10-foot multiuse path on the west side, a 5-foot sidewalk on the east side and 7-foot buffered bike lanes on both sides.
The work was estimated to begin in January 2025 and end in May 2027.
The county had presented a $66 million plan to widen 2.8 miles of Lorraine Road between 59th Avenue
The capital improvement plan looks five years ahead. Since Lorraine Road is not being funded
Option 3 — Fully fund 63rd Avenue East Lorraine Road would be defunded as one of between five and nine projects being defunded in District 5. The cuts would have depended on if the county hired a construction manager at risk or went with the lowest bid. The latter would have resulted in the least amount of cuts to other projects. A 1.12-mile portion of 63rd Avenue East would be widened between U.S. 301 and Tuttle Avenue.
Bearden gave a “rough estimate” of $72 million in impact fees that the county would have collected on just two of the developments constructed on Lorraine Road.
Director of Public Works Chad Butzow and Chief Financial Officer Sheila McLean said they would return with reports that show exactly how much was collected in impact fees and where that money was spent.
The next budget meeting is scheduled for Sept. 10. LESLEY DWYER
Photographs by Lesley Dwyer
A semi takes a wide turn onto Lorraine Road from 44th Avenue East.
Commissioner Jason Bearden questions why developments like Savanna at Lakewood Ranch didn’t cover the costs of widening Lorraine Road already.
Commissioners
against SB 180 to court
Commissioner Mike Rahn warned that the move will likely come with consequences.
LESLEY DWYER STAFF WRITER
A“potential lawsuit” is now a pending lawsuit since Manatee County commissioners voted 6-1 on Sept. 2 to join nine other municipalities to challenge Senate Bill 180.
The bill, which prohibits local governments from passing “more restrictive and burdensome” regulations on development, has opened Manatee County up to litigation over commissioners’ efforts to reinstate larger wetland buffers, raise impact fees and stop development beyond the Future Development Area Boundary.
Jamie Cole, a partner at the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman, is filing the lawsuit on the basis that SB 180 is unconstitutional because it imposes a blanket prohibition on the exercise of home rule authority over land use and zoning matters.
Cole was only willing to take on the case if at least 10 municipalities were willing to join.
“We are going forward,” Cole said by telephone Sept. 3. “There might be some other votes that I haven’t gotten a call about yet, but we definitely have 10, including Manatee County.”
Cole plans to file the lawsuit midSeptember and said the other nine municipalities will be revealed then.
News reports show that Orange County (home to Orlando) joined Cole’s action, along with the cities of Deltona, Alachua, Stuart, Windermere, Edgewater, Delray Beach and Weston. Naples joined two days after Manatee County.
“(Senate Bill 180) is the largest intrusion into home rule authority of local governments since the 1968 (Florida) constitution was adopted and created home rule authority,” Cole said. “There’s numerous legal defects in the manner in which it was done that we plan to challenge.”
COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES
Commissioner Mike Rahn was the one commissioner to vote against joining the lawsuit. He warned his fellow commissioners that the move will be “received negatively from Tallahassee.”
“You can pretty much bet on that,” he said.
Following the meeting, he told the East County Observer that Manatee County could have taken all the benefits of a win with none of the consequences of challenging the state, which the county depends heavily on for funding from the Florida Department of Transportation.
Commissioner Amanda Ballard voted for the measure, but also expressed hesitation over how long the suit could carry on and “what it’s going to potentially cost the county (in both additional legal fees and a possible loss of funding).”
Cole is collecting $10,000 upfront from each municipality with a stipulation for another $20,000 payment if an appeal needs to be filed.
Commissioner Bob McCann isn’t worried how long the case will carry on because he said an injunction could be in place as early as October.
The lawsuit is seeking a declaratory judgment, which will legally clarify the language in Senate Bill 180.
McCann said an injunction, if granted, stops the action until a determination is made. Essentially, SB 180 would be “null and void” in the meantime.
“Could we put the wetlands and the development area boundary back during that time? Yes,” he said. “If they make a determination that the bill is constitutional and legal, retroactively, those things would go away again, but there’s no way they’re going to find that.”
Rahn and Ballard maintained that working on a legislative level to amend the language in the bill would be a better approach than suing the state, but the rest of the board pushed ahead.
“I’m not going to be held hostage with somebody telling me they’re not going to give me $1 million to support a project,” Commissioner Jason Bearden said. “And none of us up here as county commissioners on this board should allow that to happen.”
Bearden went on to call out Sen. Jim Boyd, Rep. Bill Conerly and Rep. Will Robinson Jr. He asked them “to explain to the people of Florida and Manatee County why they voted for this bill and how they could fail to see the clear violation of their constituents’ constitutional rights.”
But Conerly questions which constitution Bearden is referencing because the county also falls under the state constitution.
“Home Rule power comes from the state,” Conerly said. “It doesn’t come from the U.S. Constitution. The reality is, if the governor wanted to, he could initiate the process to eliminate Manatee County. It’s not going to happen, but it’s within the right of the executive body and the Legislature to create municipal entities and to eliminate them.”
Conerly agreed that the bill needs to be “tweaked” so the “more restrictive and burdensome” language can be defined, but he said when a bill is signed by the governor and becomes law, it is presumed to be constitutional.
ODA FOOTBALL PLAYER SCORES BIG FOR CHARITY
Dylan Walker raised the funds to donate to the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund.
Anna Maria Island’s Laura Seubert said after experiencing Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, living on the island has a different feel.
“Instead of driving down the main drag marveling at the swaying palm trees, the bright sun and the smell of salt water, there is now a little sense of dread,” Seubert said. “As a resident, we know what the island looked like before the storms. We know what the house looked like on what is now an empty lot. As we pull into our own driveways we remember the sweat, the tears and the effort it took to put our lives and homes back together.”
Seubert is the mother of Joey Seubert, a sophomore linebacker on the Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School football team. This brought her to the football game against The Outof-Door-Academy on Sept. 5.
Besides the game, a fundraiser organized by Lakewood Ranch’s Dylan Walker, The Out-Of-Door Academy football team captain, also took place.
Through donations and a silent auction, Walker’s fundraiser raised $5,395, which will be donated to the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund. In addition, a portion of concession stand sales from that night will also be donated, but they hadn’t yet been tallied.
The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund is through the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and is partnered with The Patterson Foundation in support of “longterm, human-centered recovery efforts for individuals, families, and communities in Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, and Charlotte counties, focusing on mental health, home repair, case management, and other essential services after major catastrophic events.”
Dylan Walker’s parents, Marci and Dave, said he is an independent kid and wanted to do the fundraiser on his own. They hope his actions inspire other kids to pursue similar initiatives.
“I love football, it’s one of my passions,” Walker said. “But at the end of the day, life is greater than football. It’s not just about who wins on the field. It’s also about helping off the field. With them being our crosstown rivals, we need to have a strong community in times of desperation and need.” To help the fund, Walker’s Rivalry Meets Community fundraiser gathered donations from local businesses to raffle. Raffle items included Tampa Bay Rowdies tickets, a twonight stay at the Palmetto Marriott, a Tsunami restaurant gift card and Orioles spring training tickets.
Seubert put her name into the jar for Home Depot supplies, and won.
“Of course, a weekend at a hotel sounded amazing, but the batteries, flashlights and Home Depot gift card meant that our family would be even more prepared for whatever tropical weather comes our way,” Seubert said. “I found a little bit of comfort knowing our family is a little more prepared.” Walker has seen firsthand what can happen from natural disasters. His good friend Brennan Voke lives on Siesta Key, and the whole bottom floor of his home flooded during Hurricane Milton.
“It was just heartbreaking, after the damage from Milton, going over
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF SARASOTA COUNTY
The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of $544 million in nearly 1,600 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling $56 million last year in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare and the environment. Since its founding, the Community Foundation has been able to grant more than $500 million to nonprofits in our community thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, families and businesses. For more information, visit CFSarasota.org or call 955-3000.
and seeing where we used to hang out,” Walker said. “Seeing it all destroyed hit me, and I wanted to be able to do something to give back to help those people.”
Michelle Croft is the director of Community Impact at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Croft said the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund does more than rebuild physical buildings and structures.
“It supports a lot of things beyond just hammers and nails,” Croft said. “Children’s programs, mental health, trauma — people get traumatized from hurricanes. This fund fills those gaps.”
Croft said one good deed leads to another, and when people have a philanthropic spirit, there is a ripple effect.
“A whole community is coming together, so his one gift is now going to turn into this big gift,” Croft said.
“I would think it will leave a bit of a lasting mark on his teammates and his schoolmates, like, ‘Oh, I could do that.’ You hear about big philanthropic gifts, but we really believe that everyone can be a philanthropist.”
Keonna Antipov, a freshman at ODA, was one of the volunteers who worked the fundraising table at the game. She said seeing Walker organize and implement a fundraiser had an impact on her.
“It definitely inspires me to take these steps, too, just like he does,” Antipov said. “I’m just super grateful for this awesome community around me, and I’m just excited to see what else happens.”
Andres Parra, the ODA athletic director, said Walker’s initiative shows what the ODA community represents. He said using the big rivalry game to raise awareness and money was a no-brainer.
“What I like about this is it’s
highlighting all the off-the-field work Dylan does, but it’s important to know that he’s one of our best players,” ODA football coach Robert Hollway said. “He’s committed to Washington and Lee (Lexington City, Virginia) to play college football, so he’s excelling on the field, off the field, and he is just a great representative of our community. I just want to say how proud of him I am.”
Walker said he is grateful to be able to do something like this at 17. He said it was a long process and more difficult than he anticipated.
“We have a great team here at ODA, and I have had a lot of support and we finally worked it through,” Walker said. “This is something I’m super passionate about and I would like to do something similar, whether it’s in college or later on.”
“He’s driven and passionate,” said Marci Walker, Dylan’s mom. “He puts his heart into everything he does, whether it’s in the classroom, on the field or this.”
Marci Walker said she hopes someone else, perhaps a younger student, takes the reins and organizes a similar fundraiser next year.
“He’s a captain, he’s a leader and I think he wants to set the tone for the younger kids to leave a legacy,” said his dad, Dave Walker.
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Above: The Outof-Door Academy freshmen students Charlotte Faucher, Mya Gruber and Keonna Antipov worked the raffle. Antipov said she is inspired to volunteer for something similar in the future.
Inset: The Outof-Door Academy concession stand volunteers were Julian Nguyen, Caleb Caserta and Oscar Pinckney. A portion of the concession stand’s earnings were added to the online donations and money from the raffle to be donated to the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund.
Observer Media Group Inc. is locally owned. Publisher of the Longboat Observer, East County Observer, Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer, West Orange Times & Observer, Southwest Orange Observer, Business Observer, Jacksonville Daily Record, Key Life Style Magazine, LWR Life Magazine, Baldwin
MADISON BIERL STAFF WRITER
Michelle Croft, director of Community Impact at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, was on board to work with Dylan Walker and said anyone, no matter their age, can be a philanthropist.
Photographs by Madison Bierl
Local Relief seeks financial relief
Even doing the right thing can have a cost attached.
Just ask Lakewood Ranch’s Heather Hackett, a self-proclaimed “Mama Bear” whose Local Relief Inc., became a reality because of her vision and hard work.
For those who aren’t familiar with Local Relief, it is nonprofit formed by Hackett to help those recovering from a natural disaster find the funds and supplies to return to their normal lifestyle.
As Hackett puts it, that road to recovery can be overwhelming. Just trying to find gas, or ice, or food can be a challenge in the shortterm, while longer-term struggles can include tree damage, the loss of transportation, or a roof that no longer functions. She hoped to provide a single app that would offer the guidance needed all in one place. Her project was so well received that Hackett, the founder and executive director of Local Relief Inc., was named the 2024 C. John A. Clarke Humanitarian of the year by the Lakewood Ranch Community Foundation.
Things were good and Hackett saw the nonprofit growing from a onewoman operation, to one manned by a team of four employees, including Hackett. When the area was being hit by three hurricanes in 2024, she was the talk of the town.
But we — I am talking about most people — are a resilient bunch. We tend to walk away from disasters and put them in the rear-view mirror as quickly as possible. Local Relief was still getting the hits as the year turned to 2025, but mostly from those who needed help because their lives had been devastated in 2024.
Overall, though, the interest she was getting from those not affected by the hurricane had waned. Those who had talked to her about supporting the nonprofit had moved toward other causes.
“I thought I was going to become a Clara Barton of the Red Cross,”
Hackett said. “But disasters are difficult because people don’t get engaged until a disaster is knocking on the door. You can’t tell people ahead of time to download this app. People don’t pay attention to hurricanes until they have a named storm.”
June, July and August have passed without even a tropical storm making landfall in Florida. That’s great news for those of us who hate putting up hurricane shutters. But that wave of momentum Hackett was riding has dissipated.
The Clara Barton in her leaves her praying that we never get pummeled by another hurricane. Meanwhile, the businesswoman in her has been scrambling to find a route to survival.
“I need the money to get hits and the hits to get money,” she said with
a shrug of her shoulders.
“I knew my app costs,” she said. “But I thought, financially, I would be further along.”
She remains confident that “a big company, a disaster company, a generator company or a person with deep pockets,” will come forward to support the nonprofit.
“I thought someone would want to get their name on this, in making sure people don’t go through it alone,” she said.
In filling what she thought was a void in disaster support, Hackett thought she would get more government aid as well, but she said she didn’t expect the abundance of red tape she has faced.
“We need kickstart money,” she said. “We need to make that first official push. Once we get the numbers, we can find sponsors.”
Part of making a first official push is asking for donations. Hackett said she hates the thought of asking anyone for money, but added that she can ask for $1.
So, on her site at LocalRelief.com, she has a page where she is holding up one finger. She is asking for a buck.
Her thought process for the buck has to do with her app’s ability to be valued across the country. She just traveled to Texas to make a push there.
“I am led with passion,” she said.
“My goal always has been to do something I love, but I realize now that in order to do it, I am going to have to raise money. People love grass roots, and Local Relief is the epitome of grass roots. This is where people can get assistance from other organizations and from their neigh-
LOCAL RELIEF INC.
Who: Founded and run by Lakewood Ranch’s Heather Hackett Mission: In 2017, during Hurricane Irma, Hackett had the idea for the app. Having been an entrepreneur with a background in event management, she looked at the disaster as an event and tried to manage it. She then worked for the next few weeks creating a business plan. Hackett’s goal was to create a collaborative social media hub dedicated to disaster where locals could find relevant resources and information. When Hurricane Ian hit, she created a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and Local Relief was born. Online: LocalRelief.com
bors. I am not competition for (other disaster recovery sites). We will take their resources and showcase them. I want to funnel people to where they need to go.”
Her hope remains that Local Relief becomes a disaster resource throughout the U.S., but she also understands that growth has to go through stages and success often begins in one region before expanding.
“I know we will get there,” she said. “This was put on me for some reason. I know it will happen ... I just don’t know how.”
Jay Heater is the managing editor for the East County Observer. Contact him at JHeater@ YourObserver.com.
Jay Heater
Heather Hackett, founder of Local Relief, Inc., points to the slat that bears her name as the 2024 C. John A. Clarke Humanitarian Award recipient.
Roads take back seat to trails
Manatee
LESLEY DWYER STAFF WRITER
As impact fees are set to increase Sept. 9, Manatee County commissioners are finding ways to spend that extra revenue, and the trail system is at the top of the list.
During a Sept. 3 workshop that discussed the future of the Manatee County Trailways Master Plan, Commission Chair George Kruse said it was time to shift focus from building more new roads for $8.5 million a mile and complete the trail system that was first introduced in 1999.
The estimated cost to complete the 140-mile, countywide network is $130 million. The system will eventually link into Sarasota’s Legacy Trail and the state’s Shared Use Nonmotorized Trail or SUN Trail.
To compare building a trail to a roadway, widening a 2.8-mile portion of Lorraine Road between State Road 64 and State Road 70 is projected to cost about $200 million. A 15-foot trail on Bourneside Boulevard that covers the about sevenmile corridor between University Parkway and State Road 64 is projected to cost under $3 million.
Transportation Planning Manager Clarke Davis noted that the Bourneside trail is a partnership between the county and Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, so it costs less than what the
county would normally pay because SMR had already planned for a fivefoot sidewalk.
A typical shared use path alongside a road costs about $2.1 million per mile.
“You’re not going to keep building roads to fix traffic,” Kruse said. “Multimodal fees can be 100% used for sidewalks and trails and bike lanes and everything else under the sun, so that opens up an immense bucket of money.”
Multimodal fees are built into impact fees. They used to be labeled
“transportation fees” and could only be spent on new roads, but multimodal is a catchall that includes anything that will take residents from Point A to Point B.
The average trail width is intended to be at least 12 feet, but Davis said there will be pinch points where there isn’t enough space.
“The best use of our dollars is to build out a system that’s going to allow an alternative transportation system for the good of our traffic and infrastructure at a fraction of the cost,” Kruse said.
Photo by Lesley Dwyer
When we talk about efficiency in county government, the conversation too often narrows to purely financial considerations — minimizing expenditures, trimming budgets, or finding ways to do more with less. While fiscal prudence is important, true efficiency also dictates meeting the needs of the people that government serves. Projects and programs that fail to address citizens’ needs — even at low cost — are, by definition, inefficient.
A case in point is Manatee County’s recently unveiled plan to redevelop Country Club East Park into a $6.4 million youth baseball complex designed to host competitive play among teams within and beyond county limits.
As currently configured, the park has successfully met the needs of both local residents and the families of students attending Willis Elementary School for more than a decade. It is an unassuming little park, with a recently refurbished playground, a pavilion providing shade for several picnic tables, a barbecue grill and an open field for soccer or other sports.
In contrast to its current unadorned character, the county’s vision for the park’s redevelopment includes three state-of-theart competitive youth baseball diamonds replete with dugouts, batting cages, bullpens, a concession stand, bleachers, LED lighting for nighttime play and an extended parking area to accommodate the fans of competing teams.
This plan was developed without the input of local stakeholders, and, not surprisingly, its recent rollout by county staff was met with a tsunami of resistance (“Is Ballfield Plan Bat Crazy,” East County Observer, Aug. 28, 2025).
It’s time to take a closer look before any further action is taken. The park’s proposed redevelopment deserves the careful scrutiny of Manatee County staff and the Board of County Commissioners, as well as the Florida DOGE audit team and the county’s newly formed Govern-
ment Efficiency Liaison Committee.
The proposed plan is, quite simply, inappropriate for Country Club East Park.
Aside from preserves, Manatee County’s parks are categorized into one of four principal types: local, district, regional and special (e.g., boat ramps, etc.). Country Club East Park is designated as one of the county’s 24 “local” parks. What distinguishes these smaller parks from the others is their size, purpose and the population they serve.
According to the county’s master plan, local parks typically share certain identifying characteristics. They are generally located along streets people can walk or bicycle to, they tend to be small in both size and facility investment, and they provide open space or play areas for local residents within a radius of 1.5 miles. Ideally, they are located contiguous to a public school and feature recreation facilities that complement those of the school. Most importantly, these parks are designed to meet the “particular recreation needs of each neighborhood,” and incorporate compatible elements that “reflect the character of the neighborhood.”
Obviously, the competitive youth baseball complex that the county envisions for Country Club East Park does not match the characteristics of a local park, at least not as set forth in the county’s own master plan. Most critically, the proposed ballpark complex would not serve the needs of surrounding neighborhoods within a 1.5-mile radius, which are largely populated by retirees. Indeed, the proposed expansion of on-site parking is specifically designed to accommodate the needs of those residing beyond walking or cycling distance. Finally, the county’s vision would almost certainly not complement the recreational needs of the adjacent school, since parents were never asked for their input. Instead, the proposed ballparks would transform Country Club East Park into a dedicated venue for competition among youth baseball teams at both the district and regional levels. Regional competition, spurred on by the advent of so-called “travel teams,” is cur-
rently surging across the nation, and, according to the master plan, approximately 40% to 50% of the participants in Manatee County travel teams live outside of the county. This clearly contradicts the county’s policy “to give priority to the needs of recreational and school athletic programs,” and, only “if capacity is available,” to accommodate travel programs.
If the county’s vision is realized, this policy will be turned on its head and the needs of local taxpayers will be pushed aside to accommodate families who don’t even reside in our community. Competitive programming of this type, involving a preponderance of external actors, belongs in a district-level setting, like Lakewood Ranch Park, that is large enough to provide a buffer between the noise, traffic and light pollution of athletic programs and local residents’ quality of life.
In developing its master plan, staff sought input from residents countywide, but more granular information is required to assess the particular needs and preferences of residents within the smaller geographic areas served by local parks. Not so long ago, Alexandria, Virginia faced a similar challenge, which it met by administering not one generalized survey — as was done in Manatee County — but separate surveys targeting the catchment areas for each of its 17 local parks. This approach enabled the City of Alexandria to develop a distinct vision for each of its neighborhood parks that reflected the specific preferences of local residents.
Going forward, Manatee County would do well to emulate that approach, administering locally based surveys to ensure that its vision fulfills citizens’ priorities and preferences. In the absence of such targeted data, authorities are forced to rely on the reactive responses of those impacted by ill-conceived — albeit, well-intentioned— policy initiatives, often in the form of protests, petitions, emails to decision makers, and the like. In the present case, all of these strategies have been invoked. Most notably, all but a handful of residents in the Country Club East neighborhoods adjacent to the park have signed petitions in opposition to the proposed redevelopment, and hundreds of Willis Elementary School parents have done the same. Manatee County clearly needs to move to a more proactive approach to policy and program development, ensuring greater citizen input at the beginning, rather than the end, of the process. Ultimately, efficiency is about maximizing value to citizens per dollar spent. But that value is not only financial; it’s measured in healthier communities, safer neighborhoods and preserved quality of life. County authorities must recognize that efficiency cannot exist without citizen engagement and acknowledge the importance of ensuring that projects like this park’s redevelopment reflect both fiscal prudence and the will of the people.
Leg Flights for
DARREL DRURY COUNTRY CLUB EAST
Photo by Lesley Dwyer
Residents of Country Club East wear red shirts to oppose the youth baseball fields planned for the park.
DINGBAT DOES DIVERSITY
Luke Manual’s theater troupe welcomes performers of all ages, sizes, colors, physical abilities and sexual orientation.
MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
The term “diversity, equity and inclusion” is taking a beating these days. It’s being dropped from corporate and university recruitment policies and banished from government websites. But DEI is living large at Luke Manual’s Dingbat Theatre Project in Sarasota. Located in its new permanent home at 7288 S. Tamiami Trail, Dingbat is everything its name implies. It’s zany, it’s off the wall and it’s fun. Think party in a box — a black box theater with 70 seats. This is Luke’s party and everyone’s invited, and we mean everyone
IF YOU GO ‘I’M GOING TO MARRY YOU, TOBEY MAGUIRE’
When: Through Sept. 21
“We have a super-diverse cast of people,” Manual says. “We’re committed to nontraditional casting, oftentimes gender diverse. We’re creating opportunities for plus-size people, people of color and others who might not be included in traditional theater.”
There’s no danger of someone walking into Dingbat Theatre Project and seeing something they don’t want to see. Manual’s inclusive mission is clearly conveyed by incorporating the rainbow colors associated with LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or questioning) into the theater’s logo.
Many Sarasota arts patrons know Manual from the socially distanced shows that Dingbat put on outdoors at The Bazaar at Apricot and Lime during COVID-19. Others know them (Yep, that’s their preferred pronoun!) from their days at the Venice Theatre or the Loveland Center Performing Arts Theatre in Venice.
Dictionary.com defines “dingbat” as an “eccentric, silly or emptyheaded person,” but the word also has alternate meaning, primarily in the printing world, where dingbats are ornamental type used to divide sections of text.
Manual’s not sure where they first learned about the word “dingbat,” but Manual had the name long before they had the wherewithal to create an inclusive, accessible theater company.
“I like funny names,” explains Manual. “I’ve had this name in my back pocket since high school. When I was an undergrad, we started a troupe called the Basket Cases, and Dingbat was an alternate option. Now that I’m a fully grown-up person, I decided to use it. Dingbat is the message.”
Manual may have been thinking about having their own theater one day, but they credit longtime Venice Theatre Artistic Director Murray Chase for encouraging them to “get creative” when the pandemic shut down arts venues in 2020.
A native of Mississippi, where Manual attended college, Chase gave Manual their first job as a digital development associate at Ven -
ice Theatre, after Manual moved to Florida in 2018.
Along with Brian Finnerty, now production manager for the Sarasota Players, Manual staged Dingbat’s first show in December 2020.
Nearly five years later, Manual can’t remember the full name of that Christmas show Dingbat staged outdoors at the Bazaar at Apricot and Lime, along with pianist and singer Michelle Kasanofsky. For the record, it was called “Brian and Luke’s Amazing Terrific Jaw-Dropping Fantastical Spectacular Tremendous Excessive Live Holiday Jamboree.”
The now-legendary Christmas extravaganza was the first in a string of shows that Dingbat produced at the Bazaar, Kim Livengood’s shopping and eating emporium at 821 Apricot Ave. Among those that followed were “Shrek,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “The SpongeBob Musical.”
Originally, the shows took place outside in The Bazaar’s courtyard with the audience masked and socially distanced, but as the pandemic threat receded, Dingbat was moved inside one of The Bazaar’s spaces, Manual says.
Whether the shows at The Bazaar were held inside or out, “I always got a great turnout,” says Livengood. “If
Where: Dingbat Theatre Project, 7288 S. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $30; students $10 Info: Visit DingbatTheatre.org.
you go to one of the (Dingbat) shows, you’re guaranteed that the talent is going to be incredible.”
LEANING ON FRIENDS AND FOUND OBJECTS
The disruption of the 2020-21 season gave normally harried performers and marketing folks more freedom than they normally had. That helped get Dingbat’s productions off the ground, say Manual’s collaborators. “Everyone wasn’t so bogged down in season,” says Amanda Heisey, now marketing and PR director at the Sarasota Players. “People could be more collaborative.”
Nevertheless, resources and casts were scarce for Dingbat’s pop-ups, which relied heavily on “lots of found objects,” Heisey says, in addition to unconventional casting that saw actors playing several roles each in shows such as “Shrek.”
After Manual got a job at the Loveland Center, a facility for people with intellectual disabilities, Dingbat was able to produce cabarets and
Image courtesy of Adrian Van Stee
Jamie Saunders and Tom Horton star in “I’m Going to Marry You, Tobey Maguire,” which runs through Sept. 21 at Dingbat Theatre Project.
Dingbat Theatre Project founder Luke Manual played the Cowardly Lion in its production based on “The Wizard of Oz.”
Luke Manual performs in Dingbat Theatre Project’s production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” which played in 2021 at The Bazaar at Apricot and Lime.
Image courtesy of Amanda Iglesias Jason and Caitlin Ellis were part of the cast for Dingbat Theatre Project’s recent production of “Urinetown.”
musicals in Loveland’s Performing Arts Theatre from July 2023 to April 2024. Among them were “Chicago,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “It’s a Bird ... It’s a Plane ... It’s Superman.”
Landing the rights to perform “Chicago” was a coup of sorts, Manual says, because “every theater across the country applies to produce it. Venice Theatre had the rights but wasn’t able to do the show because of COVID.”
Jeffery Kin, longtime artistic director of The Players (now the Sarasota Players) and founder of the Sarasota Living Arts Festival, says Manual reminds him of his early days in Sarasota back in the 1990s. “I was just an actor with Equity card that landed in Sarasota,” Kin recalls. “My day job was managing a paper store on Main Street. At night, I started doing one-off shows like ‘The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me,’ which we did at Burns Court Cinema, and ‘The Kathy and Mo Show.’ That’s how I started, by doing one-off pieces and pop-ups in strange places.”
Working together on Dingbat productions brought Finnerty, a talented choreographer and actor, closer to fellow performer Heisey. After the opening night performance of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” Finnerty proposed to Heisey on stage. The two were married in January 2024.
In “Hedwig,” directed and choreographed by Finnerty, Heisey was transformed into Yitzhak, a Jewish drag queen who is the husband and backup singer to the titular aspiring East German rock singer, played by none other than Manual.
These days, Manual is collaborating with their own romantic partner, Gretchen Beaumier, on such Dingbat productions such as “I’m Going to Marry You, Tobey Maguire.”
Billed as a “Y2K farce,” it follows a starstruck teenager, played by Jamie Saunders, who kidnaps her heartthrob, the star of “Spider-Man,” played by Tom Horton. In the play, Mark-Alan does double duty as a poster of Tobey Maguire who comes to life and Brenda, a nosy real estate agent.
Manual directs “Tobey Maguire,” which runs through Sept. 21.
They also handle scenic, sound and projections design, while fiancée Beaumier is co-director and gets credit for scenic and lighting design.
If you’re starting your own theater, it helps to have connections, and Manual’s got lots of them. Beaumier’s father is involved in construction, and some of his friends pitched in to help Dingbat on the $100,000 buildout of its new space.
Among the firms that donated labor or materials are Hoyt Architects, Bright Electric, Service Contracting Solutions, AIS Framing and Drywall and Ackerman Plumbing.
Permitting and construction for Dingbat’s new space was completed just days before it was due to open its first show of the 2024-25 season, a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” “It was really down to the wire. We had a few days over the Thanksgiving
“We have a super-diverse cast of people ... We’re creating opportunities for plus-size people, people of color and others who might not be included in traditional theater.”
— Luke Manual
holiday to get ready,” Manual says. In addition to serving as a home for its interpretation of classic musicals and its off-the-wall cabarets, Dingbat’s lobby and backyard will be available to other groups to rent.
As with any startup nonprofit, donors are key to Dingbat’s survival. Among those making contributing $2,500 or more in the 2025-26 season are Dr. Jeffrey Hamblin and Mark-Alan, Osprey Consulting, Jeff Cima, Gulfcoast Community Foundation and Terry and Debbi Austin. Dingbat’s twisted take on classics runs the danger of turning off purists, but most patrons know what they’ve signed up for. Those ready to veer off the beaten path will welcome upcoming shows such as “Dingbat’s Winnie-the-Pooh” (Dec. 5-17), a PG-13 version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma” in March 2026 and “Dingbat’s Romeo & Juliet” in June 2026.
According to Manual, part of Dingbat’s mission of accessibility is affordability. Toward that end, Dingbat schedules a pay-what-you-wish night for each of its shows . Walking into the pay-what-youwish night for “Tobey Maguire” was a bit like attending a college alumni gathering where everyone’s either newly graduated or retired. The greyhairs are the bedrock of Sarasota’s arts scene, but those wondering where to find young patrons need look no further than Dingbat. Why are they there? For the fun and the forbidden, of course.
Contrasts, October 12, 4:00 pm
Grammy Lifetime Achievement winner Nicholas Eanet with Jungeun Kim, Natalie Helm, and Bharat Chandra performing works by Schubert, Dvorak, and Bela Bartok’s Contrasts, which was commissioned by Benny Goodman.
Legacy, October 19 & 20, 4:00 pm
Celebrate the dedication of Dr. Joseph Holt as a star of Sarasota’s music scene for the past 16 years. Holt, Daniel Jordan, and Christopher Schnell present an all-Russian program exploring composers’ responses to Soviet oppression. The Queen’s Six, October 28, 7:30 pm
They performed at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and now return to Artist Series Concerts after a sold-out concert in 2023. Their vast repertoire promises a memorable evening of royal fun!
Courtesy images
Dingbat Theatre Project is known for putting its own twist on classics such as “Peter Pan.”
The storefront of Dingbat Theatre Project’s 70-seat black box theater at 7288 S. Tamiami Trail in the Gulf Gate area.
THIS WEEK
THURSDAY
JAZZ THURSDAY AT SAM
5:30 p.m. at Sarasota Art Museum Free for members; $30 Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.
Nebraska native Jeremy Carter has toured and performed with global icons including Los Pericos, Tony Monaco and Terrace Martin. With his Jeremy Carter Quartet, he brings his energy and artistry to jazz/fusion. The evening features extended hours in the galleries, Bistro and museum shop.
DON’T MISS
‘THE HIGH LIFE: CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE BIRDS’
It’s last call for “The High Life.” Organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, the exhibition features 70 breathtaking works of birds in a variety of locales, including the wild, the studio and the museum. The photos are displayed in the Museum of Botany & the Arts and outside throughout the gardens, where
OUR PICK
‘TOO DARN HOT: SONGS FOR A SUMMER NIGHT’
Songstress Carole J. Bufford easily skips eras and genres in this showcase of stories and songs featuring the months June, July, August and September. Whether she’s singing songs made famous by Janis Joplin or Randy Newman, she leaves the audience with something they never knew before. What’s more, her cool costumes evoke everything from flappers of the 1920s to the neo-swing era of the 1990s. Runs through Sept. 14.
IF YOU GO
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12
Where: FST’s Court Cabaret, 1265 First St. Tickets: $39 and up Info: Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
‘THE LAST PICTURE SHOW’
7 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. $12 Visit SarasotaOpera.org.
Join Tamás Nagy on guitar and vocals, with Jack Berry on bass and Jared Johnson on drums as they explore the contribution of Eastern European influences to folk and acoustic jazz. Seating is first-come, first-serve. No registration required.
some appear right at home in Selby’s tropical paradise overlooking Sarasota Bay. Runs through Sept. 14.
IF YOU GO
When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13
Where: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 1534 Mound St. Tickets: $28; $23 online Info: Visit Selby.org.
Set in Texas,“The Last Picture Show” is a coming-of-age tale that catapulted director Peter Bogdanovich and leading lady Cybill Shepherd to stardom. Based on Larry McMurtry’s novel, the film features an all-star cast, including Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Burstyn and Cloris Leachman.
‘NUNSENSE’
7:30 p.m. at Venice Theatre’s Raymond Theatre, 140 Tampa Ave. W., Venice $40 Visit VeniceTheatre.org.
Join Mother Superior Sister Mary Regina and the rest of the nuns as they stage a madcap variety show to help defray the cost of funerals after a culinary disaster. “Nunsense” debuted Off-Broadway in 1985 and has since morphed into a global musical comedy phenomenon. Murray Chase directs Venice Theatre’s production.
‘A BAND CALLED HONALEE’
7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1239 Palm Ave. $39 and up Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.
The subtitle to Florida Studio Theatre’s summer cabaret show is “A Tribute to Peter, Paul Mary … and Friends,” but any self-respecting folk rock fan can spot the play on words in the name “A Band Called Honalee.” ICYMI, it refers to the mythical land made famous by the children’s song “Puff the Magic Dragon.” The incarnation of the Band Called Honalee appearing in Sarasota includes Brian Ott, Michael Grieve, Geoffrey Neuman and Sigrid Wise. Runs through Oct. 26.
COLLEEN ORENDER
8 p.m. at Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court $25-$30; $15 students Visit WSLR.org.
Tampa native Colleen Orender brings her “Swamp Stompin’ Tour” to Sarasota. Orender began her music career at the tender age of 5, when she started singing with her grandpa’s country band. Now based in Nashville, she has teamed up with Michael Davey to create a new sound that has been compared to the likes of Amy Winehouse and Julie London.
TUESDAY
‘ART DECO: THE GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUSTRATION’
10 a.m. at the Sarasota Art Museum campus of Ringling College, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail Free for museum members; $20 Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.
The Sarasota Art Museum celebrates the 100th anniversary of the exposition that kicked off the Art Deco movement. More than 100 eyecatching posters from the Crouse Collection as well as industrial furniture, home furnishings and other objects loaned by the Wilsonian-Florida International University are on display. Runs through March 29, 2026.
BLUE MAN GROUP–BLUEVOLUTION WORLD TOUR n .......... Tue-Wed | 1/13-14/26 | 7PM
REVISITING CREEDENCE n ... Thur | 1/15/26 | 7PM KANSAS n ........................................ Fri | 1/16/26 | 7PM
SOME LIKE IT HOT n ............ Wed-Sun | 1/21-25/26
RIVERDANCE 30–THE NEW GENERATION n .......... Tue-Thur | 1/27-29/26 | 7PM THE BEAT GOES ON n ................. Sun | 2/1/26 | 7PM
MJ: THE MUSICAL n ................. Tue-Sun | 2/3-8/26 THE CHOIR OF MAN n ............. Wed | 2/11/26 | 7PM CHRIS BOTTI n ............................. Tue | 2/17/26 | 7PM THE PRICE IS RIGHT LIVE n .. Wed | 2/18/26 | 7PM DAVID FOSTER AND KATHARINE MCPHEE n ......... Thur | 2/19/26 | 7PM TINA–THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL n ............................... Fri-Sun | 2/20-22/26 IL
Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine
Carole J. Bufford stars in the summer cabaret “Too Darn Hot.” Her band includes Angela Steiner on piano and Isaac Mingus on bass.
BENEFIT PREMIERE
Hello Beautiful
Urbanite Theatre goes big for its 2025 Modern Works Festival
The female playwriting contest opens with Phoebe Potts’ ‘Too Fat for China.’
MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Anyone who has ever met Summer Dawn Wallace knows she is a relentless optimist. But the artistic director of Urbanite Theatre is also a realist who knows how to live in the now.
Wallace’s not sure if Urbanite’s annual Modern Works Festival celebrating female playwrights will be back next year because of economic and political headwinds. But she’s determined to make this year’s festival the best in its six-year history.
Wallace has expanded Modern Works from one week to two this year and has added a full-blown production to kick off the festival, which runs from Sept. 10-21 at Urbanite’s black box theater in downtown Sarasota.
At the same time, she has cut the number of staged readings of the three plays in competition from three to two.
“This is a really challenging time in terms of grant funding. This festival wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of female donors,” Wallace says. “There’s like 33 people working on the festival. We believe in paying artists a living wage, even the people who screen the plays.”
What Urbanite has dubbed as the “headlining production” of Modern Works is Phoebe Potts’ “Too Fat for China,” an autobiographical tale that follows a comic storyteller and a selfdescribed “professional Jew” as she tries to adopt a baby both in the U.S. and overseas.
Back in 2010, Potts wrote a graphic novel called “Good Eggs,” which chronicles the author and her husband’s struggles to conceive in both a humorous and heartbreaking way.
A resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Potts’ “day jobs” have included union organizing, teaching after-school art programs and helping adults and children learn the Torah through visual methods.
Last year, the keynote speaker of the Modern Works Festival was playwright Lauren Gunderson, known for such plays as “I and You,” “Silent Sky” and “The Book of Will.” (Gunderson fans will be glad to hear that her sendup of the fantasy romance world, “Lady Disdain,” will be produced by Asolo Repertory Theatre in June 2026 in a rolling world premiere.)
Speaking of rolling premieres, this year’s keynote speaker at the Modern Works Festival will be Nan Barnett, executive director of the National New Play Network, an alliance of 100 professional theaters dedicated to developing, producing and sharing new work.
Through its Rolling World Premiere program, the organization funds the development and production of plays, which then debut at three or four theaters across the country.
Modern Works attracts bold-faced names as speakers, but its raison d’etre is its playwriting competition. A panel of paid female screeners selects three plays to be read live by real actors during the festival, where adjudicators, panelists and audience members decide who will take home a $3,200 prize.
This year’s three finalists are:
n “1999,” Stacey Isom Campbell’s play about three women whose lives intersect in the aftermath of #metoo trauma;
n “Ahoy-hoy,” Jenny Stafford’s tale about American innovation in the 1870s that gets its name from the greeting that Alexander Graham Bell proposed for answering the telephone; and
IF YOU GO
2025 MODERN WORKS FESTIVAL
When: Sept. 10-21
Where: Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second
St.
Tickets: Tickets for “Too Fat for China” are $44; $30 for under 40; $5 for students. Individual play readings are $32; $27 for under 40; $5 for students; $99 for a pass; a pass including all four shows is $125.
Info: Visit UrbaniteTheatre.com.
“This is a really challenging time in terms of grant funding. This festival wouldn’t be possible without generosity of female donors.”
Summer Dawn Wallace, artistic director of Urbanite Theatre
n “Screen Time,” Sarah Cho’s exploration of raising kids in an era where parents are inundated constantly by online advice and supposedly helpful apps.
Some of these festival plays may be produced by Urbanite in future seasons, the way that Brenda Withers’ “Westminster” and Rosa Fernandez’s “A Skeptic and a Bruja” were.
“The Apiary,” another Modern Works finalist, will make its regional premiere at Urbanite from March 20 through April 19, 2026.
While there are no guarantees that the plays in competition will be produced, in the theater world, receiving a staged reading for your play is a big deal, especially at a venue such as Urbanite, which has made a name for itself with its fearless exploration of new works.
To the casual theatergoer, it may not be immediately apparent that the Modern Works Festival is dedicated to showcasing the new work of female playwrights and to celebrating women in theater because the words “women” and “female” are not in the festival’s title. But if you know, you know.
Who comes to Urbanite for the Modern Works Festival and finds free parking in the Whole Foods garage across the street? According to Wallace, “Urbanite diehards who really love new works. It’s a different kind of experience. Audiences are really having the opportunity to see a play in development.”
It should be noted that Modern Works attracts male patrons and actors for its play readings, audience talkbacks and parties.
At Modern Works, playwrights are in the driver’s seat, Wallace says. They can tinker if they want to, but they don’t have to make script changes. But the pace can be frenetic for dramatists and actors. “It’s fast and furious,” she says. “There are 16 hours of rehearsal for the staged readings.”
One of the things Wallace enjoys most about Modern Works is watching the barriers between audience members break down during the course of the festival. “In the beginning, the audience is pretty quiet,” she says. But as they get to know each other, it takes more of an effort to get patrons to settle down so that a reading or discussion can start on time. “They just can’t stop talking because they are so excited. It’s a great thing to see,” Wallace says.
Image courtesy of Ward W. Bond
Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine Summer Dawn Wallace is artistic director of Urbanite Theatre.
Totally Tailgate
Saturday, Sept. 6, at Michael’s On East Benefiting Girls Inc.
BLACK TIE
Over the past decade, Children First’s fall events have collectively provided nearly $1.3 million in support of children and families from low-income backgrounds.
Hosted annually on the last Wednesday of October and the first Saturday of November, the Flip Flops & Fashion Luncheon and Rockin’ Lobster Beach Party are more than just fundraisers—they showcase family empowerment. As the leading provider of comprehensive early childhood education and family strengthening services in our community, this critical funding provides children and families from income-eligible backgrounds with the resources they need to achieve self-sufficiency and long-term success.
Now in its 18th year, Flip Flops & Fashion offers guests a unique blend of philanthropy and fashion. Dining on delicious fare from Sharky’s on the Pier, attendees watch as volunteers showcase the latest styles against the stunning backdrop of the Gulf. Presented by Bealls Inc., this event is not just a fashion fête; it’s a celebration of community impact. Iris Johnson reflected on beginning at Children First as a parent, building a career spanning almost two decades with the agency, and watching her twins—both graduates of the program— grow into staff members carrying the mission forward.
Celebrating its 13th year, Rockin’ Lobster offers a relaxed, seaside experience with live music and mouthwatering dishes. Presented by JPMorgan Chase and set against the Venice Fishing Pier, this event is a testament to the power of community coming together for a cause. For Brittney Stackhouse, Children First not only supported her journey as a teen mother but also inspired her leadership as a Policy Council representative, underscoring the agency’s role in transforming lives.
While these events create memorable experiences, they are critical to the ongoing mission of Children First. With every dollar raised, more children and families gain access to the resources they need to break the cycle of poverty and achieve lasting success.
For more information, please call (941) 953-3877 ext. 1126 or visit childrenfirst.net
The Girls Inc. Totally Tailgate team
Photos by Lori Sax
Sherry and Dan Watts
Michelle Vizzaro and Caryn Patterson
Erin, Rich, Jason and Rachel Cigich
Karissa Hyslop and Melissa Perrin
Cornelius
YOUR NEIGHBORS
The right age to dance
The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch celebrates its 20th anniversary through dance, food and more.
MADISON BIERL STAFF WRITER
Windsor of Lakewood Ranch resident Dale Higinbotham, 92, doesn’t let his age stop him from having fun and dancing.
“I’ve got to keep these old bones moving,” he said.
Higinbotham had at least three different dance partners throughout the performance by the Jesse Daniels Band during The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch’s 20th anniversary celebration. He said it’s a way to remember and honor his late wife, Patricia, who died Sept. 22, 2024.
Lakewood Ranch resident Barbara Melfi was invited to the celebration by Chelsea Knapp, who has worked at the front desk at The Windsor for nine years. Melfi’s mother, Esther Thomas, used to be a resident before
she died in January at the age of 97.
“The nursing staff, the assistants, just everyone here made her feel like she was family,” Melfi said. “She loved nothing more than a good party or a cocktail and she was quite the gambler. Anything with bingo, casino nights, Esther was the first one there.”
Residence director Ramsey Jennings said the event was about the residents and their families, but also the staff who tend to them every day.
“All of the associates, the managers, these are the people who are in the residence rooms every day,” Jennings said. “They are making friendships serving them and they do it with a smile every day.”
He said he is proud to work there and be employed by Legend Senior Living, their parent company. Legend Senior Living has communities in six different states across the country.
Photographs by Madison Bierl
The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch residents Dale Higinbotham and Deb Arronis share a dance to the music of the Jesse Daniels Band. “I’ve got to keep those old bones moving,” said Higinbotham, who is 92.
The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch resident Jean McMurren shares a dance with Javiera Ranstron, who works there as a medication technician.
Chelsea Knapp, the front desk clerk at The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch, invited Barbara Melfi to the 20th Anniversary Celebration. Melfi’s mother, Esther Thomas, lived at the Windsor for three years, until she died in January at 97 years old.
The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch staff members enjoy the 20th Anniversary Celebration on Sept. 2 through dance, food and more.
Residence Director Ramsey Jennings and Sales Director Sandra Barkey welcome city of Bradenton Mayor Gene Brown to the The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch’s 20th Anniversary Celebration.
Ed Ronzia, a two-year resident of The Windsor of Lakewood Ranch, is joined by his daughter, Suzanne Kovach, for the celebration. Kovach said they enjoy being social.
Janet Dicarlo, a future Windsor resident, attends the celebration with her daughter, Anne Dicarlo. Anne said the place is run like a good machine.
YOUR CALENDAR
COMMUNITY
THURSDAY, SEPT. 11 THROUGH
SUNDAY, SEPT. 14
LIVE MUSIC AT JIGGS LANDING
Runs from 5-8 p.m. each day at Jiggs Landing, 6106 63rd St. E., Bradenton. The live music lineup at Jiggs Landing includes Flip Flop Dave (Thursday), David Fowler (Friday), Reverend Billy (Saturday), and Flip Flop Dave (Sunday). All the music this week is free. For information, go to JiggsLanding.com.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 12 AND
SATURDAY. SEPT. 13
MUSIC AT THE PLAZA
Runs from 6-9 p.m. at Waterside Place, 1561 Lakefront Drive, Lakewood Ranch. Jesse Daniels plays country, rock and soul on Friday to entertain the Waterside Place crowd in the free music series while singer Mylon Shamble entertains the crowd on Saturday. For information, go to WatersidePlace.com.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 13
MEN WEAR PINK FASHION SHOW
Runs from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Macy’s Court in the Mall at UTC. The American Cancer Society hosts its Men Wear Pink Fashion Show. Community leaders and influencers will act as models to raise funds and awareness in the fight against breast cancer. VIP tickets ($50) include reserved stage-side seating, a swag bag courtesy of the Mall at UTC, complimentary beverage and appetizers. General admission tickets ($35) include general admission seating, a swag bag and appetizers. Tickets are available at E.GiveSmart. com/Events/J5V/. A cash bar and silent auction will be available. For more information, go to MallAtUTC. com.
ROOFTOP YOGA
Begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Lakewood Ranch Library, 16410 Rangeland Parkway, Lakewood Ranch. Adults (18 and older) can participate in the Rooftop Yoga program. The donation-based group class is designed to inspire and invigorate. Beginners are welcome as are those with experience. The workout focuses on balancing effort and ease through breath work and postures. Those who participate are asked to bring
Judy’s Recovery Story:
Finding strength after stroke through support and determination
It was a typical day for Judy Waldoff as she prepared math intervention lessons for her students. Suddenly, Judy started feeling unwell and decided to end her lesson planning early. As Judy stepped off the front steps of the school she realized: “I’m having a stroke!”
Judy couldn’t recall how she made it home — but she remembers seeing her husband Joe standing at the back
door of their home as she was trying to get out of the car. “It felt like my feet were all tangled together,” she recalled. She also couldn’t move the left side of her body, another telltale sign of a stroke.
The road to rehabilitation
After Judy was stabilized, she sought inpatient rehabilitation at Encompass Health. When she arrived, she
couldn’t walk, move or even sit up on her own. “I’m going from a person who goes from 200 miles per hour to doing absolutely nothing for myself,” Judy said. “They taught me how to brush my hair — how to put my clothes on.”
BEST BET
FRIDAY, SEPT. 12
MOVIE IN THE PARK
Runs from 6-9 p.m. at Waterside Park, 7301 Island Cove Terrace, Lakewood Ranch. Join the crowd the second Friday of each month for a free screening of Disney’s “Encanto” at Waterside Park. The movie begins at sunset. The event is sponsored by Grace Community Church with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis. Bring a blanket or lawn chairs. Concessions will be available from We B’ Poppin Popcorn and Kettle Corn. Inflatables for the kids begin at 7 p.m.
a yoga mat. For information, go to MyLWR.com.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 13 AND SUNDAY, SEPT. 14
MUSIC AT THE LODGE
Runs 6-9 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday at Linger Lodge, 7205 85th St. Court E., Bradenton. Linger Lodge’s live music schedule includes Huckleberry on Saturday and Steve Cherubino on Sunday.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 14
FARMERS MARKET
Runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Lakefront Drive in Waterside Place, Lakewood Ranch. The Farmers Market at Lakewood Ranch, will run year-round every Sunday. Vendors offer seafood, eggs, meats, dairy products, pastas, bakery goods, jams and pickles, among other items. For information, visit MyLWR.com.
YOGA IN THE PARK Runs 8-9 a.m. at Waterside Park, 7301 Island Cove Terrace, Sarasota. Start the morning off with gentle yoga with lake views. For information, go to LakewoodRanch.com.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 17
MALL WALKER CLUB
Begins at 9 a.m. at the Mall at University Town Center, 140 University Town Center Drive, Sarasota. Anyone is welcome to join the Mall Walker Club, which is sponsored by the Lakewood Ranch Medical Center. For more information, go to MallAtUTC.com.
From
sitting to standing and walking
In therapy, Judy’s conditions felt overwhelming but with the help of her physical therapist, she could see the start of a new journey. “Mrs. Judy’s progress was like nothing I’ve ever experienced in recovery,” said Gary, her physical therapist. “She was distraught and had to battle through those mental barriers before making any progress. One day you are standing in front of a mirror trying to get her to stand up straight. By the grace of God, Judy was able to start moving her hand, and she improved from there. Watching her progress and knowing that we had a small part in her recovery — it’s humbling.”
Judy’s road to recovery was no easy feat, but the support of the Encompass Health team gave her the willpower she needed and changed her life. “You can feel it in the way they treat you when you are here,” Judy said. “I was thinking, this is just going to be a hospital. I’ve never imagined going to a place like this.”
6400 Edgelake Drive Sarasota, FL 34240
941.921.8600
encompasshealth.com/sarasotarehab
CLUB FOCUS
Spanish class breaks down barriers
The club is
by Lakewood
Montse Florensa,
MADISON BIERL STAFF WRITER
Lakewood Ranch’s Jodi Kaupla, who has worked in customer service at Target for five years, said connecting with her customers is important, especially when English is not their first language.
“They light up when you try to engage them in their own language, even if it’s only a few words,” Kaupla said.
Kaupla said she knows she might not be using the right tense — past, present or future — but her customers pick up on her effort and appreciate it.
For two years, Kaupla has been a student in LWR Conversational Spanish, a club taught by Lakewood Ranch’s Montse Florensa. Kaupla said speaking can sometimes be difficult and uncomfortable, but she likes that the group is small and that there’s no room for embarrassment when they make mistakes.
“I would say when we’re speaking and engaging, when we do the question and answer type exercise, that really helps because we spend a lot of time learning in the book,” Kaupla said. “The knowledge is there, but then to be able to pull it from your brain and speak it and communicate it, that’s another step.”
Kaupla appreciates the consistency of the club as it meets every Wednesday at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall North. The beginner class is from 9:30-10:30 a.m. with the intermediate class immediately following until 11:30 a.m. Florensa said she takes 10 people per class, and currently has 14 people enrolled. Lakewood Ranch’s Wendy Nebrija is part of the intermediate class and has been part of the club for twoand-a-half years. Nebrija has family
Two classes meet every Wednesday at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall North: n LWR Advanced Beginner's Spanish from 9:30-10:30 a.m. n LWR Intermediate Conversational Spanish from 10:30-11:30 a.m.
The group focuses on vocabulary development, listening comprehension and pronunciation to improve all levels of Spanish speakers. All levels are welcomed. Contact instructor Montse Florensa at 501-3113 or MontseFlorensa@yahoo. com for more information.
members who live in Spain, so she started studying Spanish again to be able to communicate when she visits.
“I had taken Spanish in high school, actually since seventh grade, and a little in college, so I could speak some Spanish, but when I’m there, nobody speaks English,” Nebrija said.
Her daughter, Julia, along with her husband, Gonzalo Ferreivos, and their two children live in Coruña, Spain. Sabela, 6, and Carla, 4, have been raised learning Spanish, English and Gallego, a sister language to Portuguese.
Nebrija said she Googled “Spanish Lakewood Ranch” during one of her trips to Spain, which is how she discovered LWR Conversational Spanish. Nebrija recommended implementing Spanish into everyday life when trying to learn the language.
She gave the example of watching Spanish television or listening to Spanish radio.
Like Nebrija, Andrew Faber has also been in the club for two-anda-half years and is in the intermediate class.
He said he finds lots of joy and satisfaction in the improvement in his Spanish speaking skills. He said it’s important to get over the fear of messing up.
“You have to develop a certain amount of courage and bravery to just put yourself out there and realize that you’re going to be corrected in a lot of different ways, and that’s OK,” Faber said. “You learn through your mistakes.”
Teresa Wilson has been learning Spanish for two years but has been coming to the club for two months.
“With her (instructor Montse Florensa), you get feedback,” Wilson said. On your own it’s difficult. I used the ChatGPT learning function, which is good, but there’s nothing to replace someone who’s a native speaker who can correct you.” Florensa was born in Cuba, raised in Puerto Rico and has lived in Spain and the United States. She likes to quiz her students on how Spanish differs in each country.
“There are differences,” Florensa said. “You cannot put everybody in the same box, so I’m glad that they’re interested in learning that. You don’t have to be afraid of people because they don’t speak your language.” Florensa retired three years ago, which is when she started the club. She said it was a way for her to build connections and relationships.
“I’ve developed friendships from it, so it has been very emotionally rewarding,” Florensa said.
“It gives me great purpose and I feel like in today’s world, every community needs people to feel comfortable in another language, in another culture.”
Chris Johnson has been attending the beginner class for three months and said she has taken a giant step in her Spanish-speaking ability since joining.
“I’ve learned how to be a better listener and have patience with my own learning as an adult,” Johnson said. “It’s much harder to learn as an adult than as a child. It’s different.”
Johnson hasn’t used her Spanish speaking ability much in her everyday life, but said it is beneficial when she is watching movies.
“There’s so much Spanish in many movies and some of them have subtitles, but some of them don’t,” Johnson said. “I find that I’m able to pick out words and look at the context and put it together.”
Kathy Notyce was inspired to pursue learning Spanish because she heard that learning a new language is good for your cognitive thinking as you age.
“I’m feeling more comfortable with this challenge,” Notyce said. “I’m embracing it. I still struggle, but that’s part of learning a new language and learning a new skill set.”
Madison Bierl
LWR Conversational Spanish, founded and taught by Montse Florensa, meets every Wednesday to practice Spanish vocabulary, comprehension and pronunciation.
Kamalesh Karthikeyan, MD, RPVI, FACC, FASE Member of Structural Heart Team at Manatee Memorial Hospital
Dr. Kamalesh Karthikeyan is a board-certified cardiologist specializing in comprehensive diagnostic and treatment services for cardiovascular conditions. Dr. Karthikeyan earned his medical degree from the University of Sint Eustatius in the Dutch Antilles. He completed his internal medicine residency and cardiology fellowship at the University of Missouri. He also completed an interventional cardiology advanced fellowship at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
He specializes in the following:
• Percutaneous coronary intervention
• Diagnostic vascular intervention
• Peripheral vascular intervention
• Noninvasive cardiac imaging
o Echocardiography
o Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE)
o Cardiac computed tomography (CT)
o Nuclear scan
o Stress test
• Noninvasive peripheral imaging
o Pulse volume recordings (PVR)
o Doppler imaging
• Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)
• Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion device placement (WATCHMAN FLX®)
Before Terri Weichman moved to Lakewood Ranch from Jupiter, she joined the Sarasota Over 50 Meet-up Group.
The group has served the newcomer well. Weichman attended UTC Live on the Green Sept. 4 with about 40 new friends.
Every first Thursday of the month, The Green turns into a dance floor for the monthly music series. This month’s featured band was Sugar Vibe, billed as “one of Central Florida’s top party rock bands."
Weichman moved to Lakewood Ranch because of the entertainment options the area offers, and it seems she has found the right group.
The event’s organizer, Steve Najemian, said the meet-up group offers activities every day of the week from dancing to making shark tooth necklaces.
“We have 35 to 40 people here tonight, but around 7,000 members,” Najemian said. “It’s for anyone who wants to join the group (not only Sarasota residents). We have members who are just under 50 and those who go up to 80 years old.”
You can feel confident and secure at Emerson Lakes,℠ a premier senior living community coming soon to Lakewood Ranch and now accepting reservations!
• Freedom from worries
Our quality construction means you and your loved ones can relax knowing you’ll be safe and comfortable during and after the storm.
• You don’t have to go it alone Our dedicated employees and full-time maintenance team work around the clock in severe weather.
• Life doesn’t stop for the storm Every building on our campus will be connected so you’re just steps away from amenities like the fitness center, restaurants, medical center, and more.
“Our experience with Hurricane Ian was fantastic. All the planning that the staff did kept us very informed. We could go down to the common areas, have meals, mingle with friends, and meet new friends.”
—Kathy F., Resident of an Erickson Senior Living®-managed community
Photos by Lesley Dwyer
Sugar Vibe performs Sept. 4 in the music series at UTC Live on the Green.
Bradenton's Julie Kenney and Lakewood Ranch's Julie Brown take seats off to the side.
Lakewood Ranch’s 1-year-old Kaiza Faufata Pedrian just woke up from a nap. Her grandma, Jan Leonard, is holding her.
Lakewood Ranch’s Doug Thayer spins University Place’s Nan McArthy.
The Sarasota Over 50 Meet-up Group meets every month at Live on the Green.
Sarasota’s 6-year-old Mea McDowell doesn't need a dance partner.
Sarasota’s Bill Osterman and Donna Morello slow dance to “Strawberry Wine.”
This Pirate ship set sail 20 years ago
Braden River High School celebrates its
Damon Ackerman said patience is the most important thing he has learned over his 20 years as a Braden River High School resource officer.
“You’re dealing with kids in a positive way, hopefully,” said Ackerman, who is one of the five remaining staff members from when the school opened in 2005. “If there’s some negative light, you try to get them through that and then tell them it’s not the end of the world.
“You tell them to continue to work hard and to make it to the next level.”
The four other employees who started at Braden River High School when it first opened its doors are teacher Jeff Hilt, teacher Dan McLean, secretary Dee Frattalone and athletics director Matt Nesser. During that time, there have been five different principals.
The 2025-26 school year is Wendell Butler’s second year as principal at Braden River High School. However, he worked with the original principal of Braden River, Jim Pauley, when Butler was an assistant principal at Southeast High School.
“I think about how much intention he (Pauley) put into making sure that Braden River was the place you wanted to send your child,” Butler said. “He was a gentleman who believed in
doing excellent work and he believed in doing things right the first time. I believe that spirit and the history of that spirit in our school is important to celebrate, elevate, reflect on and continue to promote. Excellence happens here at Braden River.”
Butler said having five staff members remaining from the first year says a lot of about the work environment. He said the school’s employees support each other every day and he looks forward to seeing and growing that dynamic in the future.
McLean works as a social studies teacher and oversees student government.
“What’s interesting is the administration has changed and the teachers’ faces have changed, but for the most part, the school itself doesn’t look much different than it did 20 years ago,” McLean said. “We’ve got a new locker room building that was built, and there’s portables here that weren’t here when we first opened. Walking around the campus, maybe the paint in a certain hallway is different, but it still looks like the same school.”
Jeff Hilt, a mathematics teacher, was eager for a new adventure when he began at Braden River.
“Anytime you can start a new school from scratch, you get in on that,” Hilt said. “You kind of set the tone for the school, which is always a good thing.”
Hilt said every year during graduation speeches, a student mentions the rule of not walking on the campus grass.
“That policy has been put into their brain,” Hilt said. “There’s a respect for that. That’s one of the things that when we started the school, we were
able to put into their heads. There are rules that you have to follow, and it’s been maintained that whole time.”
Although the campus itself hasn’t changed much, McLean said the culture at Braden River has been built in the past 20 years. He recalls students wearing Lakewood Ranch
High School and Southeast High School shirts on football Fridays in the early days of the school. Now, pirate-themed merch is worn daily. Through working with student government, McLean remembered the first time the school had a dance in the gym rather than the cafeteria in
Madison Bierl
Mathematics teacher Jeff Hilt and social studies teacher Dan McLean are among the last remaining teachers who were on staff when Braden River High School opened in 2005.
n
n
n
n The campus courtyard is 800 feet in length.
n There are an estimated 369,000 red clay bricks on the outside walls.
Provided by Dan McLean
2007. He said the students and staff always have prided themselves on the decorations and preparation that goes into dances. He remembered the spark from having dances in a bigger, more optimal space. The gym provided more opportunity for artistic and creative expression as well as better lighting and a louder sound system.
“The kids, I think they were ecstatic,” McLean said. “They were pumped.”
Hilt said one change is students’ increased use of outside resources over the years. He said his students “live and die with their phones” and get frustrated if they can’t use them. He also said students are now more socially awkward, which makes group projects difficult to implement. Kids are kids and they are all about the same, Hilt said, but now they are better at finding ways to avoid doing their work themselves.
“Hilt’s teaching presence and being a pillar of constant availability for the kids has made an impact,” Butler said. “McLean is definitely in the fabric of the culture running and overseeing student government for as long as he’s overseen it.”
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years already, but we get up, we come to school, we do our jobs and we participate,” Hilt said. “The years tend to go by, and they go by faster as I get older. I’m just glad that Dan and I became friends from it, and I’m glad that we’ve always been a part of it. I hope it continues for a long time.”
Courtesy Mathematics teacher Jeff Hilt and Social studies teacher Dan McLean have taught at Braden River High School since it opened in 2005.
Lake Club home tops sales at $5.1 million
ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR
ALake View home in the Lake Club topped the week’s sales at $5.1 million. Peter and Peggy Dobler sold their home at 14665 Como Circle to Zenon and Carol Nile, of Bradenton, for $5.1 million. Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 5,320 square feet of living area.
WILD BLUE AT WATERSIDE
SDWB Waterside LLC sold the home at 1194 Blue Shell Loop to Federico Bulmaro Morales Zimmermann and Luz Elena Ramirez De Morales, trustees, of Sarasota, for $2,770,300. Built in 2024, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,028 square feet of living area.
COUNTRY CLUB
John Robert Bray and Cynthia Jane Bray, trustees, of Rogers, Arkansas, sold the home at 7211 Pasadena Glen to Richard and Lisa Diberardo, of Sparks Glencoe, Maryland, for $2.4 million. Built in 2004, it has five bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths, a pool and 5,457 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.24 million in 2018.
Robert Earl Rodgers and Ellen Suzanne Piersol, of Bradenton, sold their home at 6540 The Masters Ave. to Steven Anthony Soloria and Sheila Rae Soloria, of West Chester, Ohio, for $1.45 million. Built in 1999, it has five bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,663 square feet of living area. It sold for $665,000 in 2021.
LAKE CLUB
Ralph Allen sold the home at 16436 Daysailor Trail to Thomas Van Meer, of Lakewood Ranch, for $1.75 million. Built in 2021, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,527 square feet of living area.
RIVER CLUB SOUTH
Naudain Street LLC sold the home at 9818 Old Hyde Park Place to Bijoy John and Stephanie John, trustees, of Bradenton, for $1,435,000. Built in 2002, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,711 square feet of living area. It sold for $950,000 in 2024.
LAKEWOOD NATIONAL
William Jeffery Barnhardt and Sandra Barnhardt, of West End, North Carolina, sold their home at 5506 Mulligan Way to Robert Blake Peebles and Amy Pietrowski, of Bradenton, for $1,305,000. Built in 2020, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,794 square feet of living area. It sold for $725,000 in 2020.
RIVER CLUB NORTH
Brianne and Jeffrey Walters, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, sold their home at 6722 Oakmont Way to Olga and Darin Slack, of Bradenton, for $1.3 million. Built in 1994, it has four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a pool and 4,677 square feet of living area. It sold for $835,000 in 2018
ISLES Thomas Allen Heald and Stephanie Heald sold their home at 7940 Redonda Loop to Richard Gardner and Pamela Jefferson, of Solana Beach, California, for $1,187,500. Built in 2020, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,441 square feet of living area. It sold for $780,000 in 2020.
Toll FL XIII Ltd. Partnership sold the home at 17916 Palmiste Drive to Robby and Renea Shell, of Union, Kentucky, for $925,000. Built in 2024, it has three bedrooms, threeand-a-half baths and 2,461 square feet of living area.
THE PLANTATIONS AT TARA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
Mark and Nicole Mocco, of Bradenton, sold their home at 6612 Butlers
AUG. 25-29
Crest Drive to Rahul and Natasha Singh, of Bradenton, for $1.15 million. Built in 2004, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,263 square feet of living area.
AZARIO ESPLANADE
David and Patricia Salkin, of Bradenton, sold their home at 4707 Arpino Court to Wendy Peldon and Jeffrey Peldon, trustees, of Bradenton, for $1.14 million. Built in 2022, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,373 square feet of living area. It sold for $859,500 in 2022.
WINDING RIVER
Kerry and Andrew Underwood sold their home at 909 143rd St. N.E. to Joseph Marshall Siglinger and Phylicia Siglinger, of Bradenton, for $940,000. Built in 2016, it has three bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,325 square feet of living area. It sold for $990,000 in 2022.
LAKEHOUSE COVE AT WATERSIDE
Wanda Colozzo, trustee, of Sarasota, sold the home at 953 Crosswind Ave. to Pamela and David Faust, of Wakefield, Rhode Island, for $880,000. Built in 2022, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,158 square feet of living area. It sold for $674,400 in 2022.
CENTRAL PARK
Ricardo William Craft and Tamera Craft sold their home at 4714
Seneca Park Trail to David Bernard Schroeder and Kaylee Ann Schroeder, of Bradenton, for $865,000. Built in 2013, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,172 square feet of living area. It sold for $465,800 in 2013.
Kevin and Sarah Cooper, of Bradenton, sold their home at 4509 Golden Gate Cove to Asher Paul Stillman and Nicole Stillman, of Bradenton, for $589,900. Built in 2014, it has four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, a pool and 2,600 square feet of living area. It sold for $542,000 in 2021.
BRADEN WOODS
Lynda Coggins, of Tampa, sold her home at 9606 Braden Run to Jonathan and Emily Delucia, of Bradenton, for $850,000. Built in 1996, it has four bedrooms, threeand-a-half baths, a pool and 3,410 square feet of living area. It sold for $540,000 in 2019.
BRIDGEWATER
John and Peggy Gallagher, of Lords Valley, Pennsylvania, sold their home at 13409 Ramblewood Trail to Michael Allen and Sylvia Tamayo, of Bradenton, for $810,000. Built in 2016, it has five bedrooms, fourand-a-half baths, a pool and 3,367 square feet of living area. It sold for $475,000 in 2016
ESPLANADE
Eloise Angeline Benedict and Diane Marie Beauchamp, trustees, of
Safety Harbor, sold the home at 12663 Fontana Loop to Michael Caruso of Glastonbury, Connecticut, for $795,000. Built in 2014, it has three bedrooms, two-anda-half baths, a pool and 2,599 square feet of living area. It sold for $534,500 in 2014.
SUMMERFIELD
Rolando and Anna Reyes, of Orlando, sold their home at 11250 Rivers Bluff Circle to Jeff Stitt and Deidre
Hall, of Honeoye Falls, New York, for $750,000. Built in 2000, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,732 square feet of living area. It sold for $490,000 in 2021.
Eileen Hansen, trustee, of Bradenton, sold the home at 11328 Rivers Bluff Circle to Peter and Fani Boosalis, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, for
Courtesy image
This Lake View Estates home in the Lake Club at 14665 Como Circle sold for $5.1 million. Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, fourand-a-half baths, a pool and 5,320 square feet of living area.
Real estate
$680,000. Built in 1996, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,509 square feet of living area.
SAVANNA Katy Louise Wilkens and Brian Evan Wilkens sold their home at 13422
Saw Palm Creek Trail to Michael Noland and Michelle Deschamplain, of Lakewood Ranch, for $739,000. Built in 2017, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,231 square feet of living area. It sold for $719,000 in 2023.
Stephen Slotnick and Tobi Klein sold their home at 13228 Saw Palm Creek Trail to Jay and Debra Ann Duffy, of Bradenton, for $722,500. Built in 2020, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,340 square feet of living area. It sold for $765,000 in 2024.
Delores and James Schoenfield, trustees, of Grand Blanc, Michigan, sold the home at 14309 Carolina Sky Place to Edward Armand Como and Mary Alice Como, of Bradenton, for $680,000. Built in 2019, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,287 square feet of living area. It sold for $655,000 in 2023.
STONEYBROOK AT HERITAGE
HARBOUR
Shawn and Tammy Masters, of Bradenton, sold their home at 8840 Brookfield Terrace to Mark and Hillarey Kleeb, of Bradenton, for $700,000. Built in 2006, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,868 square feet of living area. It sold for $645,000 in 2021.
PRESERVE AT PANTHER RIDGE Magnifico Capital LLC sold the home at 22105 Deer Pointe Crossing to Jesika and Etiene Florin of Bradenton, for $675,000. Built in 2001, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,909 square feet of living area. It sold for $581,600 in 2022.
Jon and Donna Astore, of Sarasota, sold their home at 773 Rosemary Circle to Carrie Tucker-Lowe and Joseph Lowe, of Bradenton, for $599,900. Built in 2015, it has four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,814 square feet of living area. It sold for $366,000 in 2019.
AVANTI AT WATERSIDE
Alia Moinuddin, trustee, and Joseph Michael Greco, sold the home at 6563 Silverstar Drive to Jason Ficks, of Sarasota, for $606,000. Built in 2024, it has four bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,591 square feet of living area. It sold for $456,700 in 2024.
DESOTO LAKES COUNTRY CLUB
COLONY HorsesandHouses LLC sold the home at 8003 Conservatory Drive to Anthony Davidson, of Sarasota, for $585,000. Built in 1981, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,033 square feet of living area. It sold for $639,900 in January.
COACH HOMES AT LAKEWOOD
NATIONAL Stephen and Patricia Murphy, trustees, sold the Unit 4722 condominium at 18113 Gawthrop Drive to Brian and Patricia Kelley, of Bradenton, for $580,000. Built in 2021, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,108 square feet of living area. It sold for $360,000 in 2021.
RIVA TRACE
Thomas Edmond Sampson Jr. and Emma Sampson, of Parrish, sold their home at 7728 Rio Bella Place to David Jeffrey Romeo and Carol Ann Romeo, of Amherst, New York, for $560,000. Built in 2014, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,903 square feet of living area. It sold for $600,000 in 2022.
WATERFRONT AT MAIN STREET
GREENBROOK
Piotr and Shereen Sliwowski, of Lakewood Ranch, sold their home at 6539 Flycatcher Lane to Casey Grace Dixon, of Sarasota, for $650,000. Built in 2004, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,577 square feet of living area. It sold for $420,000 in 2017.
GREYHAWK LANDING WEST
Todd Patton, of Sarasota, sold his home at 12210 Goldenrod Ave. to Alvin Johnson IV and Linda Johnson, trustees, of Treasure Island, for $610,000. Built in 2016, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,371 square feet of living area. It sold for $343,000 in 2016.
Anthony and Lisa Slyman, of Lakewood Ranch, sold their Unit 2-401 condominium at 10520 Boardwalk Loop to Beatrice Gardner, trustee, of Lakewood Ranch, for $560,000. Built in 2018, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,467 square feet of living area. It sold for $465,000 in 2020.
NAUTIQUE AT WATERSIDE
Kenneth and Gina Atchison, of Palmetto, sold their home at 1944 Vang Lane to Gail and Gaetan DiGangi, of Bokeelia, for $542,500. Built in 2024, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,762 square feet of living area. It sold for $588,600 in 2024.
SPORTS
FAST BREAK
Ryan Neuzil, former Braden River tight end/ punter, started at center for the Atlanta Falcons in their season-opening 23-20 loss Sunday to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 28-year-old is currently listed at the top of the depth chart following the departure of former starter Drew Dalman, who signed with the Chicago Bears in the offseason. Neuzil has been with the team since signing as an undrafted free agent out of Appalachian State in 2021. He had eight starts in 2024 and four in 2023.
... The Headmaster’s Cup still belongs to The Out-of-Door Academy. In a 45-0 drubbing Sept. 5, the Thunder football team (3-1) cruised past Saint Stephen’s Episcopal (1-3), making it ODA’s third rivalry win in four years. Senior Dylan Walker — a Washington and Lee commit — did a little bit of everything for ODA, as he caught two touchdown passes, kicked an extra point, and recorded an interception. Sophomore Brady Cleveland caught touchdown passes of 54 and 53 yards. ODA has a bye week before a Sept. 19 visit to Sarasota Christian.
... Parrish Community football (3-0) had a grind-it-out 15-14 victory over host Palm Harbor (1-2). The Bulls have now outscored opponents by a combined 103-21 margin through Week 3. Junior running back/wide receiver Jacoby Thomas and senior wide receiver Brandon Trucano have spearheaded the charge with 243 and 265 yards, respectively, in the three games.
Daniela Soiman, Alynna Fricke and Jean Arnold shot a collective +10 to secure first place at the nine-hole LGA “Long and Lovely” event staged at the University Park Country Club Sept. 4. Also at the club a day earlier, Jim Moore sunk a hole-in-one on the 156-yard 11th hole with a 5-iron.
... Registration for the 34th annual Florida Senior Games is open for interested athletes age 50 and older. For more information, contact Nick Gandy at (850) 322-3404 or NGandy@ PlayInFlorida.com.
“When we played Sarasota, that was really fun. We all played really well and we all had great sets and passes.”
Out-of-Door
Pirates survive in defensive slugfest
Late field goal gives the Pirates a 10-7 win over the Mustangs in the annual rivalry game.
JACK NELSON SPORTS REPORTER
While both the Lakewood Ranch High and Braden River offenses struggled during the Pirates’ 10-7 rivalry game victory Sept. 5, it was apparent both teams have the defense to keep them competitive throughout the season.
Braden River's defensive effort was especially impressive, considering the Mustangs had scored 76 points in their first two games, both victories.
The Mustangs seemed to be continuing on that path in the game’s opening drive when they scored another touchdown as Elidrick Berry ran two yards for the score. But that was Lakewood Ranch's last score of the game.
Even so, Lakewood Ranch's defense kept it ahead or even until 1:23 remained and Pirates senior Esteban Benjoud hit a 23-yard field goal to give his team the victory.
For most of the game, the Lakewood Ranch defense had constructed a wall that Braden River could not penetrate. The Pirates were shorthanded as starting junior running back/defensive end David Louis was unavailable due to an injury.
But the Pirates, 2-1, marched down the field when it mattered most late in the fourth quarter, thanks largely to the decision-making of junior quarterback Louisen Desinor. Desinor’s biggest play was a 45-yard connection with junior Trevion Dixon on third-and-8 to the Mustangs’ 22. Desinor and Dixon had hooked up in the third quarter on a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Benjoud hit the field goal and a huge Mustangs’ defensive effort
failed to pay off.
“We didn’t do enough on offense,” Mustangs coach Scott Paravicini said. “You can’t take away anything from what our defense did. You can only give people so many opportunities before they make something work.”
The Mustang defense now has eight quarters of shutout play this season, and has not surrounded more than 12 points in any game. The defense's average of 7.3 points allowed per game is the lowest entering Week 4 in Paravicini’s three years as head coach.
Defensive coordinator Jeffrey Lukas has been by his side the entire way. Lukas is responsible for orchestrating the unit, which has shut down Lemon Bay, Seminole and Braden River.
Unlike Lakewood Ranch, Braden River had allowed 24 points in its 27-24 opening-game victory over Cypress Creek and 27 points in a 27-7 loss to Sarasota High. The Pirates turned everything around against the Mustangs.
Defense figured to be a crucial area for Lakewood Ranch well before the season got underway because the offense sustained so many key losses from last season. Senior tight end Cooper Orzel is the only returning player who scored a touchdown in 2024. Quarterback Liam Fernandez, running back Colton Dempsey, athlete Jayden Rivers and wide receivers Viktor Monoki and Trenton Huffman were all offensive playmakers who transferred to other schools.
Although quarterback Brett Traver and running back Elidrick Berry, who scored the only Mustangs' touchdown against the Pirates, have shown flashes of ability as junior first-year starters, there were growing pains against the Pirates.
That kept the pressure squarely on Lukas’ unit, and for the first time this season, Lakewood Ranch saw how its defense could perform in a tight situation.
“You look at that group as a whole, and they’re kind of all trying to do the right thing,” Paravicini said of his defense. “We’ve got a great group of kids. They fight hard every week. They battled even there until the end.”
Aiden Getschow has been doing the right things for a while now. The
senior linebacker’s 55 total tackles last season ranked second-most on the squad behind former linebacker Richard De Paula’s 145.
Getschow calls the shots regularly for the Mustangs by reading the opposing offense and relaying his insights to the teammates around him. When formations shift before the snap, Getschow directs adjustments on the fly.
In Week 1, he was everywhere, racking up a team-high 19 tackles –11 more than the next-closest total by fellow senior Drew Nolin.
But Getschow isn’t the only one making waves on the defensive side of the ball for Lakewood Ranch.
Junior athlete Ka’marion Jones — who plays wide receiver in addition to cornerback — has offered continuity after totaling six interceptions in 2024. When he’s not operating as a ball hawk on defense, Jones is being counted on to be a factor on offense.
“I don’t know that we did a good enough job trying to get him the ball (against the Pirates), and that’s something we’ve got to look at as a coaching staff,” Paravicini said.
“But he’s an explosive player, and he’s going to make plays as this year goes on.”
Jones had a couple of the highlights for Lakewood Ranch with a 22-yard diving catch and an interception.
“We’ve got to build them up for the game they played,” Paravicini said of his defense. “They’re going to feel like it’s their fault, because at the end of the game, they could have made a stop and they didn’t. But how many stops did they make throughout this thing to change the momentum and flip the field for us?”
Lakewood Ranch, now 2-1, will continue in its search of consecutive winning campaigns for the first time since the 2010-2011 season. The Mustangs were 6-5 in 2024.
Bayshore hosts Braden River 7 p.m. Sept. 12 while Lakewood Ranch hosts Southeast 7 p.m. Sept. 12 .
Courtesy photo
Former Braden River football player Ryan Neuzil signed a two-year extension with the Atlanta Falcons after starting eight games this past season.
Photographs by Jack Nelson
The Lakewood Ranch defense lines up before a play against Braden River during its Sept. 5 rivalry game. Now with three outings on its resume, the unit has allowed just 22 combined points.
A mob of Lakewood Ranch players swarm Braden River junior Jayden Moore (14). On Sept. 5, The Mustangs held the Pirates off the scoreboard for the entire first half.
NELSON’S NOGGIN JACK NELSON
Former world rowing champ treads new waters
Local orthopedic surgeon returns to rowing purely out of love for the sport.
Cool, calm and collected. That’s what we expect of surgeons when we trust them with the most complex procedures available in modern medicine.
Such qualities are often evident in the manner these miracle workers carry themselves outside the operating room. They are, after all, caretakers at their core.
Dr. Sara Simmons doesn’t quite belong to that bunch.
The orthopedic surgeon’s enthusiasm for her work is not restrained. Her presence fills up a room when she steps through the door. Naturally, client well-being is her primary concern, but that hasn’t stopped her from channeling the younger version of herself who was perpetually prepared for competition.
“I was always crazy about sports. I’m super energetic,” Simmons said. “I was a gymnast for 10 years because my poor parents couldn’t keep me from bouncing off the walls.”
The hand and wrist specialist at Coastal Orthopedics in Lakewood Ranch is headed to the World Row-
ing Masters Regatta in Banyoles, Spain, on Sept. 10-14. Formerly a world-class rower, she’s back in the boat and eyeing the finish line once more.
Her schedule is rigorous, including races in the quad, four, double, mixed double, eight and mixed eight. But all of them are without the high stakes synonymous with the global stage — the same stresses that pushed her out of competitive rowing decades ago.
Simmons is journeying across the Atlantic purely for the love of the sport.
“Part of it is just getting back into it and reemerging as my own self,” Simmons said. “It’s almost like amateur sports at its best again. So much about sports these days, I feel, is not what it’s supposed to be.”
Featuring 3,700-plus athletes hailing from more than 700 different clubs, the 2025 running of the regatta ranks as the second-largest in its 51-year history. Qualification is not required, and crews of all ages, weights and nationalities are welcomed.
This year’s participants range from 27 to 96 years old. Simmons, 53, will be part of a mixed eight boat which includes four participants in their 50s, two in their 60s and another two in their 80s.
Few sports encourage or even accommodate lifelong activity. Even fewer give athletes something to strive for when their playing days are behind them.
Look no further than the famed “Big Four” here in the United States. Football, basketball, baseball and hockey attract the lion’s share of our athletic interests, but how many viewers can go out and play those same sports regardless of age?
Some can. Many can not.
Simmons brought home gold in the women’s lightweight coxless four at the 1995 World Rowing Championships alongside Barbara
Byrne, Linda Muri and Whitney Post, and a year later, captured bronze in that event. Gold at the 1995 U.S. Collegiate Nationals and silver at the 1994 Pan American Games are further highlights on her resume. But she eventually faced the dilemma with which most elite competitors comes to terms: Building a career around sport is rarely viable.
“It was hard, in one sense, because I was only 23 at the time when I stopped (rowing competitively),” Simmons said. “I always thought, ‘Maybe I’ll take a couple years off and try to make the 2004 Olympics,’ but your life consumes you.”
During her first two years as a biology student at Harvard, her schedule was dizzying. She would practice rowing in the morning, soccer in the afternoon and hockey at night — sometimes all in the
same day. She couldn’t help being overwhelmed. Even in college, Simmons was that same bubbling ball of energy who, at a young age, yearned to have a soccer net in front of her or a balance beam under her feet.
The Belmont, Massachusetts, native and graduate of the Buckingham Browne and Nichols School actually turned down offers from Yale women’s soccer and Princeton women’s rowing, despite no offer at all from Harvard athletics.
Love of the oars, though, waned when Simmons elected to pursue the U.S. National Team as a prospective lightweight.
“Having to cut weight was not a fun thing. I did cut about 10 pounds, which was tough,” Simmons said. “I rowed on the national team for two years after college, and that was the end of it. It’s a lot of traveling; it’s a lot of living out of a
suitcase. I lived at people’s houses in weird places in the country. You’re under a lot of stress.”
Rowing entered the rearview mirror. Her commitment to medical school took over, and before she knew it, adulthood had arrived in the form of a husband and kids. That easily could have marked the end of her athletic career. She could have just allowed life to transpire and tabled personal pursuits for good.
But Simmons is back in the boat. And competition is on the horizon.
“If you come in last, who cares? You got there; you got in the boat — little steps,” Simmons said. “It’s been a long time. What other sport can you come back to at this age?”
No monetary amount or shining reward inspired such a return. Instead, she’s braving the waters again because of the calling she feels to the sport she never intended to forever leave. The right opportunity just needed to present itself.
In this new era of name, image and likeness — where once-amateur athletes have practically turned professional — hers is a refreshing perspective. Yes, sports is a multibillion-dollar industry in the U.S. alone, but never should it be construed strictly as business.
There’s plenty of athletes out there who do it purely out of love.
For Simmons, it’s that meditative experience of being out on the water with a crew, working as one to cross the finish line. She shows us it’s no time to lose faith in the beauty of sports.
Jack Nelson
Dr. Sara Simmons, hand and wrist specialist at Coastal Orthopedics, is a former elite rower. She will head to the World Rowing Masters Regatta this week in Spain.
Jack
Courtesy Sara Simmons
Sara Simmons, Linda Muri, Barbara Byrne and Whitney Post show their 1995 World Championship gold.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Beasley
As of Sept. 9, The Out-of-Door Academy girls’ volleyball team, which is 7-3 overall and 1-0 in district play, has won five matches in a row dating back to Aug. 23. Alex Beasley, who has 112 kills on the season, is responsible for 60 kills during the run as a freshman outside hitter. On top of that, she’s performed at a high level with efficiency, notching a kill percentage of 47% or higher in three of the team’s outings during the streak. She is averaging 3.9 kills per set on the season and has 20 service aces.
When and why did you start playing volleyball? When I was in elementary school. I was in physical education and my coach said I’d be good.
What’s been the highlight of your season so far?
When we played Sarasota (a 3-1 win on Aug. 28), that was really fun. We all played really well and we all had great sets and passes. Everything was great.
What’s been your most humbling moment as a player? I would say when I first joined varsity. I was like, ‘Wow, it’s way tougher.’
If you would like to make a recommendation for the East County Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to VPortell@YourObserver.com.
ter and work on that.
If you could meet any professional athlete, who would it be? Tom Brady.
If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go? The Maldives.
If you were stuck on a desert island with one item, what would you bring? My dog, so that I could play with him.
What’s your favorite
What is your go-to, pregame hype music? The church clap. We all do it as a team before each Finish this sentence. Alex Beasley is … Very cool.
Dr. Amir Boubekri brings to Intercoastal Medical Group at the Lakewood Ranch I office a wealth of knowledge and experience in Orthopedic Medicine.
Undergraduate: University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Medical School: University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, FL
Orthopedic Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL
Shoulder and Elbow Fellowship, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
Board Eligible, American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery
Hospital Affiliations: Sarasota Memorial Hospital; Sarasota Doctors Hospital; Lakewood Ranch Medical Center
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DOUBLE THE FUN by Prasanna Keshava, edited by Jared Goudsmit
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Darlene
We highly recommend and extend our gratitude to Shanahan Luxury Group. From our initial sit down, to cost analysis, staging, advertising, showings, final walk-through, to closing details, The Shanahans made selling our home process seamless. On the buying side, Team Shanahan guided us through a variety of homes for sale, considering pricing, amenities, location, and the unique aspects of each village. Ultimately, they helped us determine that building new was the best decision for us. We definitely could not have done this without Katina, Ken and Tyler. We appreciate their advice, patience and most of all, your friendship. Thank you once again!
