East County Observer 6.30.22

EAST COUNTY

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JULY 2022

1

Lakewood Ranch’s weekly newspaper since 1998

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YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

FREE • THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

VOLUME 24, NO. 32

YOUR TOWN

District considers more schools The district has three parcels in the Lakewood Ranch area on which to build schools. SEE PAGE 3A

Liz Ramos

A touch of Disney at Waterside Place Lakewood Ranch’s Sofia Bertagmoli (above) was wide-eyed when she saw the giant screen being set up in the Waterside Place plaza.

Bertagmoli, 4, couldn’t wait to see Disney’s “Luca” for the first time during the first night of the Summer Movie Series on June 23.

She even had her face painted with a mermaid design to go along with the movie.

“This is great,” said Alyse Bertagmoli, Sofia’s mother.

“There are so many familyfriendly things to do. We look forward to having another family night.”

Sofia’s father just happens to be Luca Bertagmoli.

ALL THAT SPARKLES Thousands will attend Nathan Benderson Park’s annual Fireworks on the Lake on July 3.

SEE PAGE 7A

Sarasota’s Abriana Navarro plays with a sparkler during the 2021 Fireworks on the Lake.

Ian Swaby

Waterside’s aesthetics attract a business Amy Hurlebaus (above) said as soon as the plans began to emerge for Waterside Place, she had found the perfect place to relocate her business, Bay Area Aesthetics.

“The vision they were telling me was fantastic, and I knew I wanted to be a part of it,” she said.

On June 23, Hurlebaus hosted a grand opening ceremony at 1561 Lakefront Drive, Suite 207, in Waterside Place.

Her business previously was located on State Road 70. She decided that Waterside Place’s backdrop alongside Kingfisher Lake fit her business better.

“I felt that in order to obtain a spa experience, aesthetically, it needs to look gorgeous, with the feel, the openness, all needs to be part of what we are doing,” Hurlebaus said.

Hurlebaus said that within the next six months, the clinic will be introducing radio frequency microneedling, a technique for treating early signs of aging, and HydraFacial treatment, which cleanses and hydrates the skin.

File photo

A+E

Car lot issue heads to court Car lot opponent Save Gates Creek has a July 13 court date.

SEE PAGE 5A Ian Swaby

Randy Clark of GreyHawk Landing says a car dealership is not an appropriate business at the intersection of 117th Street and State Road 64 in East County.

Tasty competition.

SEE PAGE 10A

2A

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

IT’S A GO What: Traffic signal being constructed at Lakewood Ranch Boulevard and Balmoral Woods Boulevard/Water Lily Way Start time: Late June Estimated completion: Late July 2023 Estimated cost: $2.8 million Contractor: Halfacre Construction What to look out for: Lane closures at various times to be announced Other aspects of project: Turn-lane lengthening, pedestrian crossings added, fiber optic cables installed and signal lights featuring Advanced Traffic Management System devices

making a left turn by crossing over one side of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard — been increasingly difficult.

“There were many near misses,” he said.

Rogoze said a petition to add a traffic signal circulated and was signed by approximately 850 people.

Residents began attending Manatee County Commission meetings to address the need.

Albert Rosenstein, a senior project engineer for Manatee County Public Works, said the project is moving forward and is on track. Halfacre Construction is doing the work.

Rosenstein said the project includes the traffic signal and roadway improvements, such as the installation of 2 miles of fiber-optic cable, and the installation of traffic monitoring and data collection devices, along with alternations to turn lanes.

The northbound to eastbound turn lane will be lengthened by approximately 20 feet, which Rosenstein said would increase the safety of the road. A traffic study showed vehicles were too numerous to merge into the lane safely at its current length.

The eastbound approach of Water Lily Way will also be repainted, providing left and right turn lanes.

Pedestrian crossings, with signs, will be added.

Ian Swaby

Manatee County will construct a new traffic signal at the intersection of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard with Balmoral Woods Boulevard/Water Lily Way.

Project gets green light Manatee County schedules the $2.8 million traffic light project in response to residents’ requests for a safer intersection.

expected to take about 13 months to finish construction. It is expected to be complete in late July 2023.

A similar project will take place at Lakewood Ranch Boulevard’s intersection with Clubhouse Drive, but no construction start date has been announced, though it expected to begin later this year.

Although those who zip through Lakewood Ranch might not be enthusiastic about the new traffic signals, residents of the Lakewood Ranch Country Club and The River Club have been waiting for years for a traffic light at Lakewood Ranch Boulevard’s intersection with Balmoral Woods Boulevard and Water Lily Way. James Rogoze, the CDD 6 board chair, said the signal came about due to extensive advocacy by residents.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

D

rivers who count on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard as their major thoroughfare are about to experience some inconveniences over the next year or more.

Construction to put a signal light at Lakewood Ranch Boulevard’s intersection with Balmoral Woods Boulevard and Water Lily Way is scheduled to begin this week and is

“There’s a long history of residents wanting, and being very active, in trying to get the attention of the county to install the lights,” he said.

According to Rogoze, issues at the Balmoral Woods/Water Lily intersection with Lakewood Ranch Boulevard intensified after the Fort Hamer Bridge opened in 2017, creating a north-south artery for those who previously would have used Interstate 75. The extension of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard to Fruitville Road in Sarasota also brought more motorists.

That additional traffic made it difficult for those in the adjacent neighborhoods to turn onto Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

Rogoze said speeding has become a greater problem, which meant turning onto the road — particularly

Advanced Traffic Management System devices will be included at the intersection to provide data on road use. Two miles of fiber-optic cable to facilitate communication between this traffic light and others will also be installed, though Rosenstein said that in this case, the work will be performed off-road.

Also taking place will be the removal and reapplication of 1.5 inches of asphalt in order to better allow the county to create the traffic signal foundations, as well as to provide a new surface to use when repainting the roadways for the pedestrian crossings and lane adjustments. He said this replacement would extend from, roughly, the area of the turn lane expansion and then through the intersection, reaching a length of about 400 feet.

He said the signal portion of the $2.8 million project should be operational by December.

Rosenstein said that during construction, traffic will be redirected with typical lane closures for certain operations, though at this time there is no information about the length of time or the dates these closures will take place.

He said during paving of the road, lane closures will typically last during the normal hours for lane closures of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., though in some cases the contractor might seek special permission to bring in concrete trucks to pour the signal foundations.

Rosenstein said that impacts on traffic to the surrounding areas should be minimal.

“On construction projects, you never have a perfect set of plans,” he said. “Whether it’s building construction or roadway construction, there’s always contingencies that come up.”

Rosenstein said that the traffic signal demonstrated the county’s response to concerns from the community.

“A lot of the locals have asked about a traffic signal being installed in that area,” he said. “The county commissioners, and the county, are responding to that.”

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UPPER MANATEE RIVER RD. YourObserver.com

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

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Gene Witt Elementary

D. R E RY

Freedom Elementary

Mill C

57TH. ST. E.

Carlos E. Haile Middle

re

PKW Y. AND L GE

102 acres: Intended use high school

LWR Charter

59TH AVE E.

70

Braden River Elementary

Tara Elementary

20 acres: Intended use elementary school

Braden River Middle

B OURNESIDE RD.

Lakewood Ranch High

44TH A VE.

D.

Braden River High

Dr. Mona Jain Middle

UIHLEIN R

44 acres: Intended use elementary, middle or K-8 schools

B.D. Gullett Elementary

RA N

75

40 acres: Intended use K-8 School

LE BLVD .

EAG E T I WH

D. LAKE WOOD R A N C H BLV

ek

William H. Bashaw Elementary

64

Gilbert W. McNeal Elementary R. Dan Nolan Middle

KEY High School Middle School

HONORE AV

E.

Elementary School

75 M T HE AST

K-12

Robert E. Willis Elementary

E

Open land

R

S AVE.

A look at existing School District of Manatee County schools in the East County area along with land owned by the district that can be used for new schools.

Will 186 acres be enough?

UNIVERSIT Y PKW Y.

The district has three parcels in the Lakewood Ranch area on which to build schools.

LIZ RAMOS STAFF WRITER

A

s growth in Manatee County is expected to add almost 30,000 homes in the next six years, the School District of Manatee County is busy planning what to do with its land resources.

Mike Pendley, an executive planner for the School District of Manatee County, said the district projects more than 7,500 students to enroll in the district based on that projection.

Pendley gave a presentation to the School Board of Manatee County during a workshop June 16 on school concurrency to show the board where the district stands in terms of future enrollment and potential land where the district could build schools.

“The entire premise of concurrency is that adequate infrastructure will be in place to serve development as it occurs,” Pendley said.

BY THE NUMBERS

The School District of Manatee County has projected the number of students who will enroll in the district over the next six years in relation to the homes being built in the district.

Status

Homes (ready to be built)

21,197

Homes (going through permitting, projected)

Elementary students

Middle school students

2,911

1,197

1,551

5,659

7,806

1,052

433

545

2,030

29,003

3,963

1,630

2,096

7,689

NUMBER OF SCHOOLS NEEDED FOR THOSE TOTALS

4.1

1.4

1.1

Total

25 acres where Manatee Technical College’s west campus used to be, Duette Elementary School and 5 acres that is an out-parcel for the district’s Professional Support Center.

INTENDED USE

DAUNTING TASK

Pendley said that 29,000 development units seems daunting, but the six years it will take before all those units are occupied gives the district time to plan.

“The other part is we have existing capacity in our schools,” he said.

Based on the 7,689 students projected to enroll in the district, Pendley said the district would need to have four elementary schools, one or two middle schools, and another high school to accommodate that many students. However, he also said district school’s already have space to accommodate many of those students.

“The bad news is the capacity is not necessarily where you need it to be,” he said. “We have tremendous growth in Parrish, we have tremendous growth in east Manatee County, and you don’t have the capacities out in those areas.”

The School District of Manatee County has land across the county to help with addressing school capacity and concurrency.

High school Total students students

File photo

A new K-8 school off Academic Avenue and Uihlein Road is planned to be built in the next five years.

IN EAST COUNTY

In the greater Lakewood Ranch area, the district has 44 acres just north of Braden River High School, 102 acres near Premier Sports Campus and 40 acres on Academic Avenue.

The 44 acres near Braden River High School could become an elementary, a middle school or a K-8 school.

“This site is currently used for the agriculture program at Braden River High School,” Pendley said. “That was not the original intent. If you recall, we entered into a settlement agreement when we built Manatee Technical College on State Road 70.

As part of that settlement agreement, the county went in and permitted a general school plan for an elementary, middle or K-8 school on

this 44 acres.”

The 102 acres on the north side of 59th Avenue East and just west of Pope Boulevard is intended to be used as a future high school.

Plans for neither the 44-acre property nor the 102-acre property have been finalized, and they are not included in the school district’s fiveyear capital plan.

IT’S ACADEMIC

The 40 acres on Academic Avenue off Uihlein Road is intended for a K-8 school. Pendley said there will be advertising for a construction manager and architect imminently as the project is on the district’s five-year capital plan.

Other properties the district has within Manatee County include the

Pendley said the intended use for the 25 acres is to build an elementary, a middle or a K-8 school while there is no intended use for the 5-acre outparcel or Duette Elementary, which sits on 15 acres.

“Of the six properties that we own, four of those, I project, schools will be going on those in the future,” he said. “You really don’t have a lot of vacant property you’re holding.”

Another future land opportunity to build a school is 20 acres within Schroeder Manatee Ranch’s Taylor Ranch development.

The development, which is located on the east side of Bourneside Boulevard and south of State Road 64, is planned to have a maximum of 4,500 residential units on 2,307 acres. The 20-acre site would be used to build an elementary school.

“That is not necessarily a site we will be building on right away because the way the contract is structured is this is a raw piece of land, and we want the developer to put in the roads, the water and sewer, sidewalks to our school site,” Pendley said. “It’s something (the school board) should look at on the five-year plan, but we are not going to run out and build there tomorrow.

It’s just not set up for that, but it will accommodate some of that future growth from Lakewood Ranch.”

3A

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EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

Sports tourism scores big Region’s top sports tourism experts discuss trends during a Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance event.

Net agreed about the healthy diversity that sports tourism provides.

“It brings people into a community,” she said. “That means more eyes on our stores.”

She also said it is invaluable in bringing people to the community who might decide to move here.

“If you can work and play here, why not do that?” she said.

When it comes to attracting people from around the world to see the area, Nathan Benderson Park has experienced a bonanza in terms of sports tourism.

After attracting the World Rowing Championships in 2017, Nathan Benderson Park has been on a roll attracting international events. Next up is the International Dragon Boat Federation Club Crew World Championships on July 18-24. More than 3,000 rowers will be participating, and their friends and family members will tag along.

“Rowing facilities usually are in the middle of nowhere,” Rodriguez said. “But they come here to enjoy all we have to offer.”

Rodriguez noted that sports tourism is becoming a more competitive market every day. So, he said, communities have to continue to evolve if they want to have success in the market.

Sarasota County made a statement about its desire to evolve May 10 when it committed $20 million in tourist tax dollars toward a new $40 million boathouse and indoor sports event center at Nathan Benderson Park. The indoor event center will be 100,000 square feet on its own and would be the second floor of the boathouse.

“The indoor sports facility will attract a different sports market,” Rodriguez said. “It will be a bright future for the community.”

JAY HEATER MANAGING EDITOR

S

o what if you aren’t a golf, soccer or swimming fan, and you don’t own a restaurant or a hotel?

Do you want Manatee or Sarasota counties to sink millions of dollars into developing facilities and tournaments that will draw people to the area?

The Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance hosted a luncheon June 22 at the Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club called “Competitive Advantage: Economic Impact of Local Sports” to talk about the importance of sports tourism to the region.

The speakers were Elliott Falcione, the executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau; Stephen Rodriguez, the CEO of the Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy; and Justin Kristich, the tournament director of the LECOM Suncoast Classic golf tournament.

SouthState Bank Vice President Will Cromie attended the luncheon and said it is a plus to his industry to have such healthy sports tourism in the area.

“Directly, it doesn’t contribute to us,” Cromie said. “But a bank is only healthy if a community is. It’s a direct reflection of a community.

“And sports tourism leads to diversification, and a healthy community is comprised of more than one activity.”

Shawna Hicks-Cranston of Post-

“The event might not benefit your pockets specifically, but it creates a great fan experience, and it allows you to be a part of it.”

— Justin Kristich, LECOM Suncoast Classic golf tournament director

Jay Heater

Regional golf fans had a chance to see Will Zalatoris at the 2020 LECOM Suncoast Classic before he became a big star on the PGA Tour.

Falcione is hoping Manatee County follows suit. He said the county is considering an indoor gymnasium and events facility for Premier Park in Lakewood Ranch.

Already, Manatee County has committed to building a 6,500-squarefoot, permanent framed tent at Premier Sports Campus to provide an air-conditioned space for those involved in the many events at the athletic facility. Also on the way are better lighting, more parking space and a locker room. It’s all to attract more events and more visitors.

While Manatee County’s beaches are No. 1 in attracting tourism, the sports market has been a boon.

New! Just arrived,

According to statistics compiled by the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, sports-related visitors to Manatee County spent $256.1 million in 2021.

Manatee County has hosted the World Cornhole Championships, the World’s Strongest Man competition three times and in 2021 the World Baseball Championships in the Under 18 division. It was the first time since 1995 the World Baseball Championships held that event in the U.S. Other events to bring crowds to the region are soccer, lacrosse, adult kickball, flag football and Australian Rules Football. Of course, as Falcione

notes, “There are a lot of soccer fields and golf courses here.”

One of the golf courses is The Concession, which hosted the PGA Tour’s World Golf Championship in February 2021. The event was scheduled for Mexico City but had to be switched just more than a month before the event due to the pandemic.

Falcione jumped at the opportunity to put together a package to host the event.

“We said, ‘Hell, yeah!” he said.

Falcione said the broadcast of the event was available to 88 million viewers around the world, and that drives prospective residents to Lakewood Ranch.

If Kristich wasn’t operating such a successful Korn Ferry Tour event each year at Lakewood National, the PGA Tour might not have looked at the area for the World Golf Championship at The Concession. But the LECOM Suncoast Classic has been a success.

“The event might not benefit your pockets specifically,” Kristich said, “but it creates a great fan experience, and it allows you to be a part of it.”

Kristich said the tournament, which has been held in February its first four years, is being moved to April 20-23 in 2023.

Visit Sarasota County’s Virginia Haley, who moderated the event, said the golf tournaments allow residents to see the best players, or the future stars, here in the region. And all those soccer tournaments, swim events and rowing events allow the top athletes to compete against the very best.

“It provides an amazing opportunity for children,” she said.

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EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

5A

Car lot still not a final sale A July 13 court date potentially could decide if Cox Chevrolet can begin building its car lot.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

T

wenty months after starting a legal push to overturn the Manatee County commissioners’ decision to allow a car lot on State Road 64 adjacent to Lakewood Ranch, members of the Save Gates Creek and Its Neighborhoods organization are optimistic 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas will send the matter back to the commissioners for another vote.

The case is headed to a July 13 videoconference hearing that could potentially end the legal wrangling.

The commissioners at the time voted 4-3 on Oct. 22, 2020, to allow Cox Chevrolet to build a new dealership on an 18-acre parcel at the northwest corner of S.R. 64 and 117th Street East, near the Gates Creek neighborhood. Commissioners Reggie Bellamy, Stephen Jonsson, Misty Servia and Carol Whitmore voted in favor of the project while Commissioners Priscilla Trace, Vanessa Baugh and Betsy Benac voted against. Bellamy, Servia, Whitmore and Baugh are still commissioners.

Servia said at the time: “I have seen some extraordinary efforts in this presentation. This project we’ve heard today is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. It’s consistent with the land development code. It meets the specific standards for any uses that have those standards, like a vehicle sales business. It meets all the criteria.”

RESIDENTS FORM NONPROFIT

A group of residents near the site formed the nonprofit Save Gates Creek and Its Neighborhoods and filed an appeal in November 2020 with the county. Those residents claimed the commissioners didn’t

SALES EVENT:

NOW - JULY 13TH

properly consider the incompatibility with the neighborhoods due to the activity and noise it would create. Other claims were that such development would cause flooding issues and that the road situation, as defined by county’s own requirements, at the time didn’t support such a business. The road in question was 117th Street East.

Jay O’Sullivan, the president and attorney of the organization, said the Manatee County Inspector General’s March report that found a culture of favoritism and misconduct within the county’s staff might also provide fodder for getting the 2020 vote overturned. O’Sullivan said emails obtained by Save Gates Creek and Its Neighborhoods will show inappropriate actions by county staff members during the rezoning process of that site.

Manatee County, meanwhile, filed a motion to dismiss the Save Gates Creek and Its Neighborhoods’ suit.

“Plaintiff has not alleged it owns the property, let alone property near or adjacent to the subject property,” read the summary of the county’s motion. “Without any allegations that Plaintiff (not its members) owns property near or adjacent to the subject Property, Plaintiff cannot show it has a legal interest which will be affected, nor any special injury different from Manatee County as a whole, with Intervenor’s development of the property.”

Whittni Hodges, an attorney representing the county, declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing nature of the legal dispute.

Walter Wulczak, the vice president of Save Gates Creek and a resident of GreyHawk Landing, said he wanted to keep the legal battle out of the public eye until he found there might be issues of misconduct concerning Manatee County staff members.

“There are some flagrant things going on,” Wulczak said.

An example of a concerning email obtained by Save Gates Creek was sent Oct. 22, 2018, by Jeb Mulock, an engineer for Cox Chevrolet, to

4th

Ian Swaby

John Barnott, who then was Building and Development Services director before retiring.

“The Cox family has assured me that they want to develop this site and that they are all in, but they are still questioning the county’s will to help us get it through the rezone process,” the email read.

idea that the property was a flood zone or was unsuited to development. It stated, “Cox disputes that the (Planned Development Commercial) zoning designation is incompatible or inconsistent with the surrounding areas or that the property is subject to extensive flooding.”

COX RESPONDS

Many of those who live near the site still oppose the possibility of a car lot being built there.

“When I built here, I was looking for a nice neighborhood, a nice community,” GreyHawk Landing resident Randy Clark said. “To have something commercial right on my back door is not what this property is meant for. We need to find the right business for this parcel. The auto dealership isn’t it.”

“It’s definitely not appropriate for this area,” said Brittany Lush, whose home borders the property.

“We should not have a car dealership right here in the middle of a residential area.”

She said it would have negative impacts on flooding, traffic flow and property values. She also said developments at nearby Copper Leaf and Osprey Landing had already created noticeable impacts to the community.

On June 23, Cox Chevrolet submitted a response to the Motion for Summary Judgment by Save Gates Creek, concluding the Save Gates Creek motion must be denied and that it “fails as a matter of law.”

The response, attributed to Fred Moore, attorney for Cox Properties, repeated language from the motion to dismiss that labeled Save Gates Creek a third party in the dispute with “no fundamental property right at stake.” The document also denied any lack of compliance with county policy regarding the processing of the rezone request.

“Cox admits that it worked with Manatee County staff to determine what was required of it to rezone the property and submit a general development plan),” the text read. “Cox disputes that there were any backroom deals. Manatee County complied with all disclosure and Sunshine requirements in conducting its meeting to approve the ordinance.”

The document also challenged the

Members of Save Gates Creek gather on June 24. Vice President Walter Wulczak stated the group has a membership of approximately 200.

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EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

HAVE YOU MET

BOB? While the actual fireworks display lasts just 15 minutes, it takes months to plan the show.

Pyrotecnico adds the spark Fireworks experts create a symphony of hiss, bang, boom at Nathan Benderson Park.

LIZ RAMOS STAFF WRITER

Every year just before the Fourth of July, thousands head to Nathan Benderson Park to view a 15-minute fireworks show.

But before any fireworks can light up the sky July 3, Pyrotecnico will have spent months planning, designing and preparing for the Fireworks on the Lake show.

Michael Simmons, a regional manager for Pyrotecnico, said planning for the patriotic barrage begins in April.

“Before the audience ever sees the first (shell), we have put in hundreds of hours of work to put the display together,” Simmons said.

He said the number and type of fireworks in a show is determined after the music has been selected.

“This is a fully choreographed display to music,” he said. “The design team kind of fine-tunes the exact shell count to the budget and the music that’s available.”

Simmons said the music can either be selected entirely by the client or

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sometimes the Pyrotecnico music team works with the client to determine what songs will be included in the show.

“I have some clients that choose 100% of their music and send us a

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finished soundtrack,” Simmons said.

“I have others that give us an idea.

They want a little country, they want a little pop and they want a little patriotic (music). They give us free rein so it’s a broad spectrum of how music is chosen. This time of year we like a little bit of a patriotic mix. It just depends on the audience.”

In a 15-minute show like the one at Fireworks on the Lake, Simmons said the team uses no more than about a minute to a minute and a half of any particular song, so the show can have 10 to 12 songs.

Once music is selected, the completed track goes to Pyrotecnico’s design team.

The designers are tasked with selecting the exact moment the fireworks will be launched.

Simmons said it takes about an hour or two to script one minute of display in the show.

“Instead of just shooting fireworks for 15 minutes, it is a fully scripted display or pyromusical,” Simmons said. “The shells are matching up to the music, to the beat of the music and to the flow of the music.”

The designers have an extensive library of firework shells to choose from when putting a show together.

“The designers take a feel for the music, the ebb and flow of the music, and they try to play some on the beat, sometimes on the downbeat or the upbeat,” Simmons said.

Some of the fireworks in the library include crossettes, chrysanthemums and horsetails. Crossettes have a criss-cross effect where every shot from the firework splits into a separate projectile and their trails cross each other. Chrysanthemums start with a line shooting up into the sky before bursting into dozens of streaks of sparks to look like the flower after which it’s named. Horsetails cause a loud bang before sparks fall from the sky looking like a horse’s tail.

For the Fourth of July, Simmons said the designers always include the red, white and blue fireworks as well as rings that are half blue and half red.

After planning and designing the show, there still is more work to be done.

Simmons and his team will start getting the 1,200 firework shells that will be in the Fireworks on the Lake show prepped on July 2. The team will set up the racks and other equipment for the show so they can arrive at Nathan Benderson Park at 9 a.m. July 3 to start loading the shells into the racks at the right angle so they are ready to launch exactly as designed.

The location of the fireworks is determined on the space available for the show.

“Part of the safety meeting with the client is to see what available space there is,” Simmons said. “The second part of that equation is the distance to the audience, which dictates what size shells we can shoot. If I’ve only got 100 feet to the audience,

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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File photo

I can’t be shooting very long shells.

The more space I have, the larger the shells that you can shoot.”

The designers provide the fireworks team with a cut sheet that tells the team exactly where to place the fireworks and at what angle.

The team of four to seven members works on the display all day up until two or three hours before showtime at 9 p.m.

“I’ve been doing this 35 plus years, and I still get butterflies,” Simmons said. “We do a couple of safety checks and a couple of continuity checks leading up to it just to make sure everything is good. There’s always a little anxiety leading up to when you push the button and the first shell goes off. When the first shell goes in the air, there’s some relief. We’ve got everything queued up and we’re able to sit back and watch the show.”

All the fireworks are set up to go off using an electronic control so the team can stay at a safe distance from the fireworks as they explode and launch into the sky.

Simmons said although many people want to be as close to the fireworks as they can because it’s more intense, the best place to watch the show actually is 1,000 feet away from the display.

Simmons also suggests people listen to the music from the show, which will be broadcast on iHeartRadio’s KISS FM, which is station 103.9.

“It brings a whole other level to the design of the show,” Simmons said.

No matter how many hours it takes to put the show together, Simmons said it’s worth it.

“It is a lot of work for 15 minutes, but we’re in the business of creating memories,” Simmons said. “It’s the excitement of the crowd’s appreciation that makes it all worthwhile.”

Sarasota’s Andy Kish carried the American flag throughout the Fireworks on the Lake run last year.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

OPINION / OUR VIEW

EAST COUNTY

What is liberty?

Americans want to be happy about their country on the Fourth of July. This year, it’s hard to cheer.

MATT WALSH

C

ome Monday, July 4, this is the day Americans want to be happy, the day we want to feel good about the U-S-A. It is the one day every year we want to celebrate and be thankful to our founding ancestors for two of the most extraordinary human concepts that took root in this land and flourished over the next 244* years: independence and freedom.

Fifty-six men on July 2, 1776, with astonishing courage, declared with their signatures that the 13 American colonies were henceforth independent from British tyranny

and, equally astonishing, that the 2.5 million inhabitants of America were “created equal” and “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

They declared the right to live free.

John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife, Abigail, that the Declaration of Independence “will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America.” He said the day should be “solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

Indeed, we should celebrate this historic occasion this coming Monday. We should be joyous, thankful and high-spirited about the miraculous moment that brought forth the most amazing, extraordinary country in the world.

But let’s be honest.

Will we honestly feel good about our nation on its 246th birthday?

Will we honestly feel good about our independence and freedom?

Sure, we’ll whoop it up and ooh and aah in parades and under the sights and sounds of the fireworks.

Personal stories of stolen liberty In the course of this great job as a newspaper editor, you are afforded the opportunity to meet amazing people. Even better, you get to hear their life stories.

Every one of them is a treasure — rich and fascinating in its unique detail and DNA. The following three stories fit that mold. Each of these stories is a reminder of how precious and how tenuous liberty is and that it can never be taken for granted. Not even in the United States.

— M.W.

A DARING ESCAPE FROM CLUTCHES OF COMMUNISM Thomas “Tom” Modly, now a resident of Siesta Key, devoted 20 years of his life in service to his country, the latter half in the highest levels of the Department of Defense.

A Naval Academy graduate with a gift for analytical thinking and leadership, he served as the head of the Defense Business Board, tasked with modernizing the business practices of the DOD. He became the undersecretary of defense for financial management, later served as undersecretary of the Navy as chief operations officer and finally served four months as acting secretary of the Navy.

If you know Modly, you know he is a serious man. His love of country and patriotism run deep. They are traits that seeped into his core through his parents, East European immigrants who hungered to come to the U.S. after their experiences during World War II. Modly’s mother was orphaned at age 4 and separated from her grandparents for six years during and after the war. Modly’s father Zoltan Modly spent the last two years of World War II living in a bomb shelter.

After the war, in 1948, with the Soviet Communists exerting their control in Hungary, they conscripted Modly’s father to leave law school and join the Soviet army and Communist Party.

Unwilling to become a Communist, Modly’s father traveled to the Hungary-Austria border. To make his escape, he dressed as a nun.

After a heart-throbbing passage through the gates, the Communist

Courtesy photo

Zoltan and son Thomas Modly before Zoltan’s death in 2017.

Modly guards released an attack dog to chase him down. Modly’s father saved himself by subduing the dog with a cudgel, allowing him to flee to freedom.

Two years later, Modly’s father made it to the U.S., sponsored by an aunt and uncle. His first job: a bellboy at a Washington, D.C., hotel.

Modly’s father went on to become a father of four and a chemical engineer in Cleveland. “After the war,” Modly said, “he was not a big risk taker. He was an introvert.

He just wanted to live his life.” In freedom.

THEY TOOK LAND ‘FOR THE PEOPLE’

John Clarke is best known in Sarasota as the former CEO and president of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, one of three people credited most with bringing the vision of Lakewood Ranch to life.

Now 84, he has been a resident of Sarasota for 30 years. Before then, he spent his youth and his early adult life as a farmer and rancher in Kenya and Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia.

His parents, British natives, had owned a ranch in Kenya since 1937, when the African nation was a colony of the British government.

They raised sheep and cattle.

After periods of violence between native black Kenyans and British settlers in the 1950s, Kenya gained independence in 1963. With Clarke age 23 and back from being educated at Cambridge, the Clarkes received a letter from the new government giving them one week to move their livestock and belongings off the property. The government was seizing their land — “for the

We will live that day, or in the moment, happy and thankful for the USA. And perhaps for the day we will block out of our minds that, in truth, we are living in a period of rapidly eroding personal freedoms and increasing tyranny foisted on us by an elite few.

When those 56 Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, the American people were in a war to stop “a long train of abuses and usurpations” of absolute despotism that inflicted intolerable pain and suffering.

They, along with their patriot colonists, were willing to die for their independence and freedom and determined not to be the slaves of a despotic ruler.

Now look at today, two-and-ahalf centuries later. For the past year-and-a-half especially, we have been living under rapidly deteriorating economic and social conditions. If left unchecked or not overturned, they most certainly will take this great country down a path to inevitable destruction and an end to living free and living for ourselves.

Exaggeration?

Do not laugh or scoff. Read the condensed stories of three Sarasotans who themselves or their families have experienced firsthand the horrors of tyranny, of how governments abruptly confiscated their property, attempted to enslave them and deprived them of life, lib-

people,” it said.

They managed to buy another farm in Kenya 80 miles away and began anew.

They rebuilt their operations, big enough to employ 40 African families and operate an on-farm school for the employees’ children. They were raising livestock and producing food that fed people around the region.

Seven years later, it happened again. Another letter. The Kenyan government notified the Clarkes they were converting their land and adjacent farms into a governmentowned agricultural cooperative.

Declining to participate, the Clarkes sold their farm to the government for a pittance far below market value, laid off the 40 families and shuttered the school.

“It was a horror,” Clarke said.

For a third time, at the beginning of the 1970s, the Clarkes started anew, this time in Rhodesia. Clarke and his wife, Lorna, took on debt financing to purchase a ranch at 8,000 feet altitude. They produced high-quality tobacco leaves, cattle and sheep.

The business grew to employ 50 families and another on-site school for the children. But once again, civil unrest erupted. “I spent more time fighting terrorists than farming,” Clarke said.

By 1977, with four children, the Clarkes saw another Kenyan-like takeover coming. The government wanted to take land and give it to “the people,” African settlers. The Clarkes sold, laid off the farmhands and shuttered the school.

Soon after, the government confiscated the land and handed it ver to a brigadier general who had three wives.

The Clarkes packed again. This time, they left Africa altogether for the United States. When they left, the government allowed them to take $1,000 of their own money and their personal belongings.

Jay Heater

John Clarke and his family lost three farms in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s because of governments seizing private property.

“If we are to build a better world, we must remember that the guiding principle is this — a policy of freedom for the individual is the only truly progressive policy.”

erty and the pursuit of happiness.

Sadly, too many Americans take liberty for granted. They live day to day exhibiting little to no care about what their governments are doing to them.

As one of those Sarasotans, John Clarke, told us: “These governments might start out with sensible ideas, but very quickly they are taken over by despots.”

Clarke’s comment reminds us of other warnings that we all should heed on this 246th day of the birth of America, independence and freedom: Ronald Reagan: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.

It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Plato: “If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.”

By all means, enjoy the Fourth of July. But on July 5, commit yourself to doing your part to preserve your rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. *We say the U.S. has flourished the past 244 years; the past two it has not.

Friedrich Hayek

“Road to Serfdom,” 1944 Publisher and President / Emily Walsh, EWalsh@YourObserver.com Associate Publisher — East County Observer / Lori Ruth, LRuth@YourObserver.com Executive Editor and COO / Kat Hughes, KHughes@YourObserver.com Managing Editor / Jay Heater, JHeater@YourObserver.com Sports Editor / Ryan Kohn, RKohn@YourObserver.com Staff Writers / Liz Ramos, LRamos@YourObserver.com; Ian Swaby, ISwaby@YourObserver.com Digital & Engagement Editor / Kaelyn Adix, KAdix@YourObserver.com Editorial Designers / Melissa Leduc, MLeduc@YourObserver.com; José Valle, JValle@YourObserver.com A+E Editor / Spencer Fordin, SFordin@YourObserver.com Black Tie Editor / Harry Sayer, HSayer@YourObserver.com Director of Advertising / Jill Raleigh, JRaleigh@YourObserver.com Sales Manager / Penny Nowicki, PNowicki@YourObserver.com Regional Digital Director / Kathleen O’Hara, KOHara@YourObserver.com Senior Advertising Executive / Laura Ritter, LRitter@YourObserver.com Advertising Executives / Richeal Bair, RBair@YourObserver.com; Beth Jacobson, BJacobson@YourObserver.com; Jennifer Kane, JKane@YourObserver.com; Honesty Mantkowski, HMantkowski@YourObserver. com; Toni Perren, TPerren@YourObserver. com; Brenda White, BWhite@ YourObserver.com Classified Advertising Sales Executive / Lexi Huelsman, LHuelsman@ YourObserver.com Sales Operations Manager / Susan Leedom, SLeedom@YourObserver.com Sales Coordinator / Account Manager Lori Downey, LDowney@YourObserver.com Digital Fulfillment Specialist / Emma Burke, EBurke@YourObserver.com Tributes Coordinator / Kristen Boothroyd, Tributes@YourObserver.com Director of Marketing / Robin Lankton, RLankton@YourObserver.com

Courtesy photo

Lilly and Nolan Peterson

UKRAINIANS SHOW VALUE OF LIBERTY Nolan Peterson, graduate of Pine View and the U.S. Air Force Academy and an Iraq-Afghanistan veteran, has spent the past eight years as a war correspondent in Ukraine.

This past Sunday, a Russian cruise missile exploding nearby awakened Peterson and shook the walls of his and wife’s apartment in Kyiv. He was unscathed — as was his wife, Lilly, whom Peterson relocated to safety in France last February.

As a writer of the first draft of this history, Peterson has seen horrendous atrocities and destruction the Russians have inflicted on the Ukrainian people. He described the outskirts of Kyiv as “Warsaw in 1945.”

“It’s hard to understand where that brutality and barbarism comes from,” he told us this week.

Despite the savagery, Peterson nonetheless continues to be awestruck at the resolve of the Ukrainians and the value they place on preserving their freedom.

Every last Ukrainian still in the country is involved in the war.

“It’s so amazing,” he said. “Even the millennials. … They are so willing to pick up a gun and stare down a tank because they want to be free.”

Whenever Vladimir Putin increases the bombings, Peterson said: “It doesn’t work. It just pisses (the Ukrainians) off and hardens their resolve. They have this core ideal that they have the right to make their own decisions. It’s so emotional to them.”

“They are not going to surrender,” Peterson said of the Ukrainian people. “They will fight with sticks and stones if they have to.”

For Americans, Peterson said the Ukraine war is a reminder: “We can’t assume freedom will last forever. There are always dark places out there. To maintain freedom, you have to keep working at it. You have to be ready to defend it.”

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SIDE OF RANCH

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

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JAY HEATER

Local Realtor specializes in high-stress sales M ost people run from stress.

Country Club East’s Nicole Pies is about to embrace it.

A Realtor with the Rogers Griffin Group of Sarasota, Pies has decided to launch “Divorce Real Estate,” calling it compassionate guidance for optimal results.

Granted, she has a doctorate from the University of Florida in psychology, but it does seem a formidable task.

“It’s very volatile,” Pies said about working with those going through a divorce. “You need to have empathy. Having gone through a divorce myself, I know you have to be patient. There are so many legal and financial issues. I want to be the person who helps them.”

Personally, I’ve always said I never wanted to be a police officer or a doctor. Those are tough jobs where you have the potential to be seeing people at their worst. I’m glad we have people willing to take it on.

It’s the same, in my eyes, as Pies’ new job. To me, dealing with those going through a divorce is like looking through the window at the asphalt on a 100-degree day.

You know it’s boiling, but you go out there and walk barefoot on it anyway.

I’m not alone. Pies’ fiancé is Mike Griffin of the Rogers Griffin Group.

I asked him if Pies finds a tremendous niche in the business, would he consider dealing exclusively with those going through a divorce.

“No, no, no,” he said, shaking his head and laughing.

Pies, though, said her background and education in psychology makes it a perfect fit.

“My interpersonal skills are honed,” she said. “I am naturally good with emotional clients. You know, 50% of individuals who are going through a divorce do not sell with first agent. They are two individuals who are at odds. There

“What separates me is that I’ve been honing my conflict resolution skills most of my adult life. It’s all about building trust.”

— Nicole Pies

Jay Heater

Country Club East’s Nicole Pies has started “Divorce Real Estate” using her doctorate in psychology to help those in high-stress situations.

is displaced anger. You have to have thick skin.”

It was 18 months ago when Pies decided to change her career path.

She was a licensed psychologist and school psychologist.

She quickly passed the necessary exams and began to work as a Realtor. One of her clients knew her background and, going through a divorce, wondered if Pies could help.

“Home buying and selling is very stressful on its own,” Pies said.

“This was a place where I could step in, given my background.”

All Realtors have likely dealt with those going through a divorce, so it is not uncharted territory. It’s just that Pies feels uniquely qualified to deal with the situation.

“What I have seen is the deescalation of emotion and stress,” Griffin said of Pies when she works with those in a divorce. “You see as a difference of opinion arises, temperatures rise, and it gets more emotional. We will have this high-

stress situation, and then Nicole gets involved. She deflates everything by staying calm and presenting an objective opinion. Her end goal is the best outcome for the clients, whether that means selling a house or not.”

Pies said the first step at working with a couple going through a divorce is to stay neutral. She said it is imperative to make both parties feel they are being understood. She admits it can be a tough place to be.

She remembered one of her first home sales with Griffin where they were both involved, primarily working with a wife who had to decide whether to stay in the home or sell. They had to decide what was the best course of action.

“That’s the beauty of this,” Pies said. “You might not get a sale out of it. But you could get three (that one sale and two home purchases if both parties are happy with the work).”

She is confident she can produce a positive outcome even in hightension situations.

“What separates me is that I’ve been honing my conflict resolution skills most of my adult life,” she said. “It’s all about building trust.

I think I make people feel understood. I have had a lot of training in restating back to someone what they are saying. You want to make sure they know what the other person is upset about. You try to stay focused on the end goal and keep a

long-term perspective.”

She said she has all her “ducks in a row” as she begins this new chapter of her life. Her phone number is 545-8812 for those who are interested in her services.

Pies said she has learned that in cases of divorce, the usual methods of home appraisal might not be as accurate. Sometimes the title is cloudy, and many appraisals make assumptions about the condition of a home. That might not be accurate if the home isn’t being maintained.

Does Pies believe she won’t take all those high-intensity sessions home with her? At home, Pies has three children — Grayden, 11; Wesley, 8; and Claire, 6.

“I am not going to lie and say I don’t care,” she said. “But I also have learned that it’s not personal.

That’s where my training comes in.”

She already has made connections with divorce attorneys who might mention her as a resource.

“There are individuals out there who can help things go smoothly,” she said.

Besides the emotions, Pies said some clients might lack the confidence to know they can qualify for a new loan or whether they can afford to live alone. She wants to arm them with all the best information to help them make a decision.

“This is a small, growing niche, but it exists,” Pies said. “You need to be honest and to come up with a plan.”

Jay Heater is the managing editor for the East County Observer. Contact him at JHeater@ YourObserver.com.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

IRON GECKO The kitchen staff at Gecko’s Grill & Pub isn’t just catering to your appetite. They’re trying to outdo each other.

SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR

T

hey’re teammates by day, working to take your orders and cook you a delicious meal. But when they go home, they’re plotting how to put their own stamp on the menu.

Gecko’s Grill & Pub has been holding its annual Iron Chef competition for the past few weeks, inspiring kitchen staffers to flex their creative muscles and transform the regular menu.

There’s more on the line this year than most. The competition hasn’t been held since 2019, and four-time defending champion James Veldhouse has moved out of the competitive fire.

That means the competition is wide open, and three-time winner Dana McCormack, the kitchen manager at Hillview Gecko’s, is excited about the opportunity.

“This is a time where you want to try to step it up and do something a little fancier, show some skills you may have,” he said. “You also try to do something that’s feasible for the restaurant. What if you want them to take your recipe and put it on the menu? You try to use stuff you already have in house.”

McCormack, known for his skill at cultivating spicy peppers, is always looking to add some heat to the menu. That’s what’s fun about the Iron Chef competition. All the Gecko’s employees are encouraged to take the existing menu and add their own flavor.

The competition has already gone through four weeks, and the staff members at each Gecko’s location are primarily competing against each other. Six location champions have been crowned, and the final will be held among the champions from June 27 through July 3.

Courtney Hancock, the assistant kitchen manager at Fruitville Gecko’s,

Spencer Fordin

Courtney Hancock, Dana McCormack and Ramiro Delgado are getting in the spirit of Gecko’s Iron Chef competition.

“It’s a competition, but at the same time you’ve got to be a team because you’ve got to be there to help each other.”

said the best part of Iron Chef is the camaraderie among employees who want to make an impact.

“I like it just for the fun,” she said of Iron Chef. “I like creating new dishes and seeing what my back-of-house staff can do as far as being creative. I love the way my team works together to make these dishes great. In Week One, my guy was a dishwasher, but he wanted to jump in and help.

“And he did. I was so proud of him and glad he did it. He’s really talented.”

Veldhouse, formerly the kitchen manager at Fruitville Gecko’s, has used the Iron Chef as a springboard to move up in the world.

He’s now the chain’s director of culinary operations, and he said Gecko’s absolutely likes to see its staffers take a bit of initiative.

“We like to see creativity,” he said.

“A lot of our menu items and specials are derivatives of things people have done from these competitions.

We find things that work well. Not everything that works in a special menu will always work on your core menu. Sometimes people order more of it when they can’t have it as often.”

Veldhouse said his past winning dishes have included a blackjack grouper Reuben, a country-fried steak and a shrimp-and-scallops dish plated with risotto.

petition, but at the same time you’ve got to be a team because you’ve got to be there to help each other.”

There are salary bonuses on the line and bragging rights to boot. There’s also a trophy, but more importantly, there’s the opportunity to improve their skills and make a statement.

For some competitors, it’s a yearround obsession. They’re looking at sales trends in their kitchens, and they’re plotting how to tweak them the next time Iron Chef rolls around.

McCormack joked that you don’t have to outsell everyone, only the people in the kitchen you don’t like.

In a more serious moment, he echoed Hancock in saying that it’s an important team-building exercise in that the Iron Chef clues you into skills you didn’t know that your teammates have.

“It’s a great way to find new people for your kitchen,” McCormack said.

“You have somebody who’s been working on dishes for a year, and all of a sudden they put out dinners, and you’re like: ‘You’re no longer a dishwasher. Now you’re going to be on the line.’

“That’s a great way to move up. We have a kitchen manager now who I hired as a dishwasher and over the years moved up. You apply yourself, and the opportunity is there.”

— Dana McCormack, Hillview kitchen manager

What are the secrets to winning consistently?

Veldhouse said you have to work cooperatively. He would frequently tell his servers he would share his winning proceeds if they helped push his plates.

Interestingly, though, it’s not just about finding a winning taste.

The kitchen managers have to work within Gecko’s price points, and they have to choose ingredients that are readily available.

Not only that, but they also have to stay late sometimes to make sure things are prepared.

“You’re going to have your product ready or it’s not going to get sold,” McCormack said. “It’s on them to make sure that their stuff is prepared and then to be able to work with the other cooks on the line. It’s a com-

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EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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MARTY FUGATE THEATER CRITIC

G

racie Gardner’s “Athena” has unsheathed its foils on the Urbanite Theatre stage.

It’s a play about fencing.

But that’s a lot like saying “The Tempest” is a play about the aftermath of a shipwreck. There’s far more to it than that.

The setting is the Fencers’ Club in New York City. Two high school juniors are training for a national fencing competition.

It’s their first bout together.

Their backgrounds and fighting styles are radically different.

Athena (Lea Sevola) is aggressive and in your face. Whacking her foil on her opponent’s shoulder is her signature move.

When Athena scores, she shouts a warrior’s victory cry.

“Athena” is her self-chosen “fencing name” — a one-word handle like “Sting.” The character takes it from the Greek goddess, her role model. As she puts it, Athena’s “just like the goddess of strategic warfare and all that.”

That Olympic grandiosity is missing from Athena’s home life.

Outside of competition, she lives a life of quiet desperation, inhaling her father’s secondhand smoke in his cramped NYC apartment.

Anything beyond community college is out of her reach. Winning the nationals is Athena’s way out.

Mary Wallace (Emma Giorgio) is shy and politely apologetic. When she loses a point, she weeps.

Sure, she wants to win. But fencing’s just a hobby to her.

Mary’s a child of privilege (a

rich kid, in other words).

She needs no student loan.

Marine biology? No problem.

Mary’s family will happily pay her way. If she finds herself and changes her major, they’ll pay for that too. Mary needs no way out.

She’s already in.

Class and temperament aside, these young women have something in common. They’re both good fencers — and they both want to get better.

They’re almost evenly matched as training partners.

Despite their differences, they decide to keep training together.

So they do.

Athena and Mary Wallace start off as sparring partners, not friends.

As William Blake once observed, “Opposition is True Friendship.”

By fighting each other, Mary and Athena make each other better. In the process, they become friends.

Can they stay that way?

That would be telling.

It’s hard to tell where this play is going.

Dialogue and swordplay go back and forth. Literally.

That’s largely a result of the unconventional staging.

Live theater typically transpires behind a proscenium arch.

That rectangular opening is an implied window — the invisible “fourth wall” through which you spy on the characters like a Peeping Tom with a ticket.

“Athena” is far from typical.

The playwright’s highly specific about the staging she wants.

Alyssa Mohn’s minimalistic set delivers beautifully.

In this Urbanite production, the characters fence (verbally and with foils) on a “piste” — a catwalk running from one end of the room to the other.

The audience sits on both sides of this strip, watching the actors go back and forth.

Here, you’re no voyeur gazing through a window.

A+E REVIEWS

‘Athena’ in full form “Athena” explores the fine line between competition and friendship in a fastpaced production at Urbanite Theatre.

IF YOU GO

‘ATHENA’ When: Runs through July 10 Where: Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St. Tickets: $20-$36 Info: Visit UrbaniteTheatre. com.

You’re in the room.

Now let’s shift from swords to words. There’s a music to Gardner’s speech — a rhythmic, staccato counterpoint. In “Athena,” nobody rambles or monologues.

Her dialogue is a series of short, sharp, shocks. Imagine a Pinter play about two female fencers …

Athena: I watch tapes.

Mary Wallace: I make notes.

Athena: I mentally catalogue my mistakes.

Mary Wallace: I fixate on mine.

Along with being sparse, Gardner’s speech is never on the nose.

Her characters (like real-life teens) don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves. They don’t telegraph their deepest desires. (“I need a friend.”

Or whatever.)

Aside from psychobabble and sports cliches, they don’t put their motives into words (and probably can’t). You have to work that out for yourself. There’s no fat in Gardner’s writing.

Summer Wallace’s direction is equally lean and mean.

This scripted play strives to seem unscripted. Wallace succeeds in evoking the urgency of now. The two young actors do, too. They’re in the moment.

And have no clue about the moments to come.

Kudos also to Katherine Coyl’s expert fight direction. Her swordplay doesn’t look choreographed.

It obviously has to be. If not, the actors might get hurt.

If it’s not done well, their fights might seem fake.

Coyl always keeps it real (or

Soar this July 4th Weekend and

11A

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

Courtesy photo

Lea Sevola plays Athena and Emma Giorgio plays her foil, Mary Wallace.

seemingly real).

Alison Gensmer’s costumes cleverly reveal and conceal. When they’re not suited up, Athena’s street garb is working-class tough; Mary Wallace’s outfits are tasteful and upscale.

Gensmer’s clothes make the character — like wearable shorthand that individualizes them.

Their fencing uniforms are just impersonal. They hide the fencers’ faces. Wire mesh masks are all you can see. It makes the actors look like serial killers from some grindhouse horror movie.

OK, that sounds pretty scary.

Gardner’s play is all about laughter, not slaughter. This is a comedy, folks. But a spoonful of comic sugar makes serious medicine go down. Between the laughs, the playwright hints of the characters’ hidden wounds.

Their story is deeply personal.

It also aims a spotlight on America’s obsession with winners and losers.

Sports is a zero-sum game.

Most sports plays and movies are, too.

You want to know the final score! Rocky? Eric Liddell? Peter LaFleur? Who won?

In a typical sports play, that’s the big question.

“Athena” doesn’t even ask it.

Gardner’s interested in a far different question: Is William Blake right?

Does fierce competition create friendship — or kill it?

The playwright’s ending gives her answer. I’m not sure I agree with it.

But I won’t give it away.

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

OUR PICK

SUMMER CIRCUS SPECTACULAR We have no idea how they do it. There’s no strings and no wires. There’s just old-fashioned human amazement and wonderment. The Circus Arts Conservatory and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art bring you an hour’s worth of entertainment full of nimble acrobats, flexible contortionists and the insane art of balancing the weight of your partner in the palm of your hand — or on your head.

IF YOU GO When: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. through Aug. 13 Where: Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Road Tickets: $18; children over 12 $12; children 12 and under free Info: Visit Ringling.org.

THIS WEEK THURSDAY

KEN MILLER 7 p.m. at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd. $25 Visit McCurdysComedy.com You’ve got five chances to see upand-coming comic Ken Miller, who turned heads as the grand prize winner at the Steve Harvey Standup Spotlight Comedy Competition in 2019. Miller, an Army veteran, was born in North Carolina but lives in Orlando. His website boasts that if you don’t laugh at his show, he’ll buy your first drink. Runs through July 2.

FRIDAY ‘DISNEY’S ALADDIN JR.’ 7 p.m. at Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave. W. $9.80-$20 Visit ManateePerformingArtsCenter. com.

This is a For Kids By Kids production of the Disney classic that took an Academy Award and later hit Broadway. Dream up three wishes and watch as the talented youngsters transport you to another time and place.

MUSIC ON MAIN 6-9 p.m. at Lakewood Ranch Main Street Free Visit LakewoodRanch.com.

If it’s the First Friday of the month, that means it’s a street party in Lakewood Ranch. Scarlet Drive will be the featured band, playing an upbeat blend of country, pop, rock and dance music. The streets will be lined with food venders and beer trucks, and proceeds benefit Manatee Police Athletic League.

‘MOXIE’ BY RITA RUST 6-9 p.m. at Art Uptown Gallery, 1367 Main St. Free Visit ArtUptown.com.

www.manasotaonline.com

Come fete painter Rita Rust at the reception for her exhibit, “Moxie.”

Rust’s compositions explore the quest to find joy and light in dark times. The painter said she was inspired to paint these “action portraits” during the pandemic when she saw pictures of her niece’s children cavorting outside. The exhibit will be on display through July 30.

LASER LIGHT NIGHTS: SUBLIME 9 p.m. at Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, 201 Tenth St. W., Bradenton $15 Visit BishopScience.org.

Lasers. It’s What I Got. The Bishop Museum’s Laser Light Nights will take on the ska-infused canon of Sublime, and if you’re two hours earlier, you can catch a show that mashes up the music of Green Day and The Offspring. Plant your eyes on the ceiling as laser lights punctuate your favorite songs with animations and blasts of color.

SATURDAY ARTS ADVOCATES MEMBER EXHIBIT: CHRIS BUTCHER 2-4 p.m. at Arts Advocates Gallery, 3501 S. Tamiami Trail Free Visit ArtsAdvocates.org.

This month’s featured artist at Arts Advocates is Chris Butcher, who takes on familiar classic works of art and substitutes exotic birds for models. The exhibit is called “The Bird People,” and the gallery is open every Saturday for two hours. Free tours scheduled for 3 p.m.

NEVERFEST 4 p.m. at Big Top Brewing Company, 975 Cattleman Road Free Visit Eventbrite.com.

It’s a punk rock party hosted by a brewery. Neverless and Roxx Revolt & the Velvets will headline this festival at Big Top’s refurbished location of the old Cock and Bull bar. Discord Theory, Red Letter Day, Flagman

1734 South Tamiami Trail Venice, FL 34293 941.493.7441

and Grand Central are also scheduled to play.

MURDER MYSTERY TROLLEY 7:30 p.m. at Discover Sarasota Tours, 1826 Fourth St. $50 Visit DiscoverSarasotaTours.com.

Somebody’s dead. And you’ve got to figure out whodunit. Visitors to the interactive trolley tour can be cast as part of a 90-minute journey that visits several Sarasota circus locations. It’s part play and part scavenger hunt, and the rest is up to you.

‘WHEN X MEETS Y: AMERICAN REVOLUTION’ 7:30 p.m. at Bowne’s Lab, 1265 First St. $15 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

play involves two women who are foils in fencing and life as they seek to navigate their hopes and dreams in sports and beyond.

MONDAY ‘AMERICAN FANFARE’ 4:30 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. Tickets $5-$50 Visit ChoralArtistsSarasota.org.

The long-standing tradition continues. The Choral Artists of Sarasota have made Independence Day a highlight of their schedule with an event that features patriotic songs and a salute to the Armed Forces.

The Choral Artists will be joined by the Lakewood Ranch Wind Ensemble in their celebration of America.

TUESDAY 21ST ANNUAL PLAYERS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL 7:30 p.m. at The Players Studio $10 for a single day; $24 for three days; $35 for five days Visit ThePlayers.org.

Witness the birth of a few new plays as regional playwrights compete for their work to be produced by The Players next season. “Of the Lake” will be the play shown on Tuesday evening. “Gin Rickey,” “Lateral Moves” and “When Lighting Strikes” will be shown over the next three evenings.

WEDNESDAY GREG WARREN 7 p.m. at McCurdy’s Comedy Theatre, 1923 Ringling Blvd. $25 Visit McCurdysComedy.com.

Greg Warren takes his “Creamy and Crunchy” tour all over America, and you might have even seen him on late-night TV shows like “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and the old “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” His last comedy special was called “Where The Field Corn Grows.” Warren will play six shows at McCurdy’s running through July 10.

Give them a location and three notes on the keyboard, and Florida Studio Theatre will handle the rest. It’s a tale of the revolution and of love stories told in the style of “Hamilton” and sung for comedic effect.

SUNDAY BEYOND VAN GOGH 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Starry Night Pavilion, 195 University Town Center Drive $29-$84 Visit VanGoghSarasota.com.

Be part of a masterpiece. The Van Gogh immersive exhibit has been on display in Sarasota since March, and it’s such a big hit that it’s already been extended twice. As of now, the final date of the exhibit is July 25.

So you’ve got three more weeks to stand among the sunflowers and take a visual tour of the master’s work that’s literally larger than life.

‘ATHENA’ 2 p.m. at Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St. $20-$36 Visit UrbaniteTheatre.com.

There’s one more week to see “Athena,” which runs through July 10. This

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DON’T MISS

FOURTH OF JULY ALL-AMERICAN COOKOUT Mom, Dad and apple pie. And fireworks! Come down to Selby Gardens for fun, games and all-American food available for purchase from Michael’s On East. Parking is included in your general admission tickets, and Selby Gardens will provide a commanding view of the fireworks over Sarasota Bay. IF YOU GO When: 5:30 p.m. Monday, July 4 Where: Selby Gardens, 1534 Mound St. Tickets: $35; members $25; all-inclusive $200 Info: Visit Selby.org.

OUR SHOWROOMS ARE OPEN Special Financing Available

371311-1

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

12A

JUNE 30, 2022

HIGH

SPORTS

5

A goal accomplished East County’s Christian and Sean Laureano will play in the World Lacrosse Championship Aug. 10-20 in Limerick, Ireland.

RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR

1

The Out-of-Door Academy rising senior boys swimmer Felipe Baffico Balharry represented Chile at the 2022 FINA World Championships, held June 18-July 3. Baffico Balharry finished 34th in the men’s 200 meter butterfly (2:01.99) and 48th in the 100 meter butterfly (55.32 seconds).

2

Former Lakewood Ranch High softball star Avery Goelz, a member of the Florida Gulf Coast League’s Lakewood Ranch Rodeo for the 2022 summer season, went 3-3 with a double, two runs and three RBIs June 25 in the Rodeo’s 9-0 win over the Siesta Key Phinz. Goelz is fourth in the league with a .550 batting average through seven games.

3

Andrzej Koplewski and Bob Webb (nine under par) won the Men’s Golf Association Best Ball event held June 22 at Palm Aire Country Club’s Champions course.

4

Lakewood Ranch tennis player Ava Krug is ranked the No. 12 girls player in the Class of 2024 by the Tennis Recruiting Network as of June 22. Krug is the granddaughter of college basketball broadcasting legend Dick Vitale.

5

Hal Korman, Rick Mounts, Gerald Hause and Ron Simon (94) won the Men’s Golf Association Best Ball event held June 22 at University Park Country Club.

After a three-year wait, Christian Laureano and Sean Laureano will get their chance to shine on a world stage.

It was 2019 when the Braden Woods’ brothers first heard that Puerto Rico was attempting to put together teams to play in the 2020 World Lacrosse Championship in Limerick, Ireland. Christian Laureano was a sophomore at Cardinal Mooney High and Sean Laureano was still in eighth grade.

Christian Laureano saw on social media that Puerto Rico was holding a tryout at Premier Sports Campus for its U19 team. He was immediately intrigued. The brothers’ father, Jason Laureano, was born in Puerto Rico, giving them eligibility for the team.

After a few phone calls, the boys were on the tryout list.

“I thought it was the perfect way to harness my passion, which is lacrosse, and bring that together with my Puerto Rican heritage, which I want to dig into and represent,” Christian Laureano said.

Christian Laureano said the tryout was filled with an eclectic mix of approximately 15 people. Some of the athletes were born in Puerto Rico and spoke Spanish as their first language. Others, like the Laureanos, were born in America and spoke little, if any, Spanish. While Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, the International Olympic Committee treats it separately and allows it to compete as its own country.

A FIRST ATTEMPT

The tryout was Puerto Rico’s first attempt at putting together a lacrosse team to compete internationally, so everyone was new, including the coaching staff. The coaches devoted time at the tryout to going over the team’s mission as Puerto Rico wants to be competitive on the world stage and expand the game, especially to its youth. The Puerto Rico Lacrosse nonprofit organization was founded in 2015 to do exactly that.

After the tryout, Christian Laureano was named to the U19’s main roster while Sean Laureano was named a U19 alternate and a main member of the country’s U15 roster.

The boys expected to hit the world championships with those assignments — until COVID-19 hit. The 2020 championships were canceled.

An attempt to move the event to 2021 also fell through. In 2022 and the championships are on, though they will feature U21 teams instead of U19 teams to compensate for the cancellations. Both Laureano brothers have made the main roster. They will head to Limerick Aug. 10-20.

A lot has changed in the three years since the initial tryout. For one thing, Christian Laureano is no longer a Cardinal Mooney Cougar. He’s playing for NCAA Division I program Mercer, where the 6-foot-2 freshman appeared in five games, notching two goals and an assist. Meanwhile, Sean Laureano just completed his junior season at Cardinal Mooney. Playing one of the toughest schedules in the state, Laureano, who is 5-foot-11, was second on the team with 90 points (43 goals, 47 assists).

TIME TO IMPROVE

LITTLE LEAGUE, BIG EVENT PAGE 14A

Ryan Kohn

Sean Laureano , right, used the three years between his first Puerto Rico team tryout and the 2022 World Lacrosse Championship to improve his game and earn a sport on the U21 team alongside his brother Christian Laureano.

Both players feel like the time away has helped their personal games, especially Sean Laureano, whose tape impressed Puerto Rico’s coaches enough to see him named to the main U21 roster.

“I have become a lot faster and a lot bigger,” Sean Laureano said. “The best thing I bring is energy. I always

Courtesy photo

Braden Woods’ Christian Laureano and his brother Sean Laureano will represent Puerto Rico at the World Lacrosse Championship in Ireland.

try to play with as much energy as possible, so being faster and bigger helps me play that way, whether it is cutting to the net to getting the ball. I am also more experienced in terms of placement on the field. I’m smarter about where I need to be. I think the coaches saw that and liked that.”

Christian Laureano has improved thanks to the challenge of transitioning from high school to Mercer.

He said in addition to learning how to manage his time and workload, he learned how to play against players of a higher athleticism level.

As much as Florida has developed its high school lacrosse programs in the last decade, it still lags behind states in the mid-Atlantic and places like California. Going against players from those regions every day forced Laureano to be better in the details of the game, as he could not use his own athleticism to the dominant degree that he did in high school.

As excited as the brothers are to play against the world’s best lacrosse players, they are just as excited to play on the same team again. They were supposed to share the field at Mooney for two seasons, but COVID-19 shut down the 2020 season early, and during a preseason game in 2021, Sean Laureano suffered a broken jaw, which kept him on the sidelines for most of the year.

“I feel like we were robbed of our time playing together,” Christian Laureano said. “I am thankful to have the opportunity and, from knowing each other so well, I think it will benefit the (Puerto Rican) team to have both of us on the offensive side. We have a natural connection and I think it will allow us to play well together right away.”

Christian Laureano said he’s proud SEE LACROSSE, PAGE 15A

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

PROSE AND KOHN

RYAN KOHN

All Stars shine Area baseball players dream of the Little League World Series as the tournaments begin.

I

s there anything more pure than Little League All-Star baseball?

If there is, it is a short list.

The District 26 All-Star season began June 22 with a ceremony and games at Lakewood Ranch Park.

As the area’s teams came together to begin their hopeful journey to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the Little League World Series in August. Lakewood Ranch Little League held a ceremony for everyone, including opposing teams, acknowledging a job well done.

The teams trotted around the infield before Lakewood Ranch Little League Commissioner Doug Kovatch said a few words of encouragement and thanks. Kovatch’s son, Trevor Kovatch, played the National Anthem on a piano.

The all-star season is a lot of work for the kids, the coaches and the parents. It’s also an honor to be selected.

After the ceremony, the games began, and memories were made.

Growing up, I played baseball in the Olney Boys and Girls Club in Olney, Maryland. Since our organization wasn’t technically affiliated with Little League, I never had the chance to go to Williamsport, but I did play in a number of intra-league all-star games. Some of my favorite sports memories came from those experiences.

One had nothing to do with the game itself. I was standing in the outfield listening to the National Anthem when the (adult) singer’s voice cracked on the word “free.”

Perhaps I should say the note was butchered. The game was an afterthought at that point as it was the funniest thing I had heard in my 8-year-old life.

Other times, the games did take

center stage. I will never forget the all-star game I played when I was 10 years old. My team, coached by my father, Marc Kohn, went up against a team coached by Kenny Roy, a former University of Maryland star defensive back and my former youth football coach.

My team got off to a horrible start. I don’t remember the exact number of runs we were down, but it was at least 10 by the bottom of the fifth inning. I remember being frustrated as nothing was gong right. But we couldn’t get embarrassed liked that during an all-star game. We had to keep playing.

My dad kept the dugout talk positive. Our first few batters of the fifth inning reached base. Then a funny thing happened. We just kept hitting. We scored a handful of runs off the incumbent pitcher and then, as I was coming to the plate, “Coach Kenny” decided to change pitchers. This was quite the precarious situation. I felt like I had to get a hit off the new guy in order to keep the momentum going. I decided to go against my usual instincts and swing at the first pitch, figuring the pitcher would expect me to take it in order to see his stuff.

My instincts were good. He threw a fastball over the heart of the plate.

I was a bit late on it, but I managed to slash it into right field for an RBI single.

After that the comeback was complete. My team scored enough that inning to take the lead, then held the other team scoreless in the sixth to capture the victory.

I won multiple championships as an amateur athlete — and a few journalism awards as an adult — but that all-star game comeback victory still ranks high among my

Photos by Ryan Kohn

Cruz Desmond safely slides into home plate for a run in the Lakewood Ranch Little League 8-9-10 All-Star team’s game against Buffalo Creek June 22. Lakewood Ranch defeated Buffalo Creek 13-3.

The Lakewood Ranch Little League 8-9-10 All-Star team didn’t need that type of comeback June 22 against Buffalo Creek Little League.

Lakewood Ranch blew out Buffalo Creek 13-3 in five innings.

It was the type of game where everyone contributed to the win.

Other than an inside-the-park solo home run from Ben Kloss, which saw him flying around the bases, there were few extra base hits. The team’s offense came from consistency, taking advantage of Buffalo Creek defensive mistakes. On the mound, James Clark and Luke Powers combined for an efficient outing. Buffalo Creek did not score after the second inning.

The All-Star players might know each other from league play, but they only had approximately three weeks to come together as a team before play began. That they started this All-Star run with a blowout win is a testament to the job coaches Josh Batey, Dominick Bennese and Edward Thomas did getting the

Lakewood Ranch Little League Commissioner Doug Kovatch gave the opening remarks at the league’s AllStar opening ceremony June 22.

proudest accomplishments. Being in that dugout as my team got hit after hit, crawling closer and closer on the scoreboard, was like having 120 volts of electricity flowing through my body. I’ll never forget it.

kids ready to play. The kids know what is at stake and they have no illusions about how tough the road to Williamsport will be.

Lakewood Ranch won’t overlook any opponent, and they expected a tougher time from Buffalo Creek should they see them again in the double-elimination tournament.

“They were saving some better pitchers,” Eddie Thomas said.

“They will be tougher next time.

But we can still handle them.”

Most importantly, the kids looked like they were having a blast. After Kloss’s home run, he ran back to the dugout with his arms outstretched like a fighter jet from “Top Gun: Maverick.” He stuck his tongue out.

His teammates gave him powerful high fives and tapped him on the head.

All game, Lakewood Ranch was active, chanting and encouraging each other and asking the coaching staff the right questions. At one point, Mario Reyes correctly pointed out to his team that Buffalo Creek had made a change at catcher, going to a catcher who didn’t have a strong throwing arm.

They took advantage, stealing at will. It was not only a savvy note to make but a sign that everyone was fully engaged in the game. At that age, that only happens if everyone is having a great time.

“All-Stars is so much fun,” Gustavo Omana said. “It’s a challenge and I love it. I want to go against the best players in the area. It’s how you get better.”

That’s the right attitude to have.

These kids and the other Lakewood Ranch teams in various age divisions will never forget playing in All-Star competition, whether they go all the way to Williamsport or fail to get out of the district round.

Trust me. I know.

Ryan Kohn is the sports editor for the East County Observer. Contact him at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.

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BUSY BEE TUTORING

2022 WORLD LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP

FROM PAGE 13A

What: The event brings together the best U21 lacrosse players in the world. It is typically contested with U19 teams, but the 2022 edition will use U21 teams because the 2020 and 2021 events were canceled due to the pandemic. The first championships were held in 1988.

When and where: The 2022 Championship will be held Aug. 10-20 in Limerick, Ireland.

Teams in attendance: United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Iroquois Nationals, Australia, China, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Isreal, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Uganda, Wales Recent history: The United States defeated Canada 13-12 to win the 2016 World Championship, which was hosted by Canada.

Local connection: Braden Woods residents Christian Laureano and Sean Laureano will represent Puerto Rico at the championship. This will be Puerto Rico’s first time competing.

of the way Sean Laureano battled back from his jaw injury to play in a few late-season games. Sean did not tell Christian when he would be returning and instead he surprised Christian by showing up to the game in full uniform. Christian said it is that toughness that makes his brother hard to play against.

EARLY BEGINNINGS

The Laureanos have been playing together since they could first hold lacrosse sticks, tossing the ball around their backyard for hours, but they have rarely shared the field in real games thanks to their age gap.

Youth lacrosse typically has age divisions two years apart, meaning Christian would age out of a division as soon as Sean aged into it. It is why they were disappointed about their missed opportunity at Mooney and why they are so excited about their chance to finally play together in Ireland.

It is not all about the Laureanos’ improvements, either. The Puerto Rico roster has also had some turnover in the last three years, resulting in a stronger core. A pre-tournament ranking has Puerto Rico ranked ninth out of the 23 teams competing.

While those who follow the sport in Puerto Rico might be pleased with that ranking, Christian Laureano said he believes the team will outperform that ranking and will surprise people.

Both brothers admitted that they are not all that knowledgeable about Puerto Rico’s history and culture.

Christian Laureano said he visited Puerto Rico with his father twice when he was a child but does not remember much of the either trip. He would like to use this trip as a starting point to dig deeper. He is especially fond of Puerto Rico Lacrosse’s dedication to reach its youth through the game and provide them opportunities they would otherwise not have.

Laureano said some U.S. members of the U21 team went on a trip to Puerto Rico earlier this year to hold clinics and get acquainted with the area.

Due to scheduling reasons, the Lau-

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After Sean Laureano plays in the 2022 World Lacrosse Championship, he will come back to play his senior season at Cardinal Mooney.

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“All of us on the team have been in communication,” Christian Laureano said. “We have played a few practice tournaments together which has allowed us to bond. We want to take advantage of this three-year wait and turn it into something positive.”

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Classifieds 13B Games 8B Real Estate 7B Weather 8B

JUNE 30, 2022

YOUR NEIGHBORS CHALLENGE ACCEPTED Chris and Jessi McComas, who are the founders of MVP Sports and Social, decided to add a twist to their mini golf league. They created nine challenges for the 18 holes.

Parrish’s Cassie and Josh Brandt and Lakewood Ranch’s Julie Junk watch as Mike Junk gets a hole-in-one on his first putt in the league.

Holein-one fun The new mini golf league at The Fish Hole in Lakewood Ranch offers unique challenges.

LIZ RAMOS STAFF WRITER

C

hris McComas, a cofounder of MVP Sports and Social, laid on the ground and pointed the grip of his putter toward the golf ball during a round at The Fish Hole in Lakewood Ranch.

McComas was just having fun, making like he was shooting pool instead of playing miniature golf.

He lined up his pool cue — putter — and took his shot.

His teammates watched as the ball went up and down slops, steered clear of a turtle hazard, banked off some bricks and just missed the hole.

McComas dropped his head to the ground in disappointment.

“You forgot to use chalk,” East County’s Daryl Haworth said.

Using a putter like a pool stick was one of nine challenges McComas created for MVP Sports and Social’s new mini golf league at The Fish Hole at Main Street at Lakewood Ranch.

McComas said the mini golf league, which started June 16, was a new opportunity for people to socialize and meet others all while playing a sport in a non-competitive atmosphere.

A fun twist was adding some challenges to the game, which included playing a hole with a hockey stick instead of a putter, using the putter like a pool stick and rolling a die to determine how many strokes a player would need to use an actual driver instead of a putter.

The challenges led to laughs, cheers and sometimes frustration.

Fifty-two players huddled together before the round to hear the different challenges.

Indigo’s Sandy Roth and Kelly

Lakewood Ranch’s Stephen Kruger gets on the ground and tries to line up his putt using his putter as a pool stick, which is one of the challenges in the game.

dePalo cheered when their teammate Ellenton’s Danielle Dustman scored a hole-in-one on a hole that carried the lowest score challenge.

“We don’t even have to putt,” dePalo said as they recorded the ace.

Playing mini golf brought back memories for many of the players.

DePalo remembered 24 years ago teaching her son, Kyle, how to play mini golf when he was 5 years old.

That didn’t go so well. Standing by his side as he prepared to putt, her son raised his putter high and smacked her in the face, breaking her nose.

“It’s putt-putt, but they think they have to go full force,” dePalo said of children. “I didn’t want to make him feel bad, so I told him, ‘I’ll be right back.’ I went to the bathroom and looked at it, and it was like: ‘Oh, my goodness. This hurts.’”

Indigo’s Sandy Roth had a similar incident on a mini golf course when her daughter, Kristina Mefford, who was 6 years old at the time, hit Roth in the mouth, leading to a dead tooth.

“I stand very far away now,” Roth said.

Playing mini golf once again reminded Lakewood Ranch’s Julie Junk when she and her now-husband, Mike, would go to play mini golf on dates when they were teenagers 20 years ago.

“We were excited to try (mini golf) again and relive our childhood,” Junk said. “It was a fun family experience, or before you were of age, it was a good dating experience because your parents would trust your boyfriend or girlfriend to play a round of mini golf.”

Every week, participants are paired with different members of the league so they always are meeting new people.

Participants including Indigo’s Bobbie Doyle saw the league not only as a chance to get together with friends but also as an opportunity to work on her putting.

“I’ve been playing golf for 12 years, but you would never know it,” she said.

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Photos by Liz Ramos

Indigo’s Judy Anastasia, Kelly dePalo and Sandy Roth and Ellenton’s George and Danielle Dustman can put a one down for each of them on the scorecard after Danielle Dustman putts a hole-in-one on the lowest score challenge hole.

n Roll the die, putt with driver: Mini golfers had to roll a die to see how many times they would putt using a driver. n Lowest score: All players will play as usual, but the player with the lowest score will be the recorded score for everyone on their team. n Blind tee shot: All players must put on a blindfold or close their eyes to hit their first putt. n Pool shark: One player from the team will hit the first shot for all four players using the putter as a pool stick. Golfers then play as normal from where their ball ended up. n Soccer shot: Each player must kick their second shot. n MVP bowling: In homage to the organization’s bowling league, all players must roll the ball underhand to tee off and then use the putter the rest of the hole. n Go Lightning!: To cheer on the Tampa Bay Lightning, each player uses a hockey stick for the entire hole. n Best putt: Like a scramble in golf, golfers play the best putt of their group for the entire hole. n Highest score: All players will play as usual, but the player with the high score will be the recorded score for everyone on that team.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

Hoofin’ it E

llianna Rogers, who is 14, loves horses, but she had never had the opportunity to ride one.

That changed when she participated in Sarasota Manatee Association for Riding Therapy’s summer camp June 20-24 in East County. “(The camp) is absolutely incredible,” Rogers said. “I love it so much.”

Rogers calmly groomed Tilly, one of the 14 horses at SMART, before saddling the horse June 23.

Once aboard, she slowly guided Tilly around the arena. Rogers said that although she had never ridden a horse before the weeklong camp, she felt like she had been riding forever.

SMART’s summer camp gave participants an opportunity to learn how to care for horses as well as ride them.

Cayden Rowell, who is 10, said he loved that he was able to ride by himself and practice trotting.

This was his second year at the camp.

Photos by Liz Ramos

Lucius Rowell, who is 9, gets Cherokee moving.

Ellianna Rogers, who is 14, brings Tilly out of her stall so they can head to the arena. The SMART camp is the first time Rogers has been able to ride a horse.

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EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

MUSIC AT THE PLAZA Runs from 6-9 p.m. at Waterside Place, 1561 Lakefront Dr., Lakewood Ranch. Singer/musician Sheri Nadelman will provide the live music on Friday. On Saturday, singer/musician Trevor Bystrom is the headline performer. For information, go to MyLWR.com.

SATURDAY, JULY 2-SUNDAY, JULY 3

FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL Runs from 2-9 p.m. in Parking Lot 4, on the east side of the Mall at UTC, 140 University Town Center Dr., Sarasota. The Suncoast’s largest food truck festival is being hosted by the Mall at UTC. Enjoy food from more than 50 food trucks and vendors, a family fun zone sponsored

by Cat Depot, face painting, bounce houses and more. The event is free.

For more information, go to MallAtUTC.com.

SUNDAY, JULY 3

FIREWORKS ON THE LAKE Begins at 5 p.m. at Nathan Benderson Park, 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle, Sarasota. The 2022 NBP Fireworks on the Lake is sponsored by Sunset Automotive Group. There will be live music from the Derek Lersch Band and the Matthew Johns Band, food and drinks and a stunning fireworks display. There will also be a designated kids zone with games and activities for youngsters.

During the event, the 2022 Publix Fireworks 4-Mile run will be contested at 7 p.m. There are multiple registration options for the race, ranging in price from $20 to $40. For more information on the run, visit NathanBendersonPark.org. Parking passes for Fireworks on the Lake range from $15 to $40 depending on location and vehicle.

Admission is free with a parking pass.

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FARMERS MARKET Runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Lakefront Drive in Waterside Place at Lakewood Ranch. The Farmers Market at Lakewood Ranch will run year round every Sunday. Vendors will be offering seafood, eggs, meats, dairy products, pastas, bakery goods, jams and pickles among other items. Other features are children’s activities and live music. For more information, go to MyLWR.com.

BINGO 4 ALL Begins at 10 a.m. at the Greenbrook Adventure Park, 13010 Adventure Place, Lakewood Ranch. Lakewood Ranch Community Activities hosts bingo for all ages in a relaxed outdoor environment. Cost is $25. For information, go to MyLWR.com.

SATURDAY, JULY 9

REC DAY Runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Nathan Benderson Park, 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle, Sarasota. Nathan Benderson Park hosts Rec Day, which offers participants the chance to try stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, canoes, fishing and more.

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A SHORT DRIVE HOLIDAY CONCERT Begins at 4:30 p.m. at the Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. The Lakewood Ranch Wind Ensemble joins with the Choral Artists of Sarasota to present “American Fanfare.” Old Glory and Uncle Sam are celebrated in this salute to America. For information or tickets, which run from $5 to $50, go to ChoralArtistsSarasota.org.

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4B

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YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

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YourObserver.com

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

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THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

5B

IT’S READ EVERYWHERE Headed on a trip? Snap a photo of you on vacation holding your Observer, then submit your photo online at YourObserver.com/ ItsReadEverywhere. Stay tuned for this year’s prize, and happy travels!

The Republican Party of Sarasota and Manatee Counties proudly present:

Candidates Rally!

Free Pie from Yoder’s and Der Dutchman!

July 16 at Robarts Arena.

Doors open at 10 a.m. and speeches begin at 11:30 a.m.

Invited Speakers

Governor Ron DeSantis U.S. Senator Marco Rubio Senate President Wilton Simpson Congressman Vern Buchanan (District 16) Congressman Greg Steube (District 17) State Senator and RPOF Chairman Joe Gruters (District 23) State Senator Jim Boyd (District 20) There will also be dozens of other incumbents and candidates from the Sarasota-Manatee region, including legislators, Sarasota and Manatee county commission and school board candidates, municipal candidates from Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, Holmes Beach and more.

www.sarasotagop.com | (941) SRQ-4GOP | (941) 777-4467 Paid for and approved by the Republican Party of Sarasota County and the Republican Party of Manatee County.

384287-1

OBSERVER ROYALTY: University Park’s Joyce Millar and Barbara Brooks enjoy a crowning moment during the Queen’s Jubilee on June 4 in Bangor, Northern Ireland. They were with their husbands, Trevor Millar and Peter Brooks.

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EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

MYAKKA CITY 3005 233rd Street E 4 Beds 3/2 Baths 4,164 Sq. Ft. Chris Baylis 941-735-4713 A4510152 $5,800,000

BRADENTON 677 Regatta Way 3 Beds 3 Baths 3,045 Sq. Ft. Sandi Dietrich 941-704-0697 A4537935 $2,350,000

SARASOTA 3537 Founders Club Drive 3 Beds 3 Baths 3,544 Sq. Ft. Richard Hearn 941-313-1591 A4535534 $2,300,000

LAKEWOOD RANCH 17012 Verona Place 3 Beds 3/1 Baths 2,629 Sq. Ft. Deborah Angelo O'Mara 941-730-0777 A4535097 $1,899,000

SARASOTA 8188 Grande Shores Drive 3 Beds 2/1 Baths 2,797 Sq. Ft. Stacy Haas 941-587-4359 A4532966 $1,795,000

TERRA CEIA 109 Michiana Drive 2 Beds 2/1 Baths 1,818 Sq. Ft. Debbie Vogler 941-705-3328 A4527498 $1,999,000

MYAKKA CITY 25008 67th Avenue E 4 Beds 3/1 Baths 3,510 Sq. Ft. Chris Baylis 941-735-4713 A4534475 $1,700,000

PARRISH 16003 39th Glen E 4 Beds 3 Baths 3,225 Sq. Ft. Laura Navratil & Mary Pat Pihl 941-806-7436 A4532572 $1,195,000

BRADENTON 7312 19th Avenue NW 3 Beds 2 Baths 2,160 Sq. Ft. Lynne Callahan 941-720-3278 A4538467 $1,100,000

BRADENTON 3712 Plumosa Terrace 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,980 Sq. Ft. Judy LaValliere 941-504-3792 A4539713 $1,050,000

BRADENTON 5016 Mangrove Point Road 4 Beds 2 Baths 1,838 Sq. Ft. Kathy Valente & Gregory Zies, LLC 941-685-6767 A4538298 $995,000

LAKEWOOD RANCH 8431 Sailing Loop 3 Beds 2/1 Baths 2,395 Sq. Ft. Laura Navratil & Mary Pat Pihl 941-806-7436 A4539340 $879,000

BRADENTON 12417 Perennial Place 3 Beds 2 Baths 2,068 Sq. Ft. Carroll Couri 813-727-1630 A4539264 $775,000

LAKEWOOD RANCH 6406 Watercrest Way 302 3 Beds 2 Baths 1,917 Sq. Ft. Stuart Lawrence & Laura Lawrence 941-894-4001 A4538694 $765,000

BRADENTON 2301 64th Street W 4 Beds 3/1 Baths 2,477 Sq. Ft. Fran DeDona & Pam Goodwin 941-812-5023 A4535719 $750,000

LAKEWOOD RANCH 15642 Sacile Lane 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,533 Sq. Ft. Barbara A Milian, PA 941-504-0660 A4535785 $599,000

BRADENTON 839 Rosemary Circle 4 Beds 2 Baths 1,832 Sq. Ft. Debbie Vogler 941-705-3328 A4538958 $599,000

BRADENTON 2525 Avolet Court 3 Beds 2/1 Baths 1,926 Sq. Ft. Carroll Couri 813-727-1630 A4532679 $575,000

BRADENTON 11933 Brookside Drive 4 Beds 2/1 Baths 1,936 Sq. Ft. Christopher Van Vliet & Jamie Van Vliet, PA 941-993-7087 A4538878 $539,000

BRADENTON 5721 Palmer Circle 205 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,355 Sq. Ft. Laura Naese 941-350-3657 A4538382 $537,500

SARASOTA 6941 Mystic Lane 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,649 Sq. Ft. Gregory Zies & Kathy Valente 941-779-3081 A4539331 $429,000

BRADENTON 6411 Grand Estuary Trail 201 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,297 Sq. Ft. Debbie Vogler 941-705-3328 A4539153 $349,999

SARASOTA 7266 Eleanor Circle 102 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,212 Sq. Ft. Ray Rausa 941-228-7614 A4535536 $343,900

SARASOTA 189 Oak Hill Drive 5 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,024 Sq. Ft. Christopher Van Vliet & Jamie Van Vliet, PA 941-993-7087 A4532208 $299,000

BRADENTON 5107 29th Street W 2 Beds 2 Baths 1,258 Sq. Ft. Cheryl Roberts 941-266-1450 A4538859 $250,000

BRADENTON 20706 79th Avenue E 4 Beds 4/1 Baths 5,077 Sq. Ft. Chris Baylis 941-735-4713 A4531620 $3,500,000

BRADENTON 8456 Lindrick Lane 4 Beds 4/1 Baths 4,369 Sq. Ft. Stacy Haas & Adam Cuffaro 941-587-4359 A4538235 $3,495,000

BIRD KEY 628 N Owl Drive 3 Beds 2 Baths 2,534 Sq. Ft. Kathy Valente & Gregory Zies, LLC 941-685-6767 A4526783 $2,495,000

888.552.5228 | MICHAELSAUNDERS.COM 379147-1

6B

YourObserver.com

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

RESEARCH EDITOR

A

home in Country Club topped all transactions in this week’s real estate. Miguel Barrales Betanzos and Edith Salcedo De Barrales, of Sarasota, sold their home at 6803 Dominion Lane to Peter and Annick Stephenson, of Lakewood Ranch, for $1,762,500.

Built in 2005, it has four bedrooms, five-and-ahalf baths, a pool and 4,268 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.04 million in 2013.

LAKE CLUB

Elijah Barrett Prettyman and Terri Miller Prettyman, trustees, of Bradenton, sold the home at 16829 Verona Place to Greg and Valerie Goodman, of Bradenton, for $1,575,000. Built in 2020, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a pool and 2,638 square feet of living area. It sold for $606,300 in 2020.

COUNTRY CLUB EAST

Daniel Joseph Smith and Catherine Maria Smith, of Bradenton, sold their home at 7538 Windy Hill Cove to Larry Albert and Lisa Robenseifner, of Bradenton, for $1.4 million.

Built in 2016, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,796 square feet of living area. It sold for $745,000 in 2017.

Ernest William Frost III and Kathryn Elizabeth Frost, of Bradenton, sold their home at 16234 Castle Park Terrace to Joy Minear, of Newport Coast, California, for $1,135,000. Built in 2018, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,231 square feet of living area. It sold for $450,000 in 2019.

Lucilene Circelli sold the home at 5704 Arnie Loop to Jeffrey Hartfield, of Bradenton, for $1,198,000.

Built in 2019, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,273 square feet of living area. It sold for $679,000 in 2019.

Craig and Karen Hazelton, trustees, of Bradenton, sold the home at 6005 Cessna Run to Arlene Frances Fox, of Ontario, Canada, for $790,000. Built in 2017, it has two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 1,921 square feet of living area.

It sold for $383,000 in 2017.

POLO RUN

Arthur Curt Schoenewaldt III and Ellen Victoria Schoenewaldt and Rachel Taaffe DiGiovanni and John DiGiovanni, of Brookfield, Connecticut, sold their home at 17618 Polo Trail to Alan George Anderson Jr. and Kelly Lantini, of Bradenton, for $1.15 million. Built in 2021, it has six bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths and 3,882 square feet of living area. It sold for $503,500 in 2021.

ROSEDALE

Elwood and Linda Suereth, of Sarasota, sold their home at 4719 88th St. E. to Ann Marie Linehan, of Bradenton, for $980,000. Built in 2001, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,893 square feet of living area.

DEL WEBB

Sandra Rae Castle and Melvin Castle, of Sagamore Hills, Ohio, sold their home at 16915 Loudon Place to Patricia and Michael Vosk, of Bradenton, for $900,000. Built in 2016, it has three bedrooms, three baths and 2,488 square feet of living area. It sold for $560,000 in 2020.

Coleman and Karen Mansfield sold their home at 7238 Belleisle Glen to Christopher and Jessica Taylor, of Lakewood Ranch, for $615,000.

Built in 2012, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,585 square feet of living area. It sold for $290,100 in 2013.

Enclave at Country Meadows Lee and Mindy Forbes, trustees, of Bradenton, sold the home at 1027 145th St. Circle N.E. to Brittany and Alexander Stewart, of Bradenton, for $880,000. Built in 2014, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 3,274 square feet of living area.

It sold for $461,000 in 2014.

MALLORY PARK

Michael Paul Mahlum and Alison Elisabeth Mahlum, of Bradenton, sold their home at 12212 Cranston Way to Melinda Bernice Bajgrowicz and Alexander Bajgrowicz, of Bradenton, for $1.35 million. Built in 2020, it has four bedrooms, threeand-a-half baths, a pool and 4,088 square feet of living area. It sold for $754,200 in 2020.

LAKEHOUSE COVE AT WATERSIDE

Keith and Lisa Grabisch sold their home at 8145 Grande Shores Drive to Andres Moreno and Sandra Mejia, of Sarasota, for $1,349,500.

Built in 2019, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 3,579 square feet of living area. It sold for $709,700 in 2019.

13TH AVENUE EAST

Charles McConahay, of St. Augustine, sold his home at 5912 13th Ave. E. to Michael and Latarsha Gullatte,

Liz Ramos

This Country Club home at 6803 Dominion Lane sold for $1,762,000. It has four bedrooms, fiveand-a-half baths, a pool and 4,268 square feet of living area.

2014, it has four bedrooms, four baths and 2,863 square feet of living area. It sold for $385,000 in 2020.

NOTTING HILL

Audrey Jensen, of Sarasota, sold her home at 7208 Kensington Court to Lynn Peyer, trustee, of University Park, for $675,000. Built in 1997, it has four bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,557 square feet of living area. It sold for $395,000 in 2019.

INDIGO

Richard Uhler and Irma TerrazasZambrana, of Sarasota, sold their home at 12605 Crystal Clear Place to Yvette Book, of Bradenton, for $625,300. Built in 2016, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 1,772

square feet of living area. It sold for $389,000 in 2020.

EAGLE TRACE

Opendoor Property Trust I sold the home at 1910 Crooked Lake Circle to Susan Brennan, of Bradenton, for $619,000. Built in 2017, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,844 square feet of living area. It sold for $534,900 in March.

ONLINE See more transactions at YourObserver.com

In with the new

James and Sharman Hardin, trustees, of Crestview, sold the home at 7552 Viola Loop to James and Jean Ann Staley, of Bradenton, for $888,300. Built in 2019, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,900 square feet of living area. It sold for $569,500 in 2019.

SUMMERFIELD

Gretchen Vose and Barry Reiter, of Winter Park, sold their home at 1010 Lanyard Court to Richard Patterson, of Bradenton, for $1,399,000. Built in 2013, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 2,804 square feet of living area. It sold for $730,000 in 2020.

JUNE 13-16

LAKEWOOD NATIONAL

Lawrence Stuart Flax and Diane Stephanie Flax, of Bradenton, sold their home at 16537 Hillside Circle to Mark and Donna Thornsbrough, of Bradenton, for $975,000. Built in 2018, it has four bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,248 square feet of living area. It sold for $485,000 in 2018.

TIDEWATER PRESERVE

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

of Bradenton, for $1,295,000. Built in 1973, it has three bedrooms, four baths, a pool and 5,323 square feet of living area. It sold for $325,100 in 2013.

NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION

John and Julie Harrell, of Lakewood Ranch, sold their home at 11243 Rivers Bluff Circle to James and Karen McHale, of Aurora, Illinois, for $881,000. Built in 2000, it has four bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,315 square feet of living area.

It sold for $340,000 in 2003.

Longboat Key

The Residences at the St. Regis | 941.213.3300 | From $2.4MM to $10.9MM | Call for appointment | SRResidencesLongboatKey.com NOW TAKING CONTRACTS

Downtown St. Petersburg

COUNTRY CLUB

John Gray, of Ontario, Canada, sold the home at 12018 Thornhill Court to Sarah and John Buehler, of Lakewood Ranch, for $810,000. Built in 2011, it has two bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,861 square feet of living area. It sold for $347,000 in 2013.

400 Central | 727.209.7848 | From the $1MM’s | Call for appointment. | Residences400central.com 2 UNITS LEFT

Maureen Marsden, of Sarasota, sold her home at 7921 Suntree Glen to James and Nancy Hanson, of Okemos, Michigan, for $569,000.

Built in 2002, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,786 square feet of living area.

Downtown Sarasota

RIVA TRACE

Terry Klopstad, trustee, of Kansas City, Missouri, sold the home at 8049 Rio Bella Place to Christina Mary Reynolds, trustee, of Bradenton, for $700,000. Built in 2012, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,934 square feet of living area. It sold for $402,000 in 2017.

The Collection | 941.232.2868 | From the $2MM’s | Call for appointment. | thecollection1335.com

Sales galleries open and available for virtual or in-person presentations.

Virtual home tours | OnDemand local experts | Interactive site and floorplans

GREYHAWK LANDING WEST

Vincent Harlan Quast, Personal Representative, of Elk River, Minnesota, sold the home at 1027 Buttercup Glen to Frederick Zahner and Rosemary Zahner, trustees, of Bradenton, for $680,000. Built in

373593-1

ADAM HUGHES

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

REAL ESTATE

Country Club home tops sales at $1,762,500

|

MichaelSaunders.com/New-Homes | 844.591.4333 | Sarasota, Florida Prices as of February 2022.

Licensed Real Estate Broker

7B

8B

WEATHER

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH

FORECAST THURSDAY, JUNE 30 High: 93 Low: 74 Chance of rain: 64%

FRIDAY, JULY 1 High: 92 Low: 74 Chance of rain: 58%

SUNRISE / SUNSET Sunrise Sunset Thursday, June 30

6:37a

8:28p

Friday, July 1

6:38a

8:28p

Saturday, July 2

6:38a

8:28p

Sunday, July 3

6:38a

8:28p

Monday, July 4

6:39a

8:28p

Tuesday, July 5

6:39a

8:28p

Wednesday, July 6

6:40a

8:28p

MOON PHASES

SATURDAY, JULY 2 High: 90 Low: 74 Chance of rain: 58%

SUNDAY, JULY 3 High: 92 Low: 74 Chance of rain: 58% Gordon Silver photographed this cow along Masters Avenue in Lakewood Ranch.

July 6 First

July 13 Full

July 20 Last

July 28 New

RAINFALL Monday, June 20

0

Tuesday, June 21

0.14

Wednesday, June 22

0

Thursday, June 23

0

Friday, June 24

0

Saturday, June 25

0.02

Sunday, June 26

2.27

*Rainfall totals from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport

Submit your photos at YourObserver.com/Weather. All submissions will be entered for the 2022-23 Weather and Nature photo contest. In February 2023, you will vote for your favorite photo, and the submission with the most votes will win a $500 gift card.

YEAR TO DATE: 2022 17.52 in.

2021 16.04 in.

MONTH TO DATE: 2022 7.63 in.

2021 6.93 in.

MANASOTA FLOORING INC 941.493.7441 | www.manasotaonline.com

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ANCIENT HISTORY by Rebecca Goldstein. Edited by David Steinberg 52 Oddity 55 Brand spanking new 57 Speed intials 58 Idaho’s capital 61 Smell from a bakery, e.g.

DOWN 63 Lacking a key, musically 1 Exactly 66 Expresses disapproval 2 “Only Time” singer 67 Two, in Tijuana 3 Secret pacts? (Abbr.)

68 Consumed 4 “Told ya!”

69 Garments that may be 5 M.D. with an otoscope wireless 6 Snoozed 70 Start making music 7 Singer-songwriter Mann alone 8 “Let’s go!”

71 Chosen groups 9 Kind of ball with strands 76 Out of juice 10 ID shared with a CPA 77 Jazz pianist Count 11 Tips that don’t leave you 78 Squirrel’s cheekful better off?

79 Palindromic Swedish 12 Middle Eastern sultan- group ate 80 Record holder?

13 Dogs to beware of 82 Pigpen 14 Brief request in a text 84 Building near a barn 15 Pace of “Halt and Catch 85 White lies Fire” 87 ___ Whip (pineapple ice 16 Granola grain cream treat) 17 5-Down and others, 88 Airport shuttle briefly 91 Talking tank engine 18 16-oz. units 93 Rowing trophies at 21 “Encanto” abode camp, perhaps 23 Elaborate scam 95 “We are SO settling 27 Null’s partner this!”

40 **Twitch broadcast, e.g. ally depicted in each pair of 96 ***It connects to the 29 Journalist Lisa 97 Arched, as a neck uterus 42 Go downhill starred clues’ answers 31 Futbol cheers 98 Had on 43 Risked going too far 72 Troupe performing for 98 Tropical fish, or excited 33 Strap over a jogger’s 101 Cultural prefix shouts 47 Plentiful the troops (Abbr.) sleeve, perhaps 102 Proudly admit an error 99 Security system device 48 Home to most of 73 Capital on a fjord 34 Biblical outcast 103 Camp sights 100 Shade source humanity 74 Synagogue cabinets 35 Stories 105 Ventimiglia of “This 102 Indigenous Mexican 49 28 of Beyonce’s awards 75 Former 36 It’s a sign!

Is Us” 104 Some parents, infor51 Rooster, in French 77 Post-shower surfaces 37 ___ mule (cocktail) 107 Buffoons 53 “It’s ___ fun!”

81 App for sharing pics mally 38 “Schmigadoon!” actress 109 Self starter?

54 Winter neckwear 83 Ballet Slippers nail pol- 106 ****Rapunzel’s home DeBose 110 Class taken before calc 56 Early describer of 108 Channing of “Magic ish brand 39 Sovereign who ruled 111 Saucers in a Pentagon animal behavior?

Mike” 85 Fiction’s counterpart Siberia, once report, briefly 57 Places to find Help 113 Bit used to make 86 ___ Dhabi 41 British prep school 112 ISP option 59 Bae chocolate 87 Self assessment?

42 Break-even outcome 113 Playfully shy 60 Indian musical compo- 89 Mite 117 ****Changes from ABC 43 Sung ode 114 Eggs, scientifically 90 Lives a publicly gay life to AMC, say sition 44 Verbal pauses 115 Porky pic 92 ***New York City’s most 119 Hype too much 62 Harvest 45 Campfire treats 116 Mine find 120 Not suitable populous borough 64 Charged particle 46 Piece of text that’s 117 Quarter of a quart 94 Like some sushi and ice 121 Cauldron contents 65 Metaphor for past often blue 118 Some vinyls, for short 122 Ivy in New Haven disagreements that’s liter- cream 50 Spaghetti sauce choice 123 Stag’s mate 124 Fence supports 125 Canoodles, in Cambridge

©2022 Universal Uclick

ACROSS 1 In need of a rubdown, say 6 Burlap bags 11 Short haircut 14 Trudge 18 *Big Ben’s home 19 Prom rides 20 “Do you understand me?”

22 *Howl like a werewolf 24 Arrays in spreadsheets 25 Apt rhyme for “cache” 26 Warms up the crowd 27 They tell you which way the wind blows 28 Overjoy 30 Raincoat attachment 32 **Classic theater name 37 The ___ (simulated reality in a sci-fi film)

By Luis Campos Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present.

Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

“XTDCJ VBJAJ TAJ VKXJM ZBJG XDMVJAD KM XEAJ KXLEAVTGV VBTG IGEZWJNPJ. ... XDMVJAD TM FTVTWDMV HEA KXTPKGTVKEG.” – HKWXXTIJA R.R. TCATXM

“SRTDFG JK LOREDKE. JE’K ‘J PDC ER FJYYDO,’ JY GRA’OD YXUSG, RO JY GRA’OD NDHJKI, ‘IDG, ZJKEDU ER EIJK!’” – TDZ PORRVK

“PJSZ AHV ZSZX KPHVOPK KPJK LJX GW J TJNPHVWZ JUN KPJK ZSZXAHUZ GU KPZ LJX GW J MJKGZUK?” – HXGJUJ EJYYJFG © 2022 NEA, Inc.

Puzzle Three Clue: E equals F

941.748.4679 | Venice

Puzzle Two Clue: N equals J

941.355.8437 | Bradenton

Puzzle One Clue: N equals D

Sarasota

383366-1

KARASTAN, MOHAWK, AIRO, SMARTSTRAND, ALL PET

CARPET

sudoku Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.

©2022 Andrews McMeel Syndicate

6-30-22

YourObserver.com

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

|

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

9B

LY !

E T A I D E M M I CALL A R E L IM IT E D A P P O IN T M E N

TS

THIS SOUND CHANGES

EVERYTHING “YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A GENIUS TO

SAVE THOUSANDS ON THE WORLD’S BEST HEARING AID”

THE SOUND THAT WILL CHANGE

HEARING AIDS FOREVER

BEFORE YOU BUY A HEARING AID

TRY

ABSOLUTELY FREE FOR 30 DAYS!

NO COST, NO OBLIGATION!

SEE INSIDE FOR SPECIAL OFFER SOUTH CAROLINA LICENSE NUMBERS: HTP-1029, HTP-1024, HTP-1031, HTP-1023, HAS-0573, HAS-0642, HAS-0637, HAS- 0638, HAS-0633

GEORGIA LICENSE NUMBERS: HADS000995, HADS000996, HADS001001, HADS001003

384042-1

AT OUR 5 DAY SPECIAL EVENT JULY 11 - JULY 15

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

RECHARGEABLE HEAR ALL DAY ON A 30-MINUTE CHARGE

R E NEV

E G N CHA RIES E T T A B !

N I AGA

has the lowest power consumption of any rechargeable hearing aid, so you get a full day of the most advanced hearing and streaming sound without worrying about running out of power!

TOTAL CONTROL

Control hearing for ANY ENVIRONMENT with your smartphone!

GRANDCHILDREN’S PRECIOUS VOICES

DINING OUT WITH FRIENDS

DRIVING IN THE CAR

YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW

SOUTH CAROLINA LICENSE NUMBERS: HTP-1029, HTP-1024, HTP-1031, HTP-1023, HAS-0573, HAS-0642, HAS-0637, HAS- 0638, HAS-0633

IMPORTANT INFO AT WORK GEORGIA LICENSE NUMBERS: HADS000995, HADS000996, HADS001001, HADS001003

384043-1

10B

YourObserver.com

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

|

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

11B

REMOTE PROGRAMMING Have a PROFESSIONAL in your pocket!

TELECARE

allows for remote programming through tele-audiology.

We can adjust & program your Hearing Aid from the safety and comfort of your own home!

CONNECTIVITY

Connect, IN STEREO to all of your devices!

SMARTPHONE

TELEVISION

COMPUTER

CAR

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY AT OUR

MONDAY, JULY 11 THROUGH FRIDAY, JULY 15 SOUTH CAROLINA LICENSE NUMBERS: HTP-1029, HTP-1024, HTP-1031, HTP-1023, HAS-0573, HAS-0642, HAS-0637, HAS- 0638, HAS-0633

GEORGIA LICENSE NUMBERS: HADS000995, HADS000996, HADS001001, HADS001003

384044-1

5-DAY SPECIAL EVENT

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

5-DAY SPECIAL EVENT MONDAY, JULY 11 THROUGH FRIDAY, JULY 15

Call Today for a FREE Evaluation & Trial at this Event!

No Cost.

No Obligation.

TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!

ABSOLUTELY FREE FOR 30 DAYS!

NO COST, NO OBLIGATION.

INTRODUCTORY OFFER

Call today for your FREE TRIAL APPOINTMENT!

55% OFF!

WE PROVIDE THESE FREE SERVICES

Real Ear Measurements allow the clinician to measure and record the patient’s hearing aids’ performance while they are actually being worn.

FREE

HEARING AID CHECK UP

It is important to have your hearing checked at least once a year.

Our Video Otoscope can detect if ear wax may be the reason you are experiencing hearing difficulty.

FREE

HEARING EXAM & CONSULTATION! NO OBLIGATION!

FREE

VIDEO EAR SCAN MAKES SURE IT’S NOT EAR WAX

WE FIT & SERVICE ONLY THE WORLD’S BEST HEARING AIDS

Authorized

Dealer

OUR PROFESSIONAL STAFF OF DOCTORS OF AUDIOLOGY & LICENSED HEARING AID SPECIALISTS

Elite Hearing Centers of America

Rated

ALL LOCATIONS CDC COVID COMPLIANT

OVER 50 LOCATION NATIONW S IDE

OPEN NOW: SARASOTA 941-210-4310

2807 University Pkwy In Publix Plaza at University Walk

!

BRADENTON 941-201-6076

DELRAY BEACH 561-501-4392 4900 Linton Blvd #3 (In between Poppies Restaurant and Kristi Cleaners)

ROYAL PALM BEACH 561-631-8757 11985 Southern Blvd (Publix at Crestwood Square - next to Carter Healthcare)

(Bradenton Pain and Wellness Center)

BOYNTON BEACH 561-619-9274 4739 N Congress Ave (In between Dollar Tree and Fon Shan Chinese)

JUPITER 561-529-3011 6725 West Indiantown Rd Bay 39 (In Jupiter West Plaza)

2001 Manatee Avenue E. Ste 104

SOUTH CAROLINA LICENSE NUMBERS: HTP-1029, HTP-1024, HTP-1031, HTP-1023, HAS-0573, HAS-0642, HAS-0637, HAS- 0638, HAS-0633

GEORGIA LICENSE NUMBERS: HADS000995, HADS000996, HADS001001, HADS001003

384045-1

12B

Made for where you live. Here!

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

RED PAGES DEADLINES: Classifieds - Monday at Noon The East County Observer reserves the right to classify and edit copy, or to reject or cancel an advertisement at any time. Corrections after first insertion only. *All ads are subject to the approval of the Publisher. *It is the responsibility of the party placing any ad for publication in the East County Observer to meet all applicable legal requirements in connection with the ad such as compliance with towncodes in first obtaining an occupational license for business, permitted home occupation, or residential rental property Notice: All real estate advertised herein is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or intention to make any such preference, limitation or discrimination. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis..

Items Under $200 SPECIALIZED MOUNTAIN bike, mens. Hardrock FS 21 speed, ex. cond. $199 941-914-1498 TOYOS TIRES (4) Size is 225-55R-19. V. good condition, no flats, $60 for all 4. 941-914-1498

stuff

Color background: $ 5 per week Ad border: as low as $3 per week

Items Under $200 ADVERTISE YOUR MERCHANDISE with the total value of all items $200 or less in this section for FREE! Limit 1 ad per month,15 words or less. Price must be included next to each item. No commercial advertising.

Ad runs 2 consecutive weeks in 1 Observer.

Call 941-955-4888 Or Email ad to: classified@yourobserver.com (Please provide your name and address) Or Online at: www.yourobserver.com Or mail to: The Observer Group 1970 Main St. - 3rd Floor Sarasota, Fl 34236 FISHING TACKLE- 2 Reels Abu Garcia/Bass Pro, 2 Rods One Piece 6'6"&7' $35. 412-527-7434

PLACE YOUR AD: Call: 941-955-4888 Email: RedPages@ YourObserver.com Online: YourObserver.com /RedPages

FIND BUYERS & SELLERS HERE! TV MOUNT Sanus ALT 1 $30, Floral Duvet Bundle set (Full) $60 Email greytreelane@outlook.com

Merchandise Wanted BUYING BASEBALL card collections! Looking to free up space and make $$? Need to sell sports cards? Collector looking to expand collection.

Pay top dollar. Text/call 941 548 6492 with photos.

SENIOR LOOKING to purchase precious metals, diamonds, time pieces, coins, jewelry, antique and estate jewelry, and some collectors plates. Personal and confidential.

Please call Marc: 941-321-0707

Pets GULF BREEZE HAVANESE Have puppies for sale. Ready for a forever home, vaccinations up to date. Call for updated pictures.

941-451-9410

Sporting Goods

FOR SALE: 2 New, Slim Cut, suits, Grey, Tiger of Sweden 38 & Blue Trussardi, 40, $100 each.

(941)504-0165 GENERAL ELECTRIC GE 25 Cu.Ft. side-by-side refrigerator/freezer. Water/ice in door. Excellent cond. Selling for kitchen reno. $199 (941)350-6354 HEXAGONAL PATIO table with glass like top and umbrella.

Includes 6 chairs. $150. Call 941-925-3084 to see.

JAPANESE PAGODA, cement 2’ tall $150, cement pelican 2 foot tall $50. 941-359-8460 GREAT FINDS LOCATED HERE!

OIL PAINTING 'Macaw Scarlet Parrots'. $100. Coca Cola 1937 Ford steel pick-up truck. 1/18 scale/mint in box. $35.

941-776-0034 Room Divider, Chinese, Black Lacquer, 4 panels. $200 (941)544-4485

Beach’ N Rides Electric Bike Shop eBike Sales and Rentals Ride easy on an eBike with as much exercise or assistance as you want. Leave traffic and parking problems behind!

13 models available.

Daily and weekly rentals available We also repair other Brands Open 10 to 5 daily except Sundays and holidays 12208 Cortez Road, Cortez, FL

Want Some Mad Money?

Sell Your Item for Free! $200 or less YourObserver.com/RedPages

Adult Care Services PERSONAL CARE GIVER- Private care: Meal preparation, errands, shopping, and more.

Affordable hourly rates, available weekdays, weekends, and holidays.

Minimal shift 5 hours can also provide overnight care.

Temporary or long term care.

Over 10+ years experience.

References available. No new faces, one consistent caregiver.

COVID Negative.

Call Kati: 941-536-7706.

Auto Transport SHIP YOUR car, truck or SUV anywhere in the United States.

Great rates, fast quotes. Call Hawley Motors: 941-923-3421.

Autos Wanted CASH FOR YOUR CAR We come to you!

Ho Ho Buys cars.

941-270-4400.

GET RESULTS! PLACE YOUR AD ONLINE TODAY Visit the

RED PAGES

YourObserver.com/RedPages STORAGE FACILITY Boat/ RV/ Trailer. Secure facility, low monthly rentals, Clark Rd area.

941809-3660, 941-809-3662.

WE BUY cars. top $$ paid for your vehicles.

Call Hawley Motors: 941-923-3421.

Condos/Apts. for Rent LUXURIOUS CONDO on Anna Maria Island For Rent - Upgraded granite/strainless kitchen.

Incredible water views through floor length windows. Waterfront patio, luxury furnishings, 2BD/2BR, king bed. Pool, tennis, walk to the beach. Private carport.

Monthly rent July-December.

Owner/renter. Flexible terms.

570-239-0431 marketreps@aol.com

Cleaning BRAZILIAN CLEANING Service

by Maria. Residential. Meticulous Cleaning. Excellent References.

Free Estimates. Reliable. Lic./Ins. 941-400-3342. www.braziliancleaningbymk.com

CLAUDIA C. Cleaning Services.

Experienced, dependable, and ready to begin!

Residential.

Excellent references.

941-773-6895.

SELL YOUR STUFF HERE! Advertise items less than $200 for FREE! YourObserver.com/RedPages

Pressure Cleaning joe the POWER WASHER LLC. Local resident since 1980.

941-993-4447

This week’s Crossword answers

Advertise your business or service in the Observer

RED PAGES CALL TODAY 941-955-4888

FIND BUYERS & SELLERS HERE! 941-955-4888

This week’s Celebrity Cipher answers Puzzle One Solution: “Maybe there are times when mystery is more important than knowledge. ... Mystery as catalyst for imagination.”

Filmmaker J.J. Abrams Puzzle Two Solution: “Comedy is protest. It’s ‘I beg to differ,’ if you’re fancy, or if you’re Jewish, ‘Hey, listen to this!’”

Mel Brooks Puzzle Three Solution: “Have you ever thought that war is a madhouse and that everyone in the war is a patient?”

Oriana Fallaci

This week’s Sudoku answers

©2022 Universal Uclick

941-251-7916, Ext 1

RED PAGES. MADE FOR WHERE YOU LIVE. HERE! TO ADVERTISE CALL 941-955-4888 OR VISIT WWW.YOUROBSERVER.COM/REDPAGES

©2022 NEA, Inc.

15% DISCOUNT FOR 4-WEEK RUN

BOAT DECK Hands for Cruising West Coast of Florida. Please have experience with Anchoring, placement of Fenders, Navigational signage, minor cooking and cleaning.

Text message to Charles at 303-944-8300

auto

First 15 words .................. $ 17.50 per week Each add’l word ....... 50¢

You’re only cheating yourself.

Deadline for classified advertising in the July 7th editions will be due Friday, July 1st at 2:00 pm.

peekers’ place

The Observer Media Group will be closed on Monday, July 4th.

RED PAGES AD RATES

Help Wanted

real estate

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING EARLY DEADLINE

jobs

Service Directory - Friday at 3PM • PAYMENT: Cash, Check or Credit Card

Paint the town RED!

redpages@yourobserver.com • yourobserver.com/redpages

home services

INFORMATION & RATES: 941-955-4888

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

Auto Service

Estate Sales

Gulf Coast Estate Auctions

SELL YOUR CAR!

We get you the highest rate of return on your items

384252

WE COME TO YOU

gulfcoastestateauctions.com • Free Consultations 941-274-6537

Patio Furniture Repairs.com Furniture Sales & Repairs Cushions • Slings • Re-powdercoating

383272

Health

ED’S RAIN MAKER IRRIGATION

GET YOUR LIFE BACK! Do You Have Neck or Low Back Pain?

Do You Want To Avoid Surgery?

AMANDA 424-333-0713 | rockstarmobilehair@gmail.com www.rockstarmobilehairsalon.com

IRRIGATION (941) 725-8100 REPAIR edsrainmakerirrigation@gmail.com MAINTENANCE Insured

Give Us a Call - We Can Help

FREE CONSULTATION 941.358.2224

Servicing LWR, Parrish and NE Bradenton

Recognized Among the Best Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Physicians in America

Computer Pegatronics Computer Instruction and Repair It’s Easier Than You Think!

Kitchen/Bath Remodeling

Board Certified in the specialty of non-surgical spinal decompression

Learn Computer Basics Phones/Tablet Help Apple & Microsoft Problems Solved On-Site and Off Much More! Call Today!

Pegatronics.com

Custom Granite Services, llc

DR. DAVID CIFRA, DC University Health Park 2415 University Parkway Bldg. 3, Suite 216 Sarasota, FL 34243

941-400-4912

www.SarasotaDiscCenter.com DrCifra@SarasotaDiscCenter.com

CustomGraniteServicesLLC@gmail.com

The Only Thing You Have To Lose ... Is The Pain!!

941-735-3362

Home Services

Doors

CALL BEFOREYOU YOU FALL CALL BEFORE FALL

Sliding Glass Door Repair

GRAB BARS GRAB BARS

Are You Having Dryer Difficulties?

COMPLETE INSTALLATION PACKAGE

• Dryer hot but clothes still wet after (1) drying cycle?

• Dryer gets hot to the touch or doesn’t heat up at all?

Residential

New Deluxe Rollers Will Make Your Doors Roll Better Than Ever Call Mark 928-2263 proslidingglassdoorrepair.com

382754

“FIX IT - DON’T REPLACE”

941-705-5468

Commercial

384254

INCLUDES22MOEN MOEN STAINLESS INCLUDES STAINLESS STEEL STEELANTI ANTISLIP SLIP CONCEALED PEEN CONCEALED SCREW GRAB BARS (16”BARS & 24”)(16” & 24”) SCREW GRAB

Made for where you live. Here.

941.966.0333

RED PAGES

LIFETIME GUARANTEE • LICENSED • BONDED • INSURED COVERAGE AREA: RANCH TO S. VENICE COVERAGE AREA:LAKEWOOD PARRISH TO NORTHPORT

YourObserver.com/RedPages

Landscaping & Lawn

NO MORE TICKS, FLEAS OR WEEDS! New Customers Only

Free

Weed & Crab grass Control

www.FGLAWN.com | 941-404-6601

$47

New Customers Only

GLENN KROECKER

PER MONTH*

Ticks, Fleas, Fire Ants, Chinch Bugs, Mole Crickets, Grubs, Sod Worms and more. PLUS - Fungus & Weeds and Premium Fertilizer.

954-1878 (cell) 780-3346

Cleaned - Regrouted - Caulked - Sealed

Licensed & Insured

Doors

Licensed & Insured

SHOWER & BATH MAKEOVERS

*For average size lawn of 5000 sq. ft.

Larger lawns slightly more.

383890

Family Owned and Operated • Commercial & Residential • Weed Control • Fungicide • Tree & Shrub Treatment • Fertilizing • Insecticide

Any Treatment Dry Or Liquid

166554

lawn & pest control, llc.

You Get NOW Protection!

384259

$10 off

You We Make

DRGRABBARS.COM

THE GRAB BAR GUY

Find anything in the RED PAGES | 941-955-4888

383673

249 235 235

$$

$

Take a simple test to see if your vent is clogged. Unhook your dryer vent & compare drying time.

Call John 941.377.2940

Free Estimates • Sarasota Resident Since 1974

www.showerandbathsarasota.com

DON’T let your PATIO DOORS be a DRAG or your WINDOWS be a PANE!!

Landscaping & Lawn

GARDENS BY ALLISON No Job is too Small!

Design • Garden Beds Landscape • Courtyards Clean-Up • Makeovers Weeds • Trimming

Allison J. Abizaid, M.A.

Window Repairs • Sliding Glass Door Repairs Sliding Glass Door Deadbolts

www.ezslider.com

FREE IN-HOM ESTIMATEE S

Personal Gardening Services | Designer

941.400.0431

384256

Call us today! 941.628.8579 384250

CJ COOLEY OWNER/OPERATOR

384258 364556

383934

Irrigation

FREE PICKUP / DELIVERY • FREE ONSITE QUOTES

SERVING YOU IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME

383274

941-504-0903

Call or text: 941-900-8111 | Email: Newparrishfl@gmail.com

383275

383879

Beauty

PROUD!

FULLY INSURED

RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL

Furniture Repair

5-Star Rated

HoHoBuysCars.com

Hardware Repair Virus / Malware Cleanup Software & Printer Install New Computer Setups New Purchase Consults Seniors & Beginners

Specializing in Cleaning Exterior Home, Windows, Roofs, Solar Panels, Driveways, Sidewalks, Garbage Cans and Gutters. Paver Sanding and Sealing.

ESTATE SALES • DOWNSIZING SENIOR TRANSITIONS • ONLINE AUCTIONS

FAST • EASY • SAFE

941.270.4400

Home Services

384255

|

383273

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

382755

14B

gbyallison@yahoo.com gardensbyallison.com

GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH THE RED PAGES Call to reserve your ad space

941-955-4888

YourObserver.com

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

Painting

Rescreening & Repairs

Building & Roofing Contractor

Homes - Driveways - Sidewalks - Tile & Shingle Roofs - Pool Cages & Decks

FREE ESTIMATES - Call Joel, Owner 30 Years Exp. Cell 619-405-7650 Home/Office 941-758-4840

383891

• Aluminum, Vinyl, & Wood Soffit & Fascia Repair & Installation • Roofing Repair & Installation • Metal Roofing & Tile Roof Repair Specialists 383277

Personal Services

“No Job Too Small”

Bisson Roofing Inc.

Power Washing

$100 COUPON $100 COUPON

384299

$100 COUPON $100 COUPON

RC0067420 • Lic. & Ins. Owner Supervises Every Job

Form Serving Longboat Key Since 2005

$100 COUPON

• Pool Cage Restoration • Rescreening Specialists • Specialty Screens • Paint • Doors and more!

Satisfaction guarantee Satisfaction Guarantee Pool cage Restoration/ Rescreening specialists Manufacture and Workmanship Warranties

Advertise your business, starting at only $85 per month.

OBSERVER RED PAGES

Call 941-955-4888 YourObserver.com/RedPages

specialty screens / screw replacement / paint Doors and more!

Manufacture and workmanship Warranties

(941) 345-5264

HEROES found here.

Relax. You’ve got better things to do.

Find a professional here in the Red Pages.

RED PAGES Made for where you live. Here!

Call 941-955-4888 or visit YourObserver.com/redpages

www.bissonroofing.com

RIGHT ON TARGET

383581

Lic./Ins.

& Pressure C Window lean t e s ing n s a S u n u n w r o i s n e Wind S erly k

941 - 748 - 7400

Rescreening & Repairs

941-345-5264

Res./Com.

Specializing in Reroofs and Repairs FREE Estimates • 30 Years Experience

384247

$100 COUPON $100 COUPON

$100 COUPON

Windows

384257

383276

941-920-8221

FREE INSTANT ESTIMATES when you Call RICK for SCHEDULING

383585

Roofing

RELIABLE • INSURED

941-CLEAN IT 2 5 3 - 2 6 4 8

383583

Small plumbing repairs. Replace toilets, faucets, water filters, water softeners and repair leaks.

House Washing, Roofs, Screen Cages, Pavers, Driveways and Walkways.

Insured

941-270-1561

Mark’s Plumbing Service

PRESSURE WASHING

Screening

25

UP TO

STANDARD WINDOWS

ows

150

$

INCLUDING SCREENS, TRACKS, MIRRORS & FANS

SPECIAL 00 5

$

senior citizen discount. www.sunsetwindowcleaningsrq.com

Purified water window cleaning available!!

Call Tibor for FREE ESTIMATES | 941- 284 - 5880

384261

384246

Plumbing

WE ARE THE SOFT WASH PRESSURE WASHING PROS

941-626-3194

Licensed & Insured CCC - 058059 CBC - 1253936

Eldridge Re-Screen Licensed

SOFT WASH

15B

Kenneth Fuhlman Inc.

Complete Interior & Exterior Painting

$100 COUPON

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

Roofing

UNIQUE PAINTING & PRESSURE WASHING SERVICES

$100 COUPON

|

EAST COUNTY OBSERVER

|

YourObserver.com

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2022

FURNITURE & MAT TRESS

Take Immediate Delivery On All In-Stock Items

★ 4th Of July ★

Sale

BUY MORE, SAVE MORE ★

★

Going On Now!

Ends July 4 th

! | Surfside Wing Chair

NOW $1088 Reg. $2619

Enjoy Instant Savings Up To

$5000 OFF Your Purchase ★

★

★

This 4th of July bring your Florida lifestyle home with Instant Savings Storewide during our Buy More, Save More Sale!

$100 OFF

Valid on purchases of $2,000-$2,999

$175 OFF

Valid on purchases of $3,000-$4,999

$350 OFF

Valid on purchases of $5,000-$7,999

$500 OFF

Valid on purchases of $8,000-$9,999

! | Ciao Bella Dining Table

NOW $2589 Reg. $5589

! | Queen Panel Bed

NOW $898 Reg. $2429

$1000 OFF

Valid on purchases of $10,000-$19,999

$2000 OFF

Valid on purchases of $20,000-$29,999

$3000 OFF

Valid on purchases of $30,000-$39,999

$5000 OFF

Valid on purchases of $40,000 or more

Rules: 1) Within the above promotional dates, if any products are cancelled or removed from a Sales Order after initial purchase, the savings will be reduced on all products and the amount recalculated based on the qualifying level. 2) After the promotional dates, if any products are removed or cancelled, the entire discount will be removed from the Sales Order and priced at the current sale pricing.

! | 100% Genuine Italian Leather Sofa

NOW $1988 Reg. $4999

Exclusions: Valid on furniture purchases only. One per address, valid on new sales only. No cash value.

Some exclusions apply. Not applicable on clearance, closeout items, MSRP products, special value items or accessories. Excludes Stressless®, Temper-Pedic®, Sealy® and Stearns & Foster®. Does not include service plans or delivery fees.

Event Ends 07/04/2022

FURNITURE & MAT TRESS

matterbrothersfurniture.com | 383992-1

16B

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SPIRIT OF AMERICA

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JULY 2022

Together with you.

From the shores of Anna Maria Island to Boca Grande, we are proud to call the Gulf Coast of Florida our home. Just like our nation, Michael Saunders & Company was founded on the values of independence and community.

Wishing you a happy and safe 4th of July.

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JULY 2022

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JULY 2022

CONTENTS ALSO INSIDE

18

Calendar............................ 8

CARS From cruising down the local strip to zooming across country, we love our four-wheeled independence.

Fireworks shows............ 10

OTHER THINGS WE LOVE Wide open spaces........... 12 Our national anthem...... 14 Honoring veterans......... 16 Rocking out.................... 19

20

Beer................................ 22 BALD EAGLES As national mascots go, our is a fierce representation of our spirit.

Revolutionaries.............. 23 Jazz................................ 24 The American dream.... 26 Football........................... 28 Apple pie........................ 32 Our flag.......................... 34 Freedom......................... 34

30

HISTORY To know where you’re going, sometimes it’s important to know where you’ve been.

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Land of the Free Because of the Brave - God Bless America!

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BACHELOR’S DEGREES WHEN YOU CAN, THE WAY YOU WANT. Early Childhood Education Elementary Education Exceptional Student Education Health Services Administration Public Safety and Emergency Management Supervision and Management Nursing

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State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate and baccalaureate degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota does not discriminate on the basis of sex, pregnancy, race, religion, age, national origin/ethnicity, color, marital status, disability, genetic information or sexual orientation in any of its educational programs, services and activities, including admission and employment. Direct inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies to: Equity Officer, 941-752-5323, 5840 26th St. W., Bradenton, FL 34207. The Bachelor of Science degrees in the fields of Elementary Education and Exceptional Student Education (ESE) will begin enrolling students this fall, pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

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JULY 2022

HAVE A

America: We have a lot in common

JULY 4

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Don’t let the noise fool you. As Americans, we agree on more things than you might think.

My fellow Americans, I am writing here to tell you something that perhaps people don’t want to admit. Something so outlandish and contrary to the current narrative in our country that it might seem like it couldn’t be true. Something that the politicians and perhaps some media don’t really want us to realize.

That we, as Americans, have a lot more in common than we think.

Right before the 2020 election, at a time that we seemed witheringly polarized as a populace, a Harvard University study found that 71% of Americans “have more in common with each other than many people think.”

That’s a pretty large majority, but now consider this. One of the key questions of the study was asking Americans about what they deem are “essential rights important to being an American today.” More than 93% of respondents — across all political affiliations — agreed on the following as being essential rights: voting, equal protection, free speech, equal opportunity, privacy and racial equality.

Even on the touchy issues, things like the right to bear arms and LGBTQ rights, bipartisan

majorities agreed on those as being essential rights, to the tune of about 70%.

Let’s be honest: It benefits certain groups to divide us. That is, after all, how they win. They are asking us to choose one candidate over another, one channel over another, one ideology over another. But when it comes down to it, we might agree on way more than on which we disagree.

In psychology, one tool to help people experience gratitude is to ask them to focus on what’s going right rather than on what’s going wrong. Just this simple reframing can help us enjoy our lives more, feel more satisfied and give us a better outlook on the future.

As we planned this section, we wondered: If it works for individuals, why wouldn’t it work for us as a country?

In the spirit of finding common ground, we sought things we can celebrate about America. Things we all have in common. And guess what? We had way more than 15.

That, to me, was good news. It means that as a country, much like a family, we share a lot of DNA. So the next time people try to focus on how we’ve never been more divided, try to remember the things we have in common.

Turns out, there are a lot of them.

— KAT HUGHES, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

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JULY 2022

FIREWORKS

File photo

The crowd watches fireworks explode along the Sarasota bayfront in 2021.

SUNDAY, JULY 3

MONDAY, JULY 4

traveling down Tamiami Trail to catch the impressive fireworks show launching from the south jetty at Venice Beach around 9 p.m. The free, 30-minute show can be checked out at several area beaches from Caspersen to Nokomis. The south jetty and Jetty Jack’s Refreshment Deck will be closed to the public. For more information, visit VeniceGov.com.

VENICE FIREWORKS There are few better ideas than

PALMETTO FOURTH OF JULY FESTIVAL The Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency’s annual Fourth of July festival will again be a lively affair, with craft beer and food vendors at Sutton Park, 1036 Sixth St. W., Palmetto. Live music and kids activities start at 5 p.m., and fireworks will begin

FIREWORKS ON THE LAKE Take part in this fireworks show with festivities beginning at 4 p.m. at Nathan Benderson Park.

The fireworks will begin over the lake when the sun goes down, around 9 p.m. Details to come.

For more information, call 3587275.

BAYFRONT FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR The fireworks display will kick off around 9 p.m. with seating around Sarasota’s Island Park, the bayfront and downtown. Free.

For more information, visit SuncoastSummerfest.org.

at dusk. Event is free. For more information, call 723-4988.

SIESTA KEY COMMUNITY FIREWORKS The Siesta Key Community Fireworks show, now in its 31st year, has families and friends flocking to Siesta Key’s whitesand beaches for an evening of fun. The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce hosts the community event on Siesta Key Beach. Fireworks are free, but the event has sponsorships available that provide free parking, free beverages and snacks, as well as preferred seating at the hospitality area for the best view. Viewing area opens at 6 p.m., and fireworks start at dusk. For more information, call 349-3800.

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JULY 2022

Robinson Preserve features incredible vistas and wide open spaces to hike and kayak.

Photos by Spencer Fordin

Carlton Reserve is a seasonal mix of dense vegetation, wet prairies and pine flatwoods.

No. 1:

Wide Open Spaces

From deserts and mountains to forests and beaches, when it comes to a variety of landscapes, climates and breathtaking features, ‘America the Beautiful’ got it right: We’ve got just about everything you could want to see in our 50 states. Close to home, our wide open spaces usually revolve around water. Here are a few places nearby to enjoy.

The pine trees in the area were used for making turpentine starting in the late 1800s. The forest did not become a nature reserve until 1995, when it was purchased as part of the Myakka Estuary Conservation and Recreation Lands project.

Now it consists of 8,592 acres of protected spaces that provide hiking and recreational opportunities to area residents.

Here are just a few of the wide open spaces Sarasota residents can enjoy.

SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR

I

t’s a city known for its beaches and posh resorts. But it’s nestled in a thicket of forests and wide open spaces.

Sarasota, bordered on the west by the Sarasota Bay, stands in the shadow of the Myakka State Forest, a natural habitat that provides a home for deer and countless species of birds.

The forest is made of mesic flatwoods, characterized by an open canopy of tall pines and a dense ground layer of shrubs and grasses. The Myakka River runs through the northeastern part of the forest, cleaving the forest into two distinct tracts.

Much of what we now know as state forest was historically used for cattle grazing and farming.

MYAKKA RIVER STATE PARK

The seeds for the Myakka River State Park were sown by a Chicago businesswoman named Bertha Palmer, who relocated to the Gulf Coast and bought thousands of acres of land. She used much of the territory for cattle and swine

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ranching, and when she died in 1918, the Civilian Conservation Fund purchased 17,000 acres of Palmer’s land.

That territory was turned into Myakka River State Park, which was developed between 1934 and 1941 and opened to the public in 1942. Many of the amenities still in use today — including the visitor center and two picnic pavilions — were originally developed by the Civilian Conservation Fund, and the park has grown up all around it.

There are two ways to enter the park, and if you enter off State Road 72, you’ll quickly be confronted with a large open space on both sides of the road. If the weather is right, you’ll see alligators lounging in open fields or submerged up to their eyes.

There’s also a spot named Deep

Hole Trail where you can see dozens of alligators sunning themselves.

What else can you see in the park? That depends on the season and the time of day.

You can routinely see deer and large wading birds such as great blue herons and sandhill cranes in the park, many of them congregating near the boat launch and in scattered water holes throughout the park.

There’s also an elevated canopy walk that will allow you to take a 100-foot jaunt through the skyline 25 feet above the ground. The walkway also has a tower that stands 74 feet high, giving you a chance for a bird’s-eye view of the forest.

The canopy walk was completed in 2000, and it’s billed as the first public treetop trail in North America.

Another cool feature of the park is the birdwalk, a walkway that extends over the river’s floodplain. From here you can look out over a wide expanse of land and see birds of prey hunting over

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CARLTON RESERVE

The Carlton Reserve is closer to Venice than Sarasota, and it’s connected to the Myakka River State Park Reserve via the 12-mile Myakka Island Wilderness Trail, but it serves its own distinct purpose.

The property was purchased in 1982 for the purposes of developing a wellfield to provide drinking water for Sarasota County, and today it consists of 24,565 acres set aside for conservation.

There are more than 100 miles of trails to walk, bicycle or ride horses on, providing endless opportunities for recreation.

Some treeless areas of the ground are known as wet prairies; this means they are low-lying treeless areas with soft-stemmed plants. The Carlton Reserve has more than 1,000 of these wet prairies over its territory.

During the rainy season, flood waters will cover much of the 38 square miles of the Carlton Reserve, and fish can navigate the whole expanse. But in April and May, when the waters recede, the fish are trapped in shallow pockets.

That gives wading birds plenty of opportunity to pick off a meal with minimal effort.

There are more than 80 miles of hiking trails within the Carlton Reserve, and they are delineated by color-coded markings.

The Carlton Reserve also has a kayak launch, and 6.5 miles of the Myakka River abuts the reserve.

ROBINSON PRESERVE

To the north, the Robinson Preserve is situated on a salt marsh in Bradenton and consists of a 600-

acre span of coastline.

Here, you’ll find waterways to canoe or kayak down and scenic bridges, mangrove forests and picnic spots to traverse on land.

The Valentine House, a 120year old home, was relocated to the Robinson Preserve and rests near the entrance.

Perhaps the most prominent feature of the reserve is a 53-foot tower that provides a commanding view of the Tampa Bay. You can see the Sunshine Skyway off in the distance, and in the foreground, canoes or kayaks lazily cutting through the water.

Interestingly, Robinson Preserve was formerly distressed farmland. Much like the other parks in the area, it has been restored to its natural state by a partnership of state and local agencies dedicated to conserving wild Florida. Here you can see a wide variety of birds all yearround, and there are miles of hiking trails to saunter down and enjoy the view.

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No. 2:

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JULY 2022

Our National Anthem

Ever hear other nations’ anthems? Yep — booorrring.

Not only is our anthem spirited (sort of like us), but it has been performed in every style out there. Three singers explain what it takes to do it justice.

LIZ RAMOS

and hitting the right pitch is important so she can be confident, said the singer, who is 11.

“I get nervous every time I sing it, but I feel honored they picked me to sing it and not some other adult who could probably sing it better than I can,” she said.

The first two times Ochsendorf sang the national anthem at the Sarasota Polo Club, she sang accompanied by a piano recording. In her final performance, Ochsendorf decided to show the ultimate in national anthem courage — performing it acapella.

The “Star-Spangled Banner” is a song everyone in the U.S. has heard, but our national anthem is rarely performed the same way.

Whether it’s the key, tempo, style, or sometimes the notes themselves, singers’ interpretation can be as unique as we are.

Three local singers, who are students and a teacher at the Music Compound, share their own approaches to the national anthem.

“Many different artists are singing it in many different ways,” said Lakewood Ranch’s Sabine Kvenberg, a teacher at Music Compound. “You have to find the right way that works for you and your voice.”

Lakewood Ranch’s Jasleen

STAFF WRITER

S

arasota’s Jessie Ochsendorf likes to focus on an object when she’s standing in front of a large crowd preparing to sing the national anthem.

So what better object to focus on than the red and white stripes of an American flag?

Ochsendorf uses the flag as her mode of concentration. Beginning the national anthem strong

Courtesy photo

Sarasota’s Jessie Ochsendorf chooses to sing the national anthem acapella.

Liz Ramos

Lakewood Ranch’s Sabine Kvenberg, who also is a teacher at the Music Compound, takes Lakewood Ranch’s Jasleen Kaur have both sung the national anthem before polo matches at the Sarasota Polo Club.

Kaur, who is 17, said being able to put her own spin on a song that is so well known is scary.

“You don’t want people to be like, ‘Oh, she didn’t sing it the right way,’” Kaur said. “You just have to know that any song you sing you have to add your own little twist to it. Nobody wants to sing it exactly how it’s written.”

Kvenberg said the national anthem actually is quite challenging to sing because of its wide range.

“The modern pop songs have a small range, so a lot of people can sing them,” Kvenberg said. But the “Star-Spangled Banner” has notes that span an octave and a half, making it difficult for even

seasoned singers.

At times, singers like Kaur and Ochsendorf admit they have trouble reaching the high note that comes with the word “free” in the song.

The key to a great rendition, the singers said, it just that — finding the right key to start on to be able to achieve that high note, and then identifying the areas of the song where they can showcase their singing abilities.

Kvenberg, who is 62, looks for moments where she can show off the power of her voice. “The ramparts red glare, the bombs bursting in air,” is her sweet spot.

Ochsendorf agreed. That line in particular is her favorite because

it allows her to project as the melody builds.

“The music gives you guidance,” Kvenberg said. “The melody is so important. For me, words are important too, but the melody is something that touches you on a different level. With the national anthem and how it is written, it’s just so beautiful.”

In contrast, Kaur said she takes it slow and her voice is often softer. She emphasizes lyrics with a lot of emotion because of the deep meaning behind the song.

Kvenberg’s favorite lyric is the last line of the song “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

“Living in a country like the United States, sometimes we take it for granted, the freedom we have,” she said. “And also the bravery from a lot of brave souls who fought for freedom. It reminds us how lucky we are, and we should be eternally grateful for that freedom.”

The same lyrics are Kaur’s favorite because they give her an opportunity to play with the melody and sing at different notes.

Each of the singers said she is honored to be able to sing the national anthem at an event.

“It feels special because it also represents our country,” Kvenberg said. “When I sing a song, I am 100% engaged in it. I put my whole self into a song. In that moment, when I perform, the song becomes part of me, and I become part of the song.”

QUIZ Test your anthem acumen at YourObserver.com

WE REMEMBER & HONOR. WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR OUR VETERANS WHO SELFLESSLY DEFENDED OUR COUNTRY AND PROTECTED OUR

FREEDOM.

We are THANKFUL for all veterans and are HONORED to have over 25 working side by side with us. We are so GRATEFUL for their service to this country and we are PROUD to have them on our team now serving our clients. We also thank the HEROES who continue to fight for our freedom today, as well as the families who support them at home.

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SPIRIT OF AMERICA

No. 3:

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YourObserver.com

JULY 2022

Honoring Veterans

It’s easy to take it for granted as Americans, but we celebrate several holidays to remind ourselves: Freedom isn’t free. From wreath laying to taps ceremonies, our traditions ensure we never forget to thank those who sacrificed for our country. One local in particular makes sure he does his part to keep these traditions alive.

HARRY SAYER STAFF WRITER

S

arasota pays respect to its veterans.

The city comes together for Memorial Day parades, soldier memorials, Fourth of July celebrations and more.

But these traditions don’t just happen. They are the work of many individuals, each contributing in their own ways. Danny Bilyeu has become a part of that support year in and year out, and maybe not in the way you’d expect.

Bilyeu has a long and involved history with the public service — you’ll likely remember him as a former city commissioner and later a field representative for U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan. If you have enjoyed Sarasota’s annual holiday parade recently, it’s Bilyeu that organizes that lively march down Main Street each year.

His day job is as construction field manager for Habitat for Humanity Sarasota. But another one of what he considers his duties — quietly but no less importantly — is act as the bugler who plays taps on his horn to close out military funerals and services. If you’ve attended one of Sarasota’s many tributes to those who have served our country, and stayed for

the ceremonies that follow, you’ll likely have seen Bilyeu standing proudly and blowing his horn in musical tribute.

The 24 notes that compose the melancholy music that typically ends military funerals and memorial services is an everpresent fixture at these events, and Bilyeu takes his role playing them seriously.

“It brings an end,” Bilyeu said.

“Especially on Memorial Day, where we’re remembering those who gave it all. It’s a remembrance of them.”

Bilyeu found his musical passion early, growing up in Illinois where he started playing music in middle school.

That developed into playing for the high school band and learning to play the trumpet. He studied music at Manatee Community College — now the State College of Florida — and played jazz music.

He had a respect for the military even earlier than that. Bilyeu’s father was a Navy veteran who saw his share of combat while serving on a Destroyer warship in World War 2.

Living and learning about his father’s time in the military — and seeing the toll that time had on him — fostered a respect and patriotism in Bilyeu that he carried with him as he grew.

“I respected his service to the country,” Bilyeu said. “After he died when I was 15, I didn’t (play taps) as much until I moved to Sarasota in ’79 and became involved with the (city) commission.”

Bilyeu started attending veterans events and services while serving as a city commissioner, and that carried on after he moved on to new positions. Bilyeu has played at veterans events, parades, memorial services and more.

When his dear friend Paul Thorpe, who started many downtown Sarasota parades and traditions, died in 2017, Bilyeu was there performing taps at his service at Sarasota National Cemetery.

He’s contributed to veteran groups in other ways as well.

Bilyeu routinely plays the Kiwanis Veterans Breakfast each year and plays service songs for the group.

“It’s a privilege and an honor to be able to play,” Bilyeu said. “These people gave their lives so we can do what we do.”

One of his most proud moments

through the years has been helping put together the Spirit of 45 observance program and threeday celebration in Sarasota in 2015, which had a dinner event that invited World War II veterans to attend and had big band music, swing dancers and more.

The weekend of events concluded with a large production with more than 40 trumpet players who played a moving rendition of taps at the Sarasota

National Cemetery. Bilyeu still thinks about performing with the group, and the veterans he recognized over the weekend, with pride.

“It had to be the highlight of my work supporting veterans,” Bilyeu said.

In spite of his many times performing and participating in events, Bilyeu makes it a priority to keep from becoming the center of attention during the ceremony.

When he’s playing taps out in the Sarasota National Cemetery, he keeps away from the stage and stands behind the crowd near the headstones.

“You just need to hear the music, you don’t need to see me playing because it’s not about me,” Bilyeu said. “It’s my contribution to what these people have done. There’s mixed emotions, but God gave me the talent so I’m going to use it.”

Danny Bilyeu plays taps at ceremonies locally.

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JULY 2022

No. 4:

Cars I

ERIC GARWOOD MANAGING EDITOR

With nearly 47,000 miles of interstate highway in the U.S., it’s no wonder Americans dig cars. At a recent car show, we tune into what we love so much about our four-wheeled rides.

Photos by Eric Garwood

Chevrolet Corvette noses in a patriotic color scheme.

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t’s a sunny Saturday morning in some agrarian, eastern European country that ends in -ia or -stan.

Villagers arise to a bucolic setting, grab a creamy mug of dhallë and head to the main square to chat with old friends or make some new ones.

It’s a few kilometers down the rutted dirt road, so maybe they walk, ride a bike, hitch an ox to a cart or fire up a decades-old, Soviet-era tractor that runs on anything from kerosene to cooking oil. Either way, the fellowship is obvious as the villagers chat about things they love: the harvest, livestock, who really owns the means of production or that wacky Borat fellow.

Just like-minded people enjoying each other’s company.

Here in the USA, on a sunny Saturday morning, the sentiment is much the same, replayed in gatherings over and over from Miami to Seattle with origins further back than the real-life people who inspired “American Graffiti.”

It’s a motor-crazy staple called a Cars and Coffee meet-up, where people chat about things they love: rumbling muscle cars, six-figure exotics, classic vintage sportsters, built-from-theground-up hot rods, hatchbacks seemingly propelled by their stereo systems alone and zoomy rebuilds of what once were sensible econoboxes.

We may say we hate bumperto-bumper traffic, $4.75 gas, spiraling insurance premiums, redlight cameras, slow-pokes in the passing lane, 55 mph speed limits, radar guns and parking meters — the trappings that accompany

25

Robert Alfarone and his 1955 Chevrolet pickup truck.

everyday commuting. But we love our cars and the freedom they deliver, to the point that all other headaches pale once we, quoting Steppenwolf here, “get your motor running.”

So unconditional is that love, mind you, that a drivers’ license is not required.

Meet Brian Sanchez, a soonto-be-fourth-grader from St. Petersburg whose Lakewood Ranch grandfather is as car crazy as he is. Standing next to a waisthigh-to-an-adult Ford GT that even Brian towered above, the youngster made clear that soccer is cool, video games are cooler, but internal combustion, man . . .

“Look at them all,” Brian said, shooting a smile at his grandfather not far away and plugging his ears when a monster-sized motor fired up 20 feet away, instantly turning a few bucks worth of refined former dinosaur into noise, heat, fumes and boyhood joy. “I’m not sure which one is my favorite ... this one maybe.”

CORVETTE LOVE

John and Nita Govoni, of Bradenton have owned their 1963 Chevrolet Corvette coupe since he bought it in 1969 at age 22. To look at it today, you’d think John F. Kennedy was still a newly minted president and a gallon of Sinclair was still 30 cents. They drove their blue, split-window fastback to hang out with other owners of America’s quintessential sports car, doing what most everyone at such an event does: chat with anyone who stops by.

“It’s gotta be in your blood, you’ve gotta be a gearhead, I’ve been messing around with cars since I was 15,” John said, adding he brought eight cars with him when he and Nita moved to Florida. “If we didn’t have these cars, we wouldn’t meet anybody.

You know, neither of us work. If you’re working at a job, you meet people, so with these cars, we go to shows and we meet all kinds of people. You talk to them, we all got something in common: We

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spent all our money on cars.”

He’s had the Corvette brought back to original condition.

Though it’s not a daily driver, Govoni said he regularly enjoys the memories it delivers.

“My daughter, she grew up in the car,” he said, adding the Corvette is probably worth about $150,000 (original list price in 1963: about $4,300), adding the “not-for-sale price is $250,000.”

“If someone wanted it bad enough and they wanted to spend $250 (thousand),” he said, pausing for a moment, “I gotta give it to my daughter.”

A TOY THAT REALLY WORKS

Robert Alfarone’s 1955 Chevrolet pick-up truck is more than a play thing. He uses it as part of his ice cream catering business and, a bit, as a connection to his wife, who died of cancer in 2015.

Together, they had worked on the truck since 2003.

“It’s an ongoing project,” he said, agreeing with a passer-by who added “they always are.”

“That’s it, it’s kinda a fun project. It kinda, sorta keeps me out of trouble — until you get in and start the motor.”

Oh, the motor.

It’s a rumbling 350 cubic inch (that’s 5.7 liters, kids) V-8 that’s been modified to displace 383 cubic inches — a far cry from its factory-original six cylinders.

He’s designed the truck’s look, the custom interior, the custom wood bed. “It’s a labor of love.

Every time I walk into the garage, I find something new to do on it.”

Alfarone said he’s at a car gathering most every weekend with his dog, but he likes the Cars and Coffee meet-up the best.

“I love the get-togethers,” he said. “And this is even nicer

because there’s no pressure, you don’t have to win a trophy, you just come and show up.”

The night before a car show, Alfarone said, he made $450 with his ice cream business, selling scoops out of the back. Ice cream, he’ll sell. The truck, well ...

“I could never sell it,” he said.

“And again, only because my wife and I had 19 years into it before she passed away,” he said. “So, no, it’s going to my daughter when I’m done.”

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Rocking Out

OBSERVER STAFF STAFF

On the opposite end of the gathering far from the bluster of American iron and muscle, Rich Barbieri’s car-show neighbors were, shall we say, a little more refined. He loves his new 1968 Jaguar E-type, considered one of the sexiest machines ever built.

Barbieri has owned the Jaguar a little more than a year, but other classics such as a BMW M3, Porsches, a Ferrari are in his garage as well. “I own seven cars, which is kid of silly.”

This one, though, is something special. It’s that sexiness, even without air conditioning.

“I’ve always liked the styling,” he said. “Enzo Ferrari said it was the nicest car he’d ever seen, which is saying a lot coming from Enzo.”

A recent gathering was the first time he had brought the butteryellow convertible out to a car show. He said he’s always had a soft spot for the Jaguar — he’s in cool company: Steve McQueen, Tony Curtis, Brigette Bardot also owned one.

So does the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

“There’s something nostalgic about older cars...” Barbieri said.

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Classics like Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and Ray Charles’ rendition of “America the Beautiful” will always put you in the patriotic spirit, and you can never go wrong with Whitney Houston singing “The StarSpangled Banner.” But this year, try broadening your soundtrack for some extra flair.

Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag” is a spoken piece that tells the history of the proud country the flag has flown over. On her patriotic hit “American Heart,” Faith Hill said, “Times are hard and people are struggling, but our spirit as Americans always seems to prevail.”

Although the country genre might not be everyone’s favorite, it’s provided plenty of road trip-type hits that celebrate the U.S. Can you listen to “Dixieland Delight” without singing along?

And make sure to catch the Sarasota call-out in Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere.”

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“Sweet Caroline” is of course a must, but don’t miss another of Neil Diamond’s patriotic songs, “America,” which celebrates being the home for immigrants. “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson on the struggles Black Americans faced following the Reconstruction era, has been known as the Black national anthem since 1917. Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” ranked No. 3 in Rolling Stone’s 2021 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, became a civil rights anthem after its 1964 release.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” is another Fourth of July classic, thanks to its catchy and upbeat chorus, but listen to the bluesy verses for the tale of veterans facing economic hardships after returning from Vietnam.

Turn up the volume with spirited pop too. Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A” will fit in with every playlist, and Weezer’s “I Love the USA” is a fun close to the party.

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SPIRIT OF AMERICA

No. 6:

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YourObserver.com

JULY 2022

The Bald Eagle As anyone who has seen one of these beauties in person can attest, it’s hard to imagine a better symbol of strength and freedom. Luckily, we have an abundance of them, so we talked to a few aviary enthusiasts on what makes them so special.

Jay Heater

Bald eagles often frequent the area in Lakewood Ranch aptly named White Eagle Boulevard.

JAY HEATER MANAGING EDITOR

Photography Club and a Florida Audubon Eagle Watch volunteer.

“When I see a bald eagle flying, my eyes are drawn to its size, strength, agility, and how free it looks. Like the birds, Americans are strong, love where they live, and protect it. But mostly, we are free like the eagles.”

Sarasota’s Rick Waid said the fact the bald eagle has been America’s national bird since 1782 makes photographing it special.

“It’s a symbol of our country, and of bravery,” Waid said. “It’s a bird of prey, and intelligent. I’ve grown up with it. Eagles are dramatic, huge, acrobatic.”

He loves the bonds they form.

“You can see the attraction between them,” he said. “I was watching a mated pair the other day and it almost looked like they

BIG BIRD

National recognition: The bald eagle has been the national bird of the United States since 1782 when it was placed on the Great Seal of the country.

Partially protected: The bald eagle was removed from the federally endangered and threatened list in 2007 and was removed from the Florida Fish and Wildlife threatened species list in 2008. However several state and federal acts still project the majestic bird.

Right on the money: Do you know why the bald eagle is considered the most photographed bird? Look at your $1 bill.

Big crib: Bald eagles build the biggest nests of any bird, sometimes reaching 13 feet deep, 8 feet wide and weighing almost a ton.

Fast flyer: Bald eagles often fly at speeds from 35 to 40 miles per hour but can dive at speeds up to 100 miles per hour.

Not so bald: Bald eagles don’t develop their white head and tail feathers until they are 4 or older.

Get to know me: Eagles can live more than 30 years in the wild.

Somebody’s watching you: Bald eagles can see forward and to the side at the same time.

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n speaking with friends from outside Florida, University Park’s Susan Beausang often mentions she had just come back from photographing bald eagles.

“They are amazed to hear I can go out and photograph a bald eagle here in Florida,” Beausang said.

Indeed, Florida ranks third in the U.S. with its more than 1,500 nesting pairs (study by AZAnimals.com) of bald eagles, behind only Alaska, which boasts more than 30,000 bald eagles, and Wisconsin, which has an estimated 1,600 nesting pairs.

Beausang, a member of the Lakewood Ranch Digital Pho-

tography Club, takes advantage of the many bald eagle nests in Sarasota and Manatee counties to photograph the majestic bird.

She especially likes watching nests on White Eagle Boulevard in Lakewood Ranch, at the Manatee County landfill site in East County, and on Lido Key Beach in Sarasota.

“White Eagle really is the best because it is so open there,” Beausang said. “And it’s such a fun thing because you can watch the ongoing story.”

Although most bald eagles fly north in the summer, some remain year round.

“Watching the bald eagle, it’s no wonder it is our country’s symbol of freedom,” said Margaret Lanier, who is a member of the Lakewood Ranch Digital

were kissing.”

Waid likes the White Eagle Boulevard nest as a place to shoot, and he likes that the mating pair there seem to keep coming back to the same nest every year. He also shoots photos of bald eagles in Longboat Key just off Gulf of Mexico Drive at Triton Bend.

Getting dramatic shots of the bald eagles can be tough though.

“Believe me, they can sit on a perch for hours on end and do nothing,” Beausang said.

Sarasota’s Jane Lyons, who moved to the area five years ago from New York City, knows that patience is rewarded when it comes to photographing bald eagles, but that’s OK because she has made visiting a nest on Lido Key Beach in Sarasota part of her everyday walk down the beach.

She said the bald eagles seem like part of her family now.

“I know them and can identify them by their expressions,” she said. “I can tell them apart when they fly. Every day gives me more insight.”

She has gained respect for bald eagles after watching them be caring parents, and she has grieved with them the past two years when their chicks have died, possibly due to poisoning from the adults bringing home rodents that have eaten rat poison.

Jeanne Dubi, president of Sarasota Audubon chapter, said that is a problem in the region that area residents can solve by not using poisons that can kill bald eagles.

Those who photograph the majestic bird are just glad it is no longer rare to see one.

Lyons is just happy they chose the bald eagle as the national bird.

“They were going to choose a turkey,” she said.

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JULY 2022

No. 7:

Beer

Just because we didn’t come up with the idea doesn’t stop Americans from taking something and making it uniquely ours. Like beer. So crack open a cold one and dive into the debate : big brews vs. craft concoctions.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

B

eer.

Americans didn’t invent it, but we’ve have spent the last few decades trying to perfect it.

From the time the federal government lifted the ban on home brewing in the late 1970s, craft beer has migrated from the kitchen sink to the brewpub as brewers have toiled to mix unique flavors and specialty grain blends into gourmet concoctions.

But did they really need to do that? And is there still a dominant taste for commercially produced, familiar brands from decades gone by?

Whether swilling by the waves or sipping at a table, both have their following, and they are by and large the same.

“Beer drinkers come back to the legacy brands when they are doing some hardcore, sitting-on-thebeach drinking, poolside drinking and golf drinking. They’re not drinking the heavier craft beers,” said John Saputo, who owns Gold Coast Eagle Distributing in Lakewood Ranch.

They are drinking the heavier craft beers, though, in growing numbers straight from the tap in brewpubs, tasting rooms of trendy micro breweries and from bottles and cans from grocery store shelves as distributors — like Gold Coast Eagle — cater to the demand craft brewers are creating.

Mike Bisaha, co-founder and CEO of the Sarasota-Bradenton area’s first craft brewery, Big Top Brewing Co., said his brewery produces roughly 10,000 barrels a year. Big Top and other breweries are taking a small but hoppy bite out of the market.

“We’re with 13 different dis-

Nearly as old as mankind itself, the history of beer production dates back some 6,000 years. In 1516, Germany enacted the Beer Law requiring beer to be brewed using only water, malt, hops and yeast, the same raw ingredients used today.

According to The Atlantic, here is a history of the craft beer movement in the U.S. 1965: Fritz Maytag, great-grandson of a home appliances tycoon who purchased a 51% stake in Anchor Steam, set out to improve the quality of his favorite beer and enhance its flavor, leading to new styles including Liberty Ale, the country’s first modern IPA.

tributors, primarily AnheuserBusch distributors, throughout Florida and we have thousands and thousands of accounts,” Bisaha said.

Piggy-backing on the distribution of the major domestic brands demonstrates that craft and legacy commercial beers can coexist in harmony.

“I honestly think that we’re complementary of each other,” Bisaha said. “The big brands are always going to have their place, and the craft market is just fighting for the scraps. But there’s no question that if one local craft gets someone to try a craft beer, as it allows that consumer to have a different perception, we’re more likely to get them to try our brand as well.

“In general, there’s a perception craft beer is hoppy and bitter.

That’s not what all craft beer is by any means. It’s just getting getting consumers to try something outside of their wheelhouse.”

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FORD VERSUS CHEVY

Commercially produced beers still control 80% of the market in the U.S., slightly higher locally, according to Saputo. Gold Coast Eagle distributes 285 different labels and has more than 1,100 varieties in its warehouse. Saputo said 70% of the American adult population drinks beer, account-

n Stella Artois n Bud Light n Budweiser n Miller Lite n Corona Extra

ing for 40% of all alcohol consumed in the U.S., with 20% of it liquor and the remainder wine.

Brand loyalty among the commercial beers is fierce.

Craft beers not so much.

“The craft beer drinker by design is always looking for something that’s new and creative,” Bisaha said. “It could be an IPA, but there are thousands of different IPAs, so there’s no loyalty, whereas if you look at the domestic side, there’s absolutely brand loyalty. It’s the same as Ford and Chevy. There’s no steering away from it, where in craft beer we see the exact opposite.”

Brand loyalty aside, the craft beer movement is driving change among the legacy commercial labels, with women leading the adaptation toward more fruitflavored beers, seltzers and readyto-drink pop-top cocktails.

“A lot of these these new products are driven by demands of women,” Saputo said. “They are consumers who have not been into beer, and they’re demanding different flavors, they’re demanding different products and we’re trying to stay ahead of the game by coming up with new stuff as fast as we can.”

Beer producers feel the need for speed as nimble craft brewers can create new concoctions daily to test the on palates of the ever-

“The craft beer drinker by design is always looking for something that’s new and creative.”

— Mike Bisaha

evolving new brew demographic.

That’s why hyperlocal craft breweries’ audiences are within a short trip of their brewpubs and tasting rooms, providing geographical loyalty in person, less so in bottles or cans on grocery shelves in farflung locales.

Big Top and other craft breweries in Sarasota-Bradenton that started a decade ago and survived are competing for that 20% of the market share on both fronts.

“When we started in 2013 we saw the the mad rush with a lot of breweries coming into the market,” Bisaha said. “There was a lot of emphasis on local breweries and everybody wanted to have local, and they only really wanted to focus on what’s in a 15-mile radius, which is really good to some extent, but when you’re a brewery that’s been built for distribution, which are a lot of what we call like our class of 2013 are, you can’t do it within just a 15-mile radius.”

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YEARS OF BEER

1979: Home brewing is legalized. Signed by President Jimmy Carter, HR 1337, made way for the home brewing movement. According to some sources, up to 90% of craft brewers began as home brewers.

1997: The home brewing legislation paved the way for microbreweries to start opening.

Between 1985 and 1997, new brewery growth was at least 20% per year; some years considerably more, most of them not surviving.

2000s: More than putting their own spin on old-world styles, breweries that survived the beer bust began reinventing beer, adding everything from apricots to algae, resulting in a cohort of “beer geeks” who not only loved beer, but also collected it.

2010-present: As more consumers began demanding more flavorful American beer, the largest beer companies in the U.S. began to adapt, most recently resulting in a variety of flavored seltzers and readyto-drink beer-based cocktails.

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22

SPIRIT OF AMERICA

YourObserver.com

No. 8:

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23

JULY 2022

Mavericks

They zig when others zag. They see not what is, but what could be. We’re talking about mavericks. No, not the ‘Top Gun’ kind (although we love them as well). The trailblazing kind. Here are a just a handful of the mavericks who helped make our area great.

Can you name them?

Happy

Being the first to do something is part of the very definition of a Maverick. In 1884, this individual was Sarasota’s first black settler, who also went on to help survey and plat the town of Sarasota. He and his wife, Irene, sold the land to build Bethlehem Baptist Church for $1 in 1897, and he served as its first minister.

4

TH

JULY

While some wealthy ladies were out socializing, this one was out buying up land and introducing new agriculture advances to the some 80,000 acres of Sarasota County she owned (OK, she did that socializing stuff, too.) She also helped extend the railroad from Manatee County to Venice and was responsible for recruiting other settlers to the area.

Sometimes, it takes an outsider’s perspective to find a new path. That’s exactly what this individual did when she came here from Chicago in 1984.

She was hired to make Lakewood Ranch a profitable agriculture operation; instead, she helped transform the land into what’s now one of the top master-planned communities in the country.

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That beautiful bridge that garners about a million tags on Instagram? Yep, it almost didn’t happen.

But this individual fought the naysayers in Sarasota to make a fixed-span Ringling Bridge a reality in 2003. While a city commissioner in the 1960s, he also helped build Bayfront Park and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.

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SPIRIT OF AMERICA

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No. 9:

YourObserver.com

JULY 2022

Jazz

Unlike many things in America, this one started here.

Sarasota is home to its own following of this original musical genre, which has proved a lasting homage to our country’s history of hardship and hope.

SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR

I

f only Hal Davis could see the Jazz Club of Sarasota now.

Jazz, one of the original American art forms, was once an undernourished passion in Sarasota, but over time it has developed into one of the area’s most ubiquitous calling cards.

The club, birthed by Davis with listening parties in his home, has grown into a regional institution with hundreds of members. And it might be ready to grow more.

“There’s a need identified there to explore and to evolve the group into a more professionally managed organization,” said Ed Linehan, president of the Jazz Club of Sarasota, adding that without staff, the club might have to do less.

Nobody wants that. If there’s anything the decades have shown, it’s that there’s an appetite for more jazz.

When Davis, a former advertising executive and member of Benny Goodman’s management team, relocated to Sarasota, he quickly found a lot of like-minded people. His small group of music aficionados quickly outgrew his

living room, his condominium’s meeting room and even a third location at a bank community room.

Davis established a roster of performers, a series of concerts and also the Sarasota Jazz Festival, which held its latest incarnation at Nathan Benderson Park in March.

But Davis, who died in 1990, might not recognize the club he started.

“It was a social group and then became a membership group. It grew amazingly, but without a master plan,” said Linehan. “...

It was people who just enjoy the kind of music and recognize that there was a lot of local talent, some of which had retired here from a professional career.”

Now the group doesn’t just build the audience; it helps to develop the artists.

It raises more than $20,000 in scholarships to higher education for young artists every year, and it helps organize events multiple nights a week during its respective seasons. The Jazz Club has its Monday Night Jazz Cabaret series, hosted by Florida Studio Theatre, in addition to its Friday Jazz at Two performance series

Ian Swaby

The Sarasota Jazz Club held its annual Sarasota Jazz Festival in March at Nathan Benderson Park.

at Unitarian Universalist Church.

Between those two series, you’re talking about more than 40 performances per year. The club’s newest offering, Jazz Thursdays at the Sarasota Art Museum, have also brought in a dedicated following. Linehan said the jazz club now has more than 800 members.

Nancy Roucher, the club’s music committee chair, has been deeply involved in the club’s maturation for decades. She calls Davis, “a genius masquerading as an advertising man,” and she said she’s fortunate that she got to know him. Her husband, Jerry Roucher, took the mantle from Davis and ran the Jazz Club of Sarasota for a decade.

Over time, the club began to not just foster jazz appreciation but to enrich the community from within, and its expanded performance calendar has given regional art-

ists the chance to showcase their skills to a wider audience. Some of those artists are teachers, and some of them are local scholarship winners who have brought their career to a higher level.

Roucher singled out pianist Liston Gregory III. “He was at our first cabaret this year,” she said. “He grew up in the community and went to the University of North Florida, which is known for its jazz program. He’s now touring with a nationally known group, and he’s been to Singapore and all over the world.”

Adversity appeared on the horizon a couple years ago for the Jazz Club, much like every other industry in America.

Linehan said the club’s membership was at 960 people in March 2020, nearly doubling as the result of a 15-month campaign to bring in new faces. Then came

the COVID-related performance shutdown and slowdown, and the memberships dwindled. Recovery has come slowly; Linehan said that many people did come back once performances resumed, but he estimates that there’s at least a few hundred subscribers that never returned. But he remains optimistic for the club’s future.

If you look at the environment it was born into, you can begin to understand why there is still limitless potential to grow.

“They had the Asolo,” said Roucher. “The opera was still in its infancy. They had the orchestra. And they had the Ringling Museum. But they didn’t have any jazz, and that’s what he loved to listen to. So he and his wife started inviting people over to their house to listen to records in their living room. And that’s how the jazz club started.”

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YourObserver.com

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25

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SPIRIT OF AMERICA

|

YourObserver.com

JULY 2022

No. 10:

The American Dream

We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘the American dream.’

But what that looks like depends on the person. For immigrants, it’s an especially poignant ideology. Two such individuals share their stories and what it means to them.

SANDDY MARCHENA LIZ RAMOS STAFF WRITER

W

h e n L a kewo o d Ranch’s Sanddy Marchena received documentation in 1994 stating he was a U.S. citizen, being a teenager, he didn’t really realize the significance of the papers.

But he remembers his mother, Isabel Marizan, was ecstatic.

Reflecting on his life now at the age of 42, Marchena said his mother’s decision to emigrate her family from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. and obtain their citizenship led to a world of opportunities.

“I tell my wife all the time, that’s one of our most important documents,” Marchena said.

“Now later in life, especially with what goes on in the world, I’m so thankful I’m a citizen of the United States. I’m thankful, but I’m also proud. I’m proud to call this country my country.”

In 1985, Marchena’s family moved to Manhattan, New York, after Marizan won a trip to New York as a reward for being the top salesperson for Mary Kay Cosmetics. She saw a world in which

her sons could thrive and build successful lives.

At 5 years old, Marchena moved with his mother and brother, Edwin, to New York.

“I was young, but for my mother, I’m sure it was scary being the main provider for two children and one on the way,” Marchena said. “That key decision by my mother probably changed the trajectory of my life and my family now.”

After his family’s arrival in New York, Marizan’s first priority was for her children to learn English, Marchena said. His mother hired a tutor, and he went through a 30-day crash course in learning how to speak English.

“I must have learned well because I did really well in elementary school, grammar school and high school,” Marchena said. “It was important for my mom that as soon as we arrived I immerse myself in learning the language, even though to this day, she struggles with it.”

As a child, Marchena said he was like a sponge, wanting to learn anything he could and try new things, so he didn’t have a hard time learning the language or adjusting to life in the U.S. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t notice the changes.

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Courtesy photo

“I was a skinny kid from the Dominican Republic, and within six months of being here, I was pudgy and fat,” Marchena said with a laugh. “I discovered places like McDonald’s. I think that was one of my favorite places to go when I was 9 or 10 years old.”

Education has always been important to Marizan, so Marchena and his brothers always made sure they went to class, did their homework and studied.

“She believed education was the way to take our family to the next level,” Marchena said.

Marchena remembered his mother looking over his homework, even though she didn’t understand what she was looking at. But she always made sure he finished it.

The family moved to Union City, New Jersey, where Marchena continued his education.

His high school history teacher, Nellie Chapman, was instrumental in helping Marchena get accepted into Brown University.

Chapman would take a group of students, including Marchena, on college tours.

“She believed before we even had an awareness that we could be successful and we could further ourselves,” Marchena said of Chapman.

Marchena recalled the day he received notice from Brown University regarding his application.

He remembers watching a TV show where people were receiving acceptance letters to college.

“If it’s a regular letter, it means you didn’t get in; if you got in, it’s a big envelope,” he said. “I remember coming to my mailbox and seeing a big envelope.

When I saw it was from Brown, I was excited. It’s the culmination of all my hard work. I’m not the smartest guy, but boy I will outwork you.”

When he graduated, Marchena gave his diploma to his mother as a symbol of gratitude for her influence in his achievement.

His mother, meanwhile, had been busy pursuing her own achievements, including owning multiple salons.

“If my mom had a 10th of the

opportunities I’ve had in this great country, she’d be a known name,” Marchena said.

Marchena’s career in banking with Capital One led to many good things in his life, including meeting his wife, Melodie Marchena, and learning about the Kiddie Academy franchise.

Marchena followed his mother’s entrepreneurial example by purchasing two Kiddie Academies with his wife. They own Kiddie Academy of Cedar Knolls in New Jersey and took ownership of the Kiddie Academy of Lakewood Ranch on May 20.

He can’t wait for his mother to be able to visit him and his family in Lakewood Ranch so she can see the new business and the life he and Melodie have built for themselves and their daughters, Sophia and Camila.

“I can’t wait to see her eyes the first time she looks at the building,” Marchena said. “I know that she’ll be proud. I just wish I could do more.”

Marchena said becoming a U.S. citizen feels like a gift, and his job is to pass it on, whether that’s helping his staff at Kiddie Academy pursue their dreams or guiding his daughters to become contributing members of society.

Marchena wants to pass down his culture and Dominican heritage to his daughters.

“I don’t think you can go forward without understanding where you’re coming from,” he said.

Marizan’s decision to leave her family and friends in the Dominican Republic to move somewhere she only had been once before always has inspired Marchena to dream big.

“I need to be at least as courageous as my mom or at least 50% as courageous as her,” Marchena said. “That’s the great thing about this country: if you believe in yourself, if you’re someone who is resourceful, there’s nothing you can’t do. My mom had a vision, so for me, that’s what I try to impart on myself, my family, my two young daughters. I want them to have vision. There’s nothing they can’t accomplish.”

Lakewood Ranch’s Sanddy Marchena and his wife, Melodie Marchena, love living in Florida with their daughters, Camila and Sophia Marchena. Sanddy Marchena says immigrating to the U.S. changed the trajectory of his life.

SPIRIT OF AMERICA

YourObserver.com

DRAGOS ALEXANDRU

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JULY 2022

27

A SUNCOAST FAMILY TRADITION!

RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR

A

t the age of 23, Dragos Alexandru thought he was headed to the United States within

Ryan Kohn

Dragos Alexandru immigrated to the U.S. from Romania in 1988. He lived in New York until moving to Sarasota in 2002, where he worked in IT and became a rowing coach.

kind. In Manhattan, staring at the bread aisle, Alexandru felt overwhelmed. He bought a soft white bread, not knowing that he had to toast it to unlock its full potential.

He ate his bread mushy for a while until he figured out the secret.

Other things that confused Alexandru at first: coin-operated laundromats and greeting people with handshakes as opposed to kisses on the cheek.

Despite these cultural differences, Alexandru thrived in America. He decided to take classes at Grumman Data Systems Institute and was able to find a job in his field of IT work.

He stayed in New York until 2002 when, in the wake of 9/11, he and his family moved to Sarasota.

Once here, Alexandru stayed in IT but also became a rowing coach with Sarasota Scullers. He stayed with the program until 2012. He is now the head coach of Sarasota County Rowing Club and assisted in the development of Nathan Benderson Park as a top rowing destination.

Alexandru experienced a personal tragedy in 2007 when his son, George Alexandru, died in a car accident at the age of 23.

Dragos Alexandru said his son’s death is the only thing he would change about his time in America.

In every other aspect, his experience has been more than he ever dreamed.

“You use your brain and you work hard and you can make it,” Alexandru said. “It’s not perfect, but no place is perfect. All the good here cannot be pushed out by the bad. Living here is an advantage. Take it.”

It is the extent of America’s freedom of choice, Alexandru said, that separates it from all other countries, even other welldeveloped nations. In Europe, he said, people can’t sit and talk after finishing their drinks at a cafe on a weekday morning. They will be questioned and told to leave by the staff. In America, you can relax. If you want to move to another state, you don’t have to get approval from the government first, you just do it. You can travel any time you want. You can swim in the bay or visit a gun range.

These are things many Americans take for granted. After growing up in Romania, Alexandru never will — not even mushy bread.

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months.

He was not — at least not yet.

Though he had talked to the U.S. Embassy about immigrating, it would be four years of waiting for him to leave his home country of Romania, for his government did not want him or anyone else to leave. The years in between were filled with harassment from the Romanian government and stress about when (or if) the country would let him leave. It got so bad that Alexandru attempted to defect via an oil ship headed for Houston; Alexandru was caught and arrested, but ultimately let go with a warning.

When he finally arrived in America at the age of 27, Alexandru said, he realized all the hassle had been worth it.

Alexandru, now 65, was not just anyone in his home country. He had represented Romania in the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics as a rower. It was during his travels as a rower to places like Italy, he said, that he began to realize just how restrictive the communist Romanian government was. It controlled the news you consumed, the food you ate and the place you worked. One week, Alexandru remembers, in an attempt to save on gas, the Romanian government allowed only half of its drivers to use their cars, the ones with license plates starting with even numbers. The next week, only cars with odd license plates were allowed to be on the road.

“It’s all one way,” Alexandru said. “It’s ‘follow or else’ and the ‘else’ is putting you in jail.”

When many Eastern Bloc countries announced they would not partake in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in support of Russia, Alexandru feared Romania would follow suit. He found himself with a choice to make: he could stay and make an attempt at qualifying for the 1988 games, or he could put his rowing career aside and leave, starting anew. He opted for the latter, and he wanted to go to the United States, even though he knew no one there. He had heard enough stories of achieving the “American dream” that he believed he could make a life here, and that was enough.

“I had no real expectations (for the U.S.),” Alexandru said. “What I did know, for sure, was that it could not be worse than where I was. That’s the bottom line. It could only go up.”

So he left, or at least prepared to leave. Four years later, he found himself on a train to Rome, where he spent two weeks with other Romanians immigrating to the U.S. in a type of adjustment period, learning about U.S. customs from an English-speaking teacher. He brought little with him other than clothes. After two weeks, Alexandru flew from Rome to Manhattan, New York, where the U.S. had an organization waiting for him, helping him transition.

He was given two weeks’ worth of money and a place to stay. He had that amount of time to find a job and a more permanent residence, which he did via a Romanian connection he made in the city.

When Alexandru arrived in Manhattan, he was shocked by many things, but none more so than the choices he found in the bread aisle of his local supermarket. In Romania, people simply buy bread, for there is but one

28

SPIRIT OF AMERICA

No. 11:

|

Football

RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR

T

here may not be a more American image than the one of legendary football coach John Madden, hand in the air, being carried off the field by his Oakland Raiders team after winning Super Bowl XI in 1977.

If you know football, you know the image. The Raiders had defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Madden, who died in December at the age of 85, looks so happy in this photo.

Whether as a coach or a broadcaster or a video game cover star, no one loved the game of football more than Madden. He was representative of America: big, loud and never too serious, but sharper than a steel knife. When he won that Super Bowl, it was a result of not just his success, but the people around him, all working together to achieve a goal.

It’s appropriate that he came to represent our country’s favorite sport. Yes, baseball may be America’s pastime, but it is football that controls our fall weekends.

Like America itself, football grew out of something English and made better. In 1869, college students from Princeton and Rutgers played the first intercollegiate football game, something students in the Northeast created as a mix of rugby and soccer. In fact, the game was originally known as “gridiron football” to differentiate it from soccer — which is short

4th of

July

copenhagen imports

YourObserver.com

JULY 2022

for “association football,” if you didn’t know. The game was still fairly rugby-ish at the beginning; we have Yale student and eventual coach Walter Camp to thank for the implementation of most of football’s signature features, like the concept of downs, turnovers, the line of scrimmage and, crucially, the quarterback.

Would we love football as much if there was no quarterback position? When you watch Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady or Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes make a 40-yard throw to the corner of the end zone that falls gently into their receiver’s arms, as if handing them a newborn, it almost makes you want to cry — but this is football, so you hoot and holler instead.

Know what else is beautiful?

Kids playing football in the snow.

That’s how Braden River High Head Coach Curt Bradley came to love the game. Bradley, the son of former University of Missouri quarterback (and pro baseball player) Phil Bradley, was born in 1985 in Missouri and grew up watching not the Tigers, but the University of Colorado Buffaloes.

“They had a running back named Eric Bienemy, who is now the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs,” Bradley said.

“He was a small running back and I was small. In those days running backs used to go over the top of their linemen at the goal line.

I would practice that, going over the top of my dad, who was on his hands and knees.”

Bradley said snow was not a

Yes, we are well aware that baseball is America’s pastime. But when it comes to sports, we are obsessed with the pigskin. Explore how this rough-and-tumble sport has grown to dominate our sports landscape — and all our fall weekends.

Photos by Ryan Kohn

Braden River offensive coordinator Eric Sanders and Head Coach Curt Bradley played football together at the University of Northern Iowa.

hinderance to him and his football-playing friends. In fact, it created one of his fondest memories, when the group snuck spray paint out of a friend’s garage and spray painted an entire football field, complete with end zones, in the neighborhood and played a full game.

See that? Football teaches innovation.

It teaches a lot more than that, too. Bradley said despite the rise of social media in today’s age — which has created a more individual sport with a “me first” attitude — football has a lot to teach our country’s youth.

“I tell my team all the time, if you work hard and do the right thing, the game will pay you back,” Bradley said. “For some, that means playing the game at the next level, but for others it

means learning how to persevere through difficult times. What it takes to be successful in football is still the same: commitment, toughness and being a good teammate.”

You don’t need to look further for proof of that than Bradley, who not only has been a successful football coach at Braden River, but has turned many of his players into stand-up members of the community. Bradley said he’s blessed for the opportunity to do so. Watching former Pirates turn into parents and successful businessmen is one of his favorite parts of the job, he said.

I played football for a few Pop Warner seasons. I stopped, ironically, to focus on baseball, which was more suited to my skills, but my experience playing football has stuck with me. It was where

The Braden River football program has been elite since Head Coach Curt Bradley was hired in 2012.

I learned how to get yelled at, which is a surprisingly important skill to learn. It was where I learned how to pick myself up, literally, after taking a beating. And it was where I learned how to do a touchdown dance, because this is America, damn it, and if there is one thing Americans know how to do, it’s celebrate.

Now go have a beer and throw the pigskin around your backyard. You deserve it.

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Photos by Ian Swaby

Vickie Oldham, president and CEO of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, was taught by Leonard Reid’s daughters Ethel Reid Hayes and Viola Reid.

No. 12:

History

Admittedly, we’re just babies relative to the legacies of other countries. But history — even a short one — is crucial to understanding our community. The following landmarks help connect us to the past.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

people,” he said.

He said that while little is known about the descendants of these early inhabitants, some members of the Seminole tribes of Florida trace their ancestry back to Florida’s ancient peoples.

The Historic Spanish Point campus, located in Osprey off North Tamiami Trail, is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Visit Selby.org.

Sarah Bennett, archaeologist at the Spanish Point campus, said that the Window to the Past exhibit is the only one of its kind in Florida.

A WINDOW TO THE PAST AT SPANISH POINT (UP TO 2,500 YEARS AGO)

Around the same time that Stonehenge was created, at 1,000 to 2,500 years ago, the shell midden at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus was gradually formed by the native people of the area.

Visitors to A Window to the Past at Historic Spanish Point can view a cross section of time as they walk inside the layers of shells, peering into them through a literal window.

According to John McCarthy, vice president for Regional History at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the materials, which were stacked over approximately 1,000 years, reveal the utilization of shellfish as dye, tools, and technology, as well as the evolution of pottery.

The site is far from simply a trash disposal site, said McCarthy; rather, it was designed as a foundation to maintain a coastal village during storms, as well as for the people to live where they could experience the breeze.

“The people who built these were very wise, strategic, resourceful, creative, successful

Jane Kirschner was president of the Historical Society of Sarasota County when the Bidwell-Wood House and Crocker Memorial Church (pictured) were moved to Pioneer Park in 2006.

PIONEER PARK (1901 / CIRCA 1884)

Pioneer Park offers a picture of where it all began.

The Bidwell-Wood House, a classical revival-style home, is among the earliest documented homes in the Sarasota area. It was originally located at the corner of U.S. 41 and Wood Street.

The home has notable ties to the area’s past. Alfred Bidwell, who had built the home by 1884, was implicated in the murder of postmaster Charles Abbe by the Sara Sota Vigilance Society. Abe had allegedly been aiding land-

grabbers, helping them to find land-boundary violations to acquire others’ property.

In 1896, Luke A. Wood from Rhode Island purchased the home for his wife, Annie Wood, as a winter residence, and in 1934, Wood donated 12 acres to the city, creating Luke Wood Park, which still exists today. The house remained in the family until 1966.

The Crocker Memorial Church began in 1901 at what is now the intersection of Bee Ridge Road and U.S. 41, on two acres of land that its founder Peter Crocker purchased for just $1. A Civil War veteran born in 1843, Crocker fought at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg.

The building now serves as a venue for weddings, funerals, plays, musical entertainment, art classes, and clubs.

Jane Kirschner, who helped coordinate the move of both buildings to Pioneer Park in 2006, when she was formerly president of the Sarasota Historical Society, said that preserving buildings like these is important for understanding Sarasota. “If you don’t know the history of a place, you don’t know the place as far as I’m concerned,” she said.

The park can be found at the intersection of North Tamiami Trail and 12th Street.

LEONARD REID HOUSE (1926)

Vickie Oldham, president and CEO of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, said she recalls a bustling business district in Sarasota’s first African-American community, Overtown.

She said the Leonard Reid House, which was recently moved to Newtown — the community that evolved from Overtown and where where Oldham grew up — exemplifies the frame vernacular architecture typical of the homes Overtown residents built and inhabited.

Oldham said that during those times, which saw the oppression brought on by Jim Crow laws, the community was resilient because of its reliance upon itself.

“They tried their best to live their lives and endure the hardships of this life in Sarasota,” she said of its people. “And they were able to have a quality of life because they loved one another, and the community was tightknit, and they did the best that they could.”

The home, built in 1926, is known for its past ownership by a pioneering member of the community, Leonard Reid. Born in South Carolina in 1881, Reid became acquainted with and then employed by Sarasota’s first mayor, Col. Hamilton Gillespie, even helping to lay out the town’s first golf course.

Reid and his wife, Eddye Coleman, were influential in establishing Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Their daughters Ethel Reid Hayes and Viola Reid were prominent educators and taught Oldham herself when she was a young child.

“We will take very good care of this Leonard Reid family home, and we will love it,” she also said.

“Just like the family loved the Overtown community and the Newtown children.”

The house is now found at the corner of Orange Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Courtesy photo

Manatee County Commissioner Jonathan Bruce, Mary Fran Carroll, and SMR President and CEO Rex Jensen perform the ribbon cutting atop the Mary Fran Carroll Bridge in 2004.

the 60 years of its operation.

The forge was founded by German immigrant George Kreissle Sr., in 1947, and occupied by his son George Kreissle Jr. until 2007, when it was sold to another metalsmith, Martin Hoss, then changed hands to Kingston Realty in 2018.

Ralph Hoehne, the company’s owner, said that a search is ongoing for another generation of craftspeople to occupy the location, although it is a challenge.

The site still retains its equipment, including a fireplace and coal repository for heating metal, a hammer press for flattening metal, steel tables for working on projects, rollers for bending and twisting metal, and welders.

Just a few examples of items produced by the forge include the re-creation window grilles on the Ringling Mansion, the metal staircase at the St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church on Longboat Key, the light fixtures inside Columbia Restaurant on St. Armands Circle, and the gates in the courtyard of the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature.

However, so extensive was the collection of items the forge produced, that many of them have yet to find a place. Those interested in purchasing the metalwork can visit the location from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

MARY FRAN CARROLL BRIDGE (2004)

The name of Mary Fran Carroll (1922-2014) will not be forgotten in Lakewood Ranch.

As the individual credited with envisioning the Lakewood Ranch community, she once said that the Mary Fran Carroll Bridge, which spans the Braden River along Lorraine Road just north of 70th Terrace East, was “validation” for her efforts when it was dedicated in 2004.

Carroll graduated in 1943 from business school at Northwestern University and entered public accounting at Northern Trust Co. in Chicago, where she was a native resident.

“It was a perfectly lovely time for a woman to be a business major, because men were going off to war,” said Carroll in 2013.

“They would never hire a woman before then.”

She traveled to Sarasota in 1980, exploring the area for a bank client, which led to a career with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch as chairman of the board and CEO from 1984 to 1997.

When rumors of an airport east of I-75 arose, Carroll told the board to reconsider the use of its 26,000 acres of land, which was then devoted to ranching and farming. She went on to lead the establishment of the Summerfield and Riverwalk communities and to help create the Sarasota Polo Club.

Carroll was noted for her toughness, intellect and strong desire to do what was right.

Having watched Lakewood Ranch develop into a full-fledged community, she said in 2008, “God, I have to be proud.”

KREISSLE FORGE (1947)

A familiar sight located on the eastern side of Tamiami Trail, just north of the airport, the Kreissle Forge supplied a wide array of items to the community during

Ralph Hoehne activates the hammer press, which flattens metal that is hot from the furnace.

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SPIRIT OF AMERICA

No. 13:

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JULY 2022

Apple Pie

‘As American as apple pie.’ Need we say more? Apple pie has been a symbol of American prosperity since the early 1900s. Local superstar pie makers share their secrets on making the perfect one.

HARRY SAYER

2. FIND THE RIGHT MIX

pple Pie. America is many things to many people, but there are touchstones in our cultural imagination. Baseball, Norman Rockwell paintings, etc.

And of course, apple pie.

It’s one thing to have it in your head, though, and another thing to make it real. Which begs the question — how does one make a great apple pie?

The baking experts at Der Dutchman restaurant and bakery certainly have their ideas. Managers Robin Wild and Devon Williamson share some of the tips on how to make your own perfect apple pie at home.

After peeling and slicing your apples, create that delicious sugary filling that will showcase them properly. The guys at Der Dutchman recommend sprinkling the prepared apples with an equal ratio of sugar to cinnamon.

Williamson also substituting corn starch for flour to make the pie thicker and more satisfying. He also recommends adding slices of butter on top of the filling before placing the top of the pie crust to make a hearty mix.

When the pie’s crust is placed on the pie tin, Williamson wets the edges of the crust with a water-soaked brush to prevent the crust from drying too fast and crumbling when the dough for the lid is placed.

1. PICK THE RIGHT APPLES

3. PRESENTATION MATTERS

STAFF WRITER

A

Most (if not all) restaurants used canned apples to keep up with demand, but you don’t have that excuse — you had better start with fresh apples.

“I grew up making apple pie with my grandma; we always used green Granny Smith apples,” Wild said. “It’s a tart apple that holds its integrity.”

Although tart apples are best, crisp apples like pink ladies and gala apples will work as well.

Before putting your pie in the oven, cut some vents in the crust, in any style you choose.

Another pro tip: Williamson recommends brushing an egg on top before sprinkling it with brown sugar — it helps brown the top of the pie. It’s best not to overdo it — he stresses to just beat one egg and spread a light layer over the crust — but the final product will look even more delicious because of it.

ALL-AMERICAN APPLE PIE INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS 1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Double crust n 2 cups flour n 1 teaspoon salt n 1/4 cup butter, chilled n 1/2 cup shortening n 6 tablespoons cold water

2.)Create filling by mixing sliced apples with sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon and pinch of salt. Substitute 1/2 of flour for cornstarch depending on desired consistency.

Filling n 1 cup sugar n 3 tablespoons flour n 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon n Pinch of salt n 5 Granny smith apples, peeled and sliced

3.)Cut butter into cubes. Fold the flour, salt, butter and shortening together to form the dough for the crust. Sprinkle with cold water as needed to bring dough together without making it sticky.

4.)Once dough is formed, divide into two balls. Roll first out into a circle, then place on bottom of pie tin, leaving about an inch around the pan. Pour filling into bottom crust. Roll out second ball of dough to create pie top. Place on top of filling, cut any excess dough, then crimp the edges closed with a fork or your fingers. Cut vents in the top of the crust, then bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until top is golden brown. Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Christie Wingert

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SPIRIT OF AMERICA

No. 14:

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JULY 2022

Our Flag

No. 15:

Freedom

Old Glory is a distinctive and beautiful representation of our pride. So much so that we like to plaster it everywhere.

Below are a few examples of our patriotism.

Because without freedom, none of these other things matter.

Happy Independence Day. “Freedom, in any case, is only possible by constantly struggling for it.”

Albert Einstein

“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it.

And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.”

John F. Kennedy

“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”

George Washington

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