LWR Life – Summer 2016

LWR LIFE LAKEWOOD RANCH AREA’S COMMUNITY, NATURE, STYLE SUMMER 2016

Summer Lovin’ Great dates bound to heat up your romance.

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CONTENTS

SUMMER 2016

FEATURES

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LWR LIFE

DATE NIGHT Don’t let the dog days of summer get you down. Here are a few outings bound to boost your relationship.

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CLEAN EATING Eating healthily doesn’t have to be hard. These two Ranch businesses can help you get your diet under control.

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POPE FAMILY When it comes to living out east, these residents have longtime roots.

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26 DEPARTMENTS 16 FROM THE EDITOR 21 BUZZ The modern pentathlon comes to town, and condos are on the rise amid a hot real estate market.

44

26 DICK VITALE We sit down with Lakewood Ranch’s favorite celebrity to talk kids, philanthropy and catch phrases.

30 BRAIN BALANCE Before you reach for the Ritalin, there may be a better way to treat children with developmental issues.

35 PULSE Meet a teen whose legacy will live on long after she leaves for college.

44 CALENDAR What to see, hear and do around the Ranch in the coming months.

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50 STYLE Unleash your feet this summer with these great sandals.

73 HAVEN Custom homes reflect their owners’ tastes — and the prevailing styles of the times.

80 GARDENING Help your plants beat the summer heat with these tips and tricks.

86 RANCH SCENE Check out the highlights of the area’s top events.

90 PARTING GLANCE

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LWR LIFE

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LWRLIFE

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LAKEWOOD RANCH AREA’S COMMUNITY, NATURE, STYLE Publisher and CEO — Matt Walsh

EDITORIAL Executive Editor — Kat Hughes Managing Editor — Heidi Kurpiela Design — Nicole Thompson Contributors Shellie Terry Benson, Pam Eubanks, Jay Heater, Dex Honea, Heather Merriman Saba, Jessica Salmond, Lori Sax, Amanda Sebastiano and Eric Snider

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LWR Life is a quarterly publication of the Observer Media Group published in May, August, November and February in partnership with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The Perfect Date

Lori Sax

Gabriel and Tina Jiva enjoy an afternoon away from their toddler to let off some steam at Ancient Oak Gun Club.

From my vantage point as a woman married for nearly a decade, dating looks tough. There are websites to navigate and weirdos to sort through, all while trying to think about who might be the most likely candidate to be “the one.” No pressure.

Then again, marriage isn’t always a picnic, either. Living peacefully day in and day out with the same person has lots of benefits for health and stability, but that routine you’ve grown so accustomed to can also lull you into boredom.

Findings from the University of Virginia’s Marriage Project show frequent date nights can help improve five areas essential to healthy relationships: communication, novelty, romantic love, commitment and stress relief.

Not only that, but the study found that couples who engage in alone time

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LWR LIFE

Heidi Kurpiela

Jenn Burns focuses on providing customers with healthy meals on the go with her business, Above The Grain.

with their mate at least once a week were 3.5 times more likely to report that they were “very happy” in their marriage, compared with those who did not. (As an aside, similar high marks were given by non-married, cohabitating couples.)

The research is clear: If you want to reignite that spark or keep the flame of your relationship well-stoked, you need to spend time together.

But what to do? So glad you asked.

Starting on Page 54, we outline seven great dates, depending on your mood and interests. We tried to include something for everyone, and picked three fabulous Lakewood Ranch couples to test out our ideas. Their stories, on Page 61, will make you smile.

So whether it’s saddling up with your partner for a nature trail ride or digging into a bowl of guacamole the size of your head, relax, enjoy the company of your significant other and toast to

spending the time together that will keep you that way.

Speaking of guacamole, summer is here, along with all the things we love, and hate: sandals, and heat; calmer roads, and bathing suits.

For those cringing when I said the latter, check out our feature on clean eating on Page 62.

We’re all guilty of getting busy and picking up a pizza on the way home or choosing easy, but poorly balanced, meals.

Luckily, there are local resources to help you eat more healthily while maintaining a busy schedule. In our story, learn more about two businesses whose sole goal is to help you eat — and feel — better.

So take some time to focus on yourself, and enjoy a happy, healthy summer filled with love.

Kat Hughes Executive Editor

WITH GRATITUDE TO O U R C U S TO M E R S who trust us with their most important place — home.

TO O U R AG E N T S who live and work by values that create exceptional experiences.

TO O U R G L O B A L PA R T N E R S who bring Florida’s Gulf Coast to a worldwide audience.

TO T H E B U I L D E R S , D E V E L O P E R S & C O M M E R C I A L C L I E N T S who shape our area with new opportunities.

TO T H E M I L L I O N S O F M I C H A E L S A U N D E R S . C O M V I S I TO R S who start their home search with us from every state and 193 countries.

TO T H E C H A R I TA B L E O R G A N I Z AT I O N S who make a profound difference in our community.

TO O U R R E M A R K A B L E L E A D E R S H I P & S TA F F who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make it all possible.

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BUZZ

NEWS, HAPPENINGS AND PEOPLE

For modern pentathlon athletes, the road to Rio goes through Nathan Benderson Park.

PAGE 22

Germany’s Christian Zillenkens salutes after winning the fencing competition on May 7 as part of the modern pentathlon World Cup Final at Nathan Benderson Park.

BY THE NUMBERS

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Nations represented in the 2016 UIPM World Cup Final

3

Years that the modern pentathlon has held its World Cup in the Sarasota-Bradenton area

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Participants who competed in the 2016 UIPM World Cup Final

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Participants who qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at the event.

>400

Volunteers who helped put on the competition, held May 6-8.

Olympic Bound

BY LWR LIFE STAFF PHOTO BY JAY HEATER

N

athan Benderson Park became the center of 71 athletes’ Olympic dreams the weekend of May 6. The participants, from 25 countries, competed in the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final, an event to qualify for a bid to the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Nathan Schrimsher of the USA takes aim during the pistol shooting/cross-country portion of the modern pentathlon during the World Cup Final event May 7 at Nathan Benderson Park.

The event marked the third consecutive year the Sarasota-Bradenton area has hosted the Modern Penthalon World Cup. The pentathlon has its roots in the original Greek Olympic Games, during which contestants would compete in running, jumping, throwing a spear, throwing the discus and wrestling. It was introduced in the 18th Olympiad, in 708 BC. The modern pentathlon was invented by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who is also considered the founder of the modern Olympic Games.

The 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden, introduced the modern pentathlon, during which athletes participate in pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, running and equestrian jumping. De Coubertin said he designed the competition to mirror a military cavalry courier’s battle skills.

One point that illustrates the spirit of the sport is that, for the equestrian portion, contestants compete using unknown horses.

This example also illustrates just one of many challenges for the organizers of the event, which requires more than 400 volunteers.

Locally, the nonprofit that runs Benderson Park, Suncoast Aquatic Nature Center Associates, helped with these efforts.

“The modern pentathlon takes a lot of coordination and a lot of planning; we had to make sure we covered all our bases and had an understanding of the different aspects of the event, such as the horses, from the security side and the safety side,” says Sarah Kupiec, event and volunteer manager with SANCA. “Luckily, this park is designed to be diverse. It can accommodate unique events.”

LWR LIFE

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Condo Comeback The booming real estate market could lead to more condo projects in Lakewood Ranch.

JAY HEATER CONTRIBUTOR

A

s people strolled along Lakewood Main Street late in April, construction crews directed a concrete truck to a spot on the shore of Lake Uihlein.

A condominium project, Waterfront at Main Street, was springing to life.

A football field away, also along the shore, another condominium project, this one called The Lakeshore, was ready to go skyward, the underground site work already having been completed.

Two builders, Homes by Towne and The Bullard Group, have seen a door of opportunity open after that same door shut when the economy sagged in 2008.

The original plan was for the pair of luxury condo projects to be completed as part of the Main Street landscape.

Those plans had been sidetracked for eight years, but the economy has bounced back to the point where both builders feel they can sell those units.

The prices associated with those projects, ranging from the $300,000s to more than $1 million, prove the real estate market is booming.

Homebuilder Pat Neal says he doesn’t currently have any condominium projects in the works, but he will be looking for locations for condos in Lakewood Ranch in the future.

Neal has lived in Florida since 1968 and has seen condo construction at its height and also times when it has sagged. “Condominium demand normally comes midway in the housing cycle,” Neal says. “That is, when singlefamily homes are bid up to a price that becomes ‘unattainable’ for a large segment of the population, condominiums

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LWR LIFE

Courtesy

The Lakeshore condo project is about to start development again after an eight-year delay due to a soft market.

are added by builders and developers to fill the gap at the lower price levels.”

The Waterfront and Lakeside condos serve a different condo market, though, one more appealing to those who want a maintenance-free environment with a luxurious lifestyle.

On the other end of the market, Lakewood National Terraces offers condos starting at $169,999, and Taylor Morrison offers “coach” townhomes in Esplanade from the high $200,000s. A luxury condo project is also planned for The Lake Club.

Neal built the Miramar condos three years ago at the northeast corner of Lorraine Road and University Parkway. The real estate market was rebounding, and Lakewood Ranch was growing at a swift pace.

“Condos are risky for the builder because it is a more volatile market,” Neal says. “They normally sell well during good times and poorly during bad times, as the market almost always prefers a single-family product.

“But Miramar was fast selling with prices in the $300,000s on the golf front and from the high $100,000s to low $200,000s on Lorraine.”

As Lakewood Ranch expands south into Sarasota County with the Waterside project, more condominium projects are likely to be available.

Based on the maximum 5,144 housing units approved for the project, 2,037 community affordable housing units are required. Many of those will take the form of multifamily units, although the projects have yet to be announced.

One thing is certain: Demand seems to be up when it comes to condos.

Shaun Peens, the owner of Re/ Max Fine Properties in Lakewood Ranch, said the interest in condos in Lakewood Ranch, along with the surrounding area, has caused him to forge a new business: property management for investors buying units to be rented.

“We are entering a condo-driven market,” Peens says. “I’ve sold 26 houses in 2016 and 45% of those have been condos. Of those, 100% were paid for with cash. We have an influx of investors.”

Kim Dowling, a broker associate at Wagner Realty, has been in the business for 17 years. She said luxury condos should do well in Lakewood Ranch.

“People just want to close the door,” she says. “Lakewood Ranch hasn’t had any condos built recently, so the maintenance-free market has been lacking.”

She says common sense dictates the need for new condos. “A lot of developers are coming out of the woodwork,” Dowling said.

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At 76, Dick Vitale shows no signs of slowing down. “If you’ve got your health, you’re a zillionaire,” he says.

Heidi Kurpiela

HOLDING

COURT ESPN sportscaster Dick Vitale is more than just a

regular at Another Broken Egg Cafe — he’s a fixture.

HEIDI KURPIELA | MANAGING EDITOR

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LWR LIFE

f there were a job opening for Diplomat to Lakewood Ranch, Dick Vitale would apply. Some of you probably think Vitale, or Dickie V, depending on your familiarity, already holds the position. For the better part of a decade, Vitale, ESPN’s most quotable college basketball announcer, has stationed himself every morning he’s in town at an outdoor table at Another Broken Egg Cafe on Exchange Way. Surrounded by Dickie V merchandise and autographed basketball paraphernalia, Vitale, 76, is as familiar to regulars as buttermilk pancakes and eggs Benedict. His breakfast ritual is almost regarded as a local tourist attraction, with Vitale doling out autographs and mugging for selfies with fans. (Good news for those of you who prefer First Watch: two years ago, Vitale added the competing breakfast nook to his rotation.)

“I think he has a lot of social media accounts,” says Kiki Ladendorf, the restaurant’s general manager. “He tweets and blogs a lot. Some days he sits out there all by himself and no one comes. Some days he’s swamped.

He loves grilled cheese sandwiches, well-done on rye with tomatoes and onions.”

The loudmouthed New Jersey native is an avowed family man and notorious softie. Married for 45 years to his wife, Lorraine, Vitale’s two daughters and five grandchildren all live within a mile of each other. “Nothing is more important to me than family,” Vitale says.

Second in order of importance: Vitale’s tireless fundraising efforts. Over the last 11 years, the Dick Vitale Gala at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota has raised $15.2 million benefiting the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

LWR Life recently grabbed a cup of coffee with the local celeb at, you guessed it, Another Broken Egg Cafe.

According to the restaurant’s staff, it was the first time their most famous patron broke tradition and sat at an inside booth.

Continued on Page 28

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Premier Sotheby’s Internati onal Real t y 814 1 L a kew ood Ranc h Mai n Street | Lakew ood Ranc h, Fl ori da 3 420 2 S o th e b y ’s In te r n at i onal Realt y® and t he Sot heb y’s Int ernat i onal Realt y log o are reg i s t ered s er vi c e ma r ks used with per mission. Ea ch office i s i n d e p e n d e n tl y ow ned and op erat ed . Eq ual Hous i ng Op p ort uni t y. Prop ert y i nformat i on herei n i s der ived from va r ious sources including, b u t n o t l i m i te d t o, c ount y rec ord s and mult i p le li s t i ng s er vi ces, and may i nclud e ap p roxi mat i ons. A ll infor ma tion is deemed a ccura te a nd n e i th e r s u g g e s ts nor i nfers t hat Sot heb y’s Int ernat i onal Realt y part i c i pat ed as ei t her t he li s t i ng or coopera ting a gent or broker in the sa le or p u rc h as e o f th e p rop ert i es d ep i ct ed . 193528

Continued from Page 26 You’ve been in Lakewood Ranch for 15 years. A lot of sports stars have moved here since. Do you think you had something to do with that?

That’s for other people to say.

Certainly I’ve given the place a lot of notoriety through Twitter and Facebook and all that. I’m constantly referring to Lakewood Ranch. If I played a role in its popularity, I don’t know. I love the area, and I’m not afraid to showcase it.

You mastered the art of personal branding before the age of social media.

I never sat there and thought, “I’ve got to have a brand.” It evolved as my career grew. It all starts with ESPN, that kind of visibility and exposure gives you an identity. First you get basketballs with your name on them then the bobble heads and the books. … All that stuff just kept adding up.

The Vitale-isms didn’t hurt.

The ‘Awesome Baby’ and ‘Dipsy-doo Dunk-a-Roo’ stuff are the crux of your on-camera persona. Have you always been this good at turning a phrase?

I’ve had these sayings my whole life. “You’re a PTP’er” (prime time player) or “T-O, baby (timeout)!”

They’re part of my vernacular, part of my makeup. “Awesome, Baby with a capital A” really helped my career.

A couple of writers who covered me in Detroit when I coached (the Detroit Pistons) would tell people, “What you see on TV we saw twice as much on the court.” It’s no shtick.

Catchphrases aside, you’ve got an enormous soft spot for kids.

You’ve raised millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research.

What drives you to do that?

I will beg and plead until my last breath for kids battling cancer.

I’m obsessed with it. I’ve watched so many of them suffer — one girl, right here at this very table at this very restaurant. Did you know that only 4 cents of every dollar raised for cancer research goes toward pediatric cancer? The oncologists tell me if they had more

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LWR LIFE

money and more research, oh the lives they could save. It’s beyond words to watch a child suffer.

Your broadcasting career spans four decades. What is your proudest achievement?

I’m in 13 Halls of Fame, and all of those inductions were special, but the best day of my life was Dickie V Day at All Children’s Hospital (in St. Petersburg). A buddy of mine bought 400 copies of my children’s book (“Dickie V’s ABCs and 1-2-3s”) for every kid there between the ages of 2 and 6. We got the kids out of their rooms and I read the book.

They were jumping and running.

It’s something I’ll never forget.

Fans take a lot of selfies with you. Doesn’t all the attention annoy you?

Nah. They want pictures, so I take pictures. I just did one this morning here at the restaurant. Let’s face it, if they don’t ask me, I’ll put up a sign that says, “I’m Dickie V. Ask for my picture.” Why get annoyed when people are being nice to you?

You must have selfies with famous people in your camera roll.

So many people! (He picks up his phone and begins scrolling.) There’s Floyd Mayweather in the lobby of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Jennifer Hudson — what a voice — President Obama, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, my buddy Kenny Chesney and Roger Federer.

My grandsons went nuts when they met Federer. And Taylor Swift!

You’ve got to see this picture of Taylor Swift. It made me grandfather of the year to my granddaughters.

How did you meet?

I did a speech for Merrill Lynch, and this guy comes up to me afterward, while I’m signing autographs, and he says, “My daughter would love to support your cause.” I said, “What’s your name?” and he says, “Scott Swift” (Taylor’s father).

He got us backstage at her Halloween concert in Tampa. You should have seen their faces.

Do you truly eat breakfast at the Broken Egg every day?

God willing! When I’m home, I’m either here or at First Watch for a couple of hours every day. I can’t tell you the last time my wife and I had a meal in our house. Ask anybody who knows us. We go out to every restaurant in this area.

How do you take your coffee?

I like it nice and hot and black. Decaf.

I don’t need caffeine. Could you imagine if I was on caffeine? Wow. You give a lot of motivational speeches. What’s the Dickie V pep talk in one sentence?

Never ever believe in can’t and be good to people and people will be good to you.

Have you always been a people person?

Yes. I was looking at my yearbook the other day and under my picture it says, “Richie is everybody’s buddy.

He can be seen around town in his little white Ford 1955 convertible.”

I thought, that about sums it up — everybody’s buddy. Sure, I’ve got a couple bucks in my pocket now. I haven’t changed. If I did, my family would kick me in the butt.

Dickie V brings a display with him when he sets up for breakfast in Lakewood Ranch.

201390

Estella Hornback, 11, stretches out her body and mind with Brain Balance coach Anna Biser

Brain Trust Lakewood Ranch’s new Brain

Balance Center is giving parents an alternative to Ritalin.

SHELLIE TERRY BENSON | CONTRIBUTOR

T

here’s a label for every tick these days. For today’s parents, who are raising children in the age of ADHD, childhood development now seems stymied by conditions, syndromes and disorders. The list of diagnoses is constantly being amended. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Autism. Asperger’s Syndrome. Dyslexia. Sensory Processing Disorder. In an effort to temper behavior, health care professionals are quick to diagnose and medicate children, but parents are desperate for other options.

When Rebecca Carpenter watched her 10-year-old daughter, Julia, struggle to keep up in fourth grade, she debated the usual course of action.

Tutoring. Counseling. Screening. Evaluating. Psychological testing. None of it put her worries at ease.

“Her fourth-grade teacher told us she wasn’t talking or participating in class, and her grades were starting to fall,” Carpenter says. “I thought, she’s in fifth grade now, and this is her last year of elementary school. If she’s way too quiet now, she’s going to fall apart when she gets to middle school.”

For Carpenter, a radiology technician at Sarasota Orthopedic Associates, it was a call to action. She heard a radio advertisement for a new Lakewood Ranch business called Brain Balance Achievement Center, which uses Continued on Page 32

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LWR LIFE

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Continued from Page 30 a whole-body integrated approach to improve social skills and academic performance. Night after night of frustrating homework sessions drove Carpenter to pick up the phone.

Lakewood Ranch Country Club residents Cindy and Charles Hornback opened Brain Balance of Lakewood Ranch in November 2015. Julia was one of their first clients. The facility is part of a franchised operation with locations scattered across the country.

Cindy, a longtime Lakewood Ranch chiropractor, serves as the center’s executive director. She discovered Brain Balance in Tampa while on a quest to bolster her son’s reading comprehension and social skills. The 7-year-old responded so well to the program, the Hornbacks decided to bring the franchise to their hometown.

“One of the most amazing parts of my son’s transformation was watching him become more flexible,” says Cindy Hornback. “He (began) reacting in an appropriate way for a given situation.

He started showing more confidence in school, allowing him to excel academically and socially.”

According to the company’s founder, Robert Melillo, about 40% of new centers are opened by parents interested in treating their own children’s issues.

The Market Street center is decidedly non-clinical. Tucked away at the end of a plaza, alongside Great Clips, GNC and Publix, Brain Balance could pass as a trendy fro-yo shop with its lime green and gold signage. Inside the 2,500-square-foot space, children spend three hours a week performing a regime of sensory exercises, including balancing on one sockless foot, responding to sounds while wearing vision-blocking glasses and hopping around with one ear plugged. The process may seem novel, but the concept — balancing the two hemispheres of the brain — is nothing new. Even ancient cultures had brain exercises.

Melillo, a chiropractic neurologist and researcher, believes one in five children suffers from what he calls a “functional disconnection” inside the brain. He blames a developmental delay affecting the communication between the left and right sides of the cerebrum.

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LWR LIFE

“It’s more likely to happen to kids who are already gifted on one side of the brain,” Melillo says. “For instance, the left brain is exceptionally developed, but the right brain is delayed.”

Armed with years of research, Melillo decided to package and trademark his theory. He opened his first location in 2006, and now has 115 centers across the United States. The company has as many as 8,000 clients, each paying $6,000 for a 12-week session.

Regarding the rise in this “disconnect” among children, Melillo blames our society’s obsession with activities that give us a quick dopamine fix, such as video gaming, coupled with a lack of motor activity and less outdoor play.

“What you need to develop in childhood is long-term, sustained, unrewarded attention,” Melillo says.

“That’s the thing that makes you listen to a teacher. When you’re playing a video game, you get rewarded every few seconds.”

Melillo, whose work is currently under review by independent researchers at McLean Hospital in Boston, says editorial scientists at the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders “tore” his theory apart for a year before publishing it in September 2013.

“If it wasn’t significant, they wouldn’t have published it,” he says.

Carpenter could care less about Melillo’s detractors. Her daughter is getting the treatment she needs without prescription medication. She says after just a few sessions at Brain Balance, Julia became more outgoing and homework became less of a chore.

This year she made the honor roll and joined her school’s safety patrol team — without having to be nudged into it.

“Her self-esteem is growing and she’s doing much better in school,” Carpenter says. “She’s making huge strides.”

Photos by Heidi Kurpiela

Top: Brain Balance founder, Robert Melillo, has devoted the last 25 years to researching childhood neurological disorders.

Center: Coach Lakota Burge tests student Alex Zoon, 7, for dichotic listening, which looks for selective attention in the auditory system.

Bottom: Cindy and Charles Hornback opened Brain Balance of Lakewood Ranch in November 2015 after seeing how the program helped their son.

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Meet a teen who has made it her high school mission to give back.

PAGE 36 LWR LIFE

35

Class acts

Teen Trailblazer Lauren Redington graduates from The Out-of-Door Academy this June, but her Key Club lives on.

JESSICA SALMOND | CONTRIBUTOR

N

Continued on Page 38

36

LWR LIFE

Jessica Salmond

ot all high school graduates can claim they created a legacy on campus. Lauren Redington can.

The plucky Lakewood Ranch teen was the driving force behind bringing Key Club to The Out-of-Door Academy. Sponsored by Kiwanis International, Key Club is one of the largest and oldest service programs for high school students. It teaches leadership skills through community service, something with which Redington, 18, is familiar.

For as long as she can remember, Redington has always been an overachiever. At 14, she volunteered for Lakewood Ranch Community Activities Corp. (LWRCAC), lending a hand at events around town. That same year, she served on Manatee County Commissioner Vanessa Baugh’s campaign, going door to door collecting signatures to ensure that Baugh, her neighbor, would get on the 2012 ballet.

“You feel like you’re doing something,” Redington says. “At the end of the day, you feel like you’re making a difference.”

After two years of homeschool, she arrived at ODA her sophomore year and immediately began spearheading a club dedicated to community service. “I’m social,” she’s says nonchalantly.

ODA already required students to log 25 hours a year of community service, but for Redington that wasn’t enough. Inspired by the Kiwanis Club’s mission, she assembled a group of likeminded peers and asked Noël Dougherty, head of the Upper School, if she could launch an ODA chapter of Key Club.

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Continued from Page 36 “It became very clear that this was a child who was very much devoted to service,” Dougherty says. “She saw the intrinsic value of taking community service to the student.”

Dougherty was so impressed with Redington’s dogged perseverance that she quickly realized the teen was capable of getting the program off the ground without any real adult supervision.

More than 20 students joined the club in its first year. Now the club has more than doubled its roster.

The group meets every Friday to discuss upcoming projects and service opportunities.

Although members are tasked with some oncampus projects, they spend most of their manhours serving LWRCAC, Southeastern Guide Dogs, Meals on Wheels and The Food Bank of Manatee.

Dougherty remembers the first time she witnessed the full extent of Redington’s powers of persuasion. After researching volunteer opportunities, Redington learned that Domino Sugar was matching the funds raised at local bake sales, and then donating the proceeds to the charity of your choice.

With the Domino’s deadline less than two weeks away, Redington jumped into action. She asked Key Club members to bake sweets and then she rounded up volunteers to sell them in the school cafeteria. Determined to liquidate her stock, she crafted posters and used social media and the school PA system to hype the sale.

By the end of the week, she had raised $400 for the No Kid Hungry campaign — $800 after Domino matched the funds. “This is just a microcosmic example of the power Lauren possesses to motivate groups of young adults.”

In addition to leading Key Club, Redington, a part-time hostess at Michael’s On East, helped the school revive a forgotten segment of ODA’s annual Thunder Fun Day. The school fair once included an Amazing Race-style competition, but event planners ditched it after it had gotten too complicated to organize. Not one to let past failure get in the way of future success, Redington decided to take on the event, planning and plotting the middle school’s entire course.

Redington, who will graduate from ODA in June, is headed in the fall to Miami University in Ohio to study international business and finance. True to form, Redington spent months prepping for her departure. Her successor, Key Club Vice President Carling Landeche, shouldn’t have a hard time with the transition: Redington prepared a handbook, outlining everything from running meetings to creating sign-up sheets. “I used to be more controlling, but I took a step back this year,” she says, smiling. “I’m looking forward to seeing the club flourish.”

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LWR LIFE

Key Club members from left to right: Annabelle Candlish, Helena Beltrao, Izzy Eichenbaum, Madeline Naylor, Kiarra Womack, and Nicole Vitiello at Boo Fest on Lakewood Ranch Main Street.

“Lauren is leaving the Key Club in great shape. There’s little doubt she’ll have an immediate, positive impact on her college community.”

NOËL DOUGHERTY, HEAD OF ODA’S UPPER SCHOOL

Courtesy photos

Lauren Redington volunteers at Lakewood Ranch Community Activities’ Festa Italiana at Central Park.

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ERIC SNIDER | CONTRIBUTOR

County couple helm the Payton Wright Foundation, which provides outreach and support for families

devastated by pediatric brain cancer. The nonprofit was launched in 2008, after their youngest daughter, Payton, a feisty preschooler, died following a yearlong battle with the disease.

Continued on Page 42

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LWR LIFE

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Continued from Page 40 “Parents are scared about their child and they can’t think straight,” says Holly. “If you can take something off their plate, it means everything to them. It’s priceless.”

It might be a car or mortgage payment, a power or cell phone bill, pricey parking passes at out-of-state hospitals or gas cards to handle the exhaustive travel required to care for a sick child. The Wrights’ foundation helps cover these “little things” and more.

The Wrights, who live in Heritage Harbour, know the value of this kind of charity from their own wrenching experience. In May 2006, 4-year-old Payton was diagnosed with medulloepithelioma, a rare form of brain cancer. She died a year later, just weeks after graduating from preschool.

“We spent virtually all of our money,” Patrick says, “The other children’s education money, our savings. I had to leave my job. We were a nice middle class family who suddenly had a child with a terminal illness. You go to work, but you can’t concentrate because you don’t know how much longer you’ll have with your child.”

The Wrights, who have two other daughters — Savanna, 19 and Sydney, 17, filed for bankruptcy after Payton’s death. As they rebuilt their life, they were buoyed by the support of big-hearted friends and family. They were fortunate. Not all people can fall back on a support system or savings account. This is where the Payton Wright Foundation steps up. For families addled by anguish, anger, fear and confusion, paying a delinquent electric bill can pull them away from the brink.

“We felt we would better serve if we helped families function,” Patrick says.

“Cancer research is important, obviously, but our hundred grand [that the foundation disperses annually] is not going to cure brain cancer.”

Countless families have walked in the Wrights’ footsteps, but few go on to

form charitable foundations. Holly and Patrick were, in a way, led to it. During their darkest days, people close to the couple hosted events in Payton’s name: 5K run/walks and golf tournaments, for example. After Payton died, Holly and Patrick weren’t sure what to do with the money. Creating a charitable foundation made the most sense. After all, they had promised their daughter that, like her, they would never stop fighting.

“For the first couple of years after Payton passed away, we were really in a fog and didn’t do that much with the foundation,” Patrick admits.

It took two years for the veil of grief to lift. By 2010, the Wrights were ready to focus on fundraising, publicity, events and distributing funds. Patrick returned to full-time work, selling commercial polices for Bouchard Insurance in Sarasota.

Holly serves as the foundation’s executive director. She does the lion’s share of the work, vetting eligible candidates, sifting through invoices and paying stacks of bills for burdened families across the country. She flatly calls it an “administrative nightmare,” but harbors no resentment for the work.

The application process is simple, with no grant writing required. The Wrights rely heavily on a close-knit network of doctors and hospitals across the country. Facilities and physicians alert them to families in need.

If parents request help directly, Holly evaluates them by contacting their health care providers. A scanned utility bill arrives at the foundation, and Holly pays it.

In addition to paying utilities, the foundation helps out with rent and mortgage payments. It distributes gas cards to hospitals with top-rated pediatric oncology programs and ship care packages to children with cancer.

It’s all done, tirelessly, in Payton’s memory. Holly recently published a book, “It’s OK to be Broken,” (available on Amazon) that recounts Pay-

Parents are scared about their child and they can’t think straight. If you can take something off their plate, it means everything to them. It’s priceless.” HOLLY WRIGHT 42

LWR LIFE

Photos by Lori Sax

ton’s story and offers larger insights into facing life’s challenges.

The couple is moving forward by paying it forward. When the weight of the effort gets too cumbersome to bear, they reflect on their daughter’s courage and optimism. Payton was fond of saying, “It’s gonna be a good day.” During radiation treatments, Holly recalls listening to her sick 4-year-old negotiate with the radiologist about which song by INXS or AC/DC to play first.

“She loved her hard rock,” Holly says wistfully. “She was not your typical 4-year-old.”

Payton’s older sisters are doing well. Savanna attends Belmont College in Nashville. Sydney, a junior at Lakewood Ranch High School, rows for Sarasota Crew and insists on still being thought of as the middle child.

The family sets aside special times to remember Payton. Each year on her birthday (May 7), they write a message about how much they miss her on a balloon, release it into the air, and then return to their home for a celebration with family and friends.

Payton would’ve turned 14 this year.

Last year, Holly remembers Sydney saying, “Mom, she’s getting older. We can’t do princess cakes anymore. We have to do teenage cakes.”

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MAY 29 MEMORIAL DAY ‘TRIBUTE TO HEROES’ PARADE The community celebration takes place from 5 to 10 p.m. at Lakewood Ranch Main Street. Floats, marching bands, ponies, Miss Lakewood Ranch, vintage cars and the local Hit Crew of Manatee County will be featured, among other groups. The street festivities include music, face painting, refreshments and vendor booths.

Proceeds from the parade benefit the Manasota Operations Troop Support (MOTS). Please bring toiletry and nonperishable food items to donate. n For more information, call 757-1530.

JUNE

JUNE 1 POKER RUN Head to Lakewood Ranch Main Street from 5 to 7 p.m. for a fun and fastpaced Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance event. Collect cards from various participating Main Street merchants in hopes of getting the best poker hand of the night. Complimentary appetizers will be available with the $10 admission fee for non-alliance members. Members are free. n For more information, call 757-1664.

JUNE 3 MUSIC ON MAIN Enjoy a free concert from 6 to 9 p.m. at Lakewood Ranch Main Street. The event is hosted the first Friday of each month. Kettle of Fish Band will perform rock ‘n’ roll and blues music. Proceeds will benefit the Animal Network Inc. Guests can bring chairs, but no coolers. n For more information, call 907-9243.

Continued on Page 46

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LWR LIFE

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Clockwise, from left: Sage Esposito enjoys cold chocolate milk; the festival’s Moogician performs dairythemed magic tricks; and 2-yearold Xavier Strickland takes a corn bath at a previous Dairy Day Festival.

Continued from Page 44 JUNE 4 DAIRY DAY FESTIVAL Celebrate National Dairy Month with Dakin Dairy Farms, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the farm, 30771 Betts Road, Myakka City. The event features a climbing wall, mechanical bull, games and plenty of dairy drinks and food for attendees. Tickets cost $7 per person, or $20 per person for a wristband. n For more information, call 322-2802.

JUNE 18 GREAT FATHER’S DAY RACE Lace up alongside dad and enjoys the 5K run or walk at 8 a.m. at Siesta Key Beach. The entire event takes place on the beach. Participants will receive a free Dri-Fit T-shirt, goodie bag and prizes. Top finishers will earn a reward. After the event, enjoy prizes, music, snacks, drinks and activities for the whole family. Cost is $35 prior to race day, and $40 June 18. n For more information, visit active.com.

JUNE 22 LEADERSHIP, PIRATE STYLE WITH TREVOR GOOBY Join Trevor Gooby, senior director of Florida operations for the Pittsburgh Pirates, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Polo Grill and Bar’s Fete Ballroom. He will speak about leadership and the Pirates organization, with which he has been involved for 12 years. Cost is $25 for Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance members and$35 for non-members. n For more information, call 757-1664.

JUNE 25 ARTS AND CRAFTS SATURDAY Runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of the month, June through September, at Mixon Fruit Farms. Enjoy locally crafted jewelry, decorations, pottery and other items. n For more information, call 748-5829.

JULY JULY 1 MUSIC ON MAIN Enjoy a free concert from 6 to 9 p.m. at Lakewood Ranch Main Street. Guests are encouraged to bring chairs and leashed pets. Leave the coolers home. n For more information, call 907-9243.

JULY 2 BRADENTON MARAUDERS INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION Gates open at 5:30 p.m. at McKechnie Field, where the Marauders will take on the Charlotte Stone Crabs. The event features a patriotic-themed baseball jersey auction and a free shirt giveaway to the first 1,500 fans to enter the stadium. A firework show will follow the game. n For more information, call 747-3031.

Continued on Page 48

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LWR LIFE

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Continued from Page 46 JULY 4 ANNA MARIA ISLAND INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE Celebrate the Fourth of July with a parade lasting from 10 a.m. to noon.

The parade runs from Coquina Beach to the City Pier at Anna Maria. n For more information, visit amiprivateers.memberlodge.org.

MYAKKA KAYAKA FOURTH OF JULY JAM BLAST Enjoy live music and craft beers from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Snook Haven, 5000 E. Venice Ave., Venice. Free admission. n For more information, call 485-7221.

PALMETTO FOURTH OF JULY FESTIVAL Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency features music by country artists Craig Campbell and Rodney Atkins.

Craig Campbell performs at 5 p.m. and Rodney Atkins performs at 7 p.m.

Attendees can stay in their seats or walk down to the Manatee River for the fireworks show, which starts at 9 p.m. n For more information, call 723-4988.

JULY 16 SPYDER BROUSSARD LOW COUNTRY FISH FRY & SHRIMP BOIL This 9th annual event starts at 6:30 p.m. at Polo Grill and Bar. The cost is $34.95 and includes live entertainment by the Gumbo Boogie Band. n Call 782-0899 for reservations.

Photo by Heidi Kurpiela

AUGUST

Lynn Barrie fills her plate with Louisianathemed cuisine at the 2015 Spyder Broussard’s Low Country Fish Fry & Shrimp Boil.

48

LWR LIFE

AUGUST 5 MUSIC ON MAIN Enjoy a free concert from 6 to 9 p.m. on Lakewood Ranch Main Street. Guests are encouraged to bring chairs and leashed pets, but no coolers. n For more information, call 907-9243.

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Style

Sandals for Summer HEATHER MERRIMAN SABA | CONTRIBUTOR

I

t’s that time of year again — it’s hot and we dress accordingly. Sandals are the go-to for most Floridians, but they don’t have to be your average, boring flip-flops. Lucky for us out

here on the Ranch, we have plenty of stores offering the coolest new styles for your feet this summer.

Stuart Weitzman Jellybow floral jelly sandal, $255 Saks Fifth Avenue, The Mall at University Town Center

Prada flat leather sandal, $850 Saks Fifth Avenue, The Mall at University Town Center

“Collin” Daisy sandals $168 Kate Spade, The Mall at University Town Center

Edola-Tassel detail cone heel sandal, $119 Vince Camuto, The Mall at University Town Center

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Laid Back London Wrap Sandal $105 Calypso St. Barth, The Mall at University Town Center

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Style

Women of Influence Two sisters

forge their own path with a business plan and a wicked sense of style.

HEATHER MERRIMAN SABA CONTRIBUTOR

G

ood fashion is sometimes hard to find, but if you venture out to St. Armands Circle and step into Influence Style, you’ll find those contemporary, classic looks for which you’ve been yearning.

Lakewood Ranch residents and sisters Liz Jones and Samantha Beebe own the store, so LWR Life spoke with one half of the team, Jones, to learn more.

And, we got the tip that the ladies are looking for a second location for Influence Style out here in the Ranch.

When did you decide to open Influence?

From a young age, I was always very interested in dressing people. Sam and I have always had a very close relationship, being only 15 months apart. When she graduated with a business degree and I graduated from fashion school, we worked hard on a business plan, set some goals and here we are — two stores (Influence and Influence/MEN), both with an online presence, currently working on a T-shirt line and continuing to grow as much as we can year to year.

When did you open the stores?

We are in our seventh year in our women’s store and our fourth year in our men’s store.

How would you describe the fashion you carry at your stores?

We carry contemporary clothing for both men and women. In our women’s store we are stocked with designers that you can wear from day to night, along with a full selection

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AT HOME Photo by Heather Merriman Saba

of shoes, handbags and accessories — and we are always evolving with new trends and styles. Influence/ MEN is geared toward a guy who likes to look good, but still be comfortable. We have a good selection of jeans, good basics and button ups.

Describe your own styles.

Both of our styles during the day are simple — jeans and tees, which we love stocking the store with. Sam normally likes to add a third piece, such as an Army jacket or a Vince (brand) oversized vest. I love throwing an outfit together with a Janessa Leone hat and an edgy pair of boots.

I think that is what makes our store great — we have two different styles, and you can see that in my buying.

The two Lakewood Ranch residents share their favorites outside of work.

What’s your favorite hangout?

I love starting my morning at Barre3 on Main Street. At night we love relaxing outside at MacAllisters or Craft Growlers.

Favorite restaurant?

It’s a tie between Lucky Pelican and MacAllisters. And Station 400 has amazing breakfast.

What do you do for fun?

Since we are down on the Circle a lot, on our days off we love being outside either biking, playing tennis or pickle ball — we love getting all of our friends together with some wine and snacks to play pickle ball.

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Summer Love

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LWR LIFE

Whether you’re newly wed or celebrating your golden anniversary, there’s a rendezvous for you in East County. Here are seven of our favorite dates.

BY HEIDI KURPIELA | MANAGING EDITOR

H

ey lovebirds, the temperature is rising in Lakewood Ranch.

Why not use this time to turn up the heat in your

relationship? You don’t have to head west of the interstate to find romance with so many great date destinations in your backyard.

Sweep your honey off her feet with a quiet horseback ride through the old Florida countryside, or grab a table for two at a spicy Mexican cantina. From free music on Main Street to target practice in green fields, East County has the date for you.

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IF YOU NEED AN ESCAPE FROM REALITY No date is more tried and true than dinner and a movie. And there’s no time better than summertime to space out in front of a big screen in an airconditioned theater.

The 2016 blockbuster season is upon us.

Fill your belly with Disco Fries and cheese steaks at Ed’s Tavern, then buy two tickets to “X-Men: Apocalypse” in 3-D at Lakewood Ranch Cinemas. If doomsday mutant movies aren’t your thing, the multiplex offers highbrow art house flicks at 11 a.m. every Saturday and Sunday. In June, you can catch screenings of the French film “My Golden Days” and the Chet Baker biopic “Born to Be Blue.” If you’re feeling especially cultured, we suggest sneaking in kale chips and granola from nearby Healthy Living Organic & Natural Market. n For more information, call 955-3456 or visit filmsociety.org

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IF YOU NEED TO RELEASE TENSION Clay shooting is not a sentimental activity, but it’s an excellent way to break the ice — or blow off steam, depending on the nature of your relationship. Consider the Ancient Oak Gun Club in Lakewood Ranch your place to let it all out.

Nestled on unspoiled ranch land off State Road 64, the facility is home to 28 shooting stations.

Many trigger-happy couples pass through the clubhouse on a regular basis, but you don’t have to be Yosemite Sam to enjoy the thrill of target practice. Each station is covered, so you won’t bake in the midday sun and golf carts are available for $20, if you’re not up for the one-mile walk. Participants can bring their own shotguns or rent them from the front office.

Competitive shooters will find the south course more challenging. Old married couples will find both courses cathartic.

IF YOU’RE NOT AFRAID TO PIG OUT IN FRONT OF YOUR DATE When the dainty eating phase of your relationship is over, grab a table for two at Casa Maya on Main Street. Bring an empty stomach and some wet wipes; then order the molcajete, a loaded fajita in an Aztec-ian stone bowl (the Mexican version of a mortar and pestle). One molcajete can easily be shared between two people. The bowl comes out steaming hot and brimming with beans, rice, guacamole, pico de gallo, mole sauce, cheese and your choice of meat.

Molcajetes are all the rage right now at trendy Mexican restaurants across Sarasota and Tampa Bay. Lucky for Lakewood Ranch residents, Casa Maya owner Ronald Kuroiwa has been pumping out these bowls for years.

The dish is so auténtico, you’ll feel like you’re chowing down in Tijuana.

n For more information, call 745-5900 or visit ancientoakgunclub.com

Lori Sax

n For more information, call 538-6350 or visit casamayalwr.com

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IF YOU’RE FEELING CREATIVE You don’t have to be Matisse to plan a painting date. The Thursday night adult classes at Let’s Create Art on Main Street in Lakewood Ranch are attracting novice artists, many of them couples. Unlike the studio’s guided Painting Parties, at which students paint the same image, the Thursday night gatherings are looser, less structured and customized to individual interests. The twohour drop-in sessions work well for married students that wish to make complimentary pieces to hang in their home. The studio provides paint, brushes and canvases. You provide wine. If stick figures are the only thing in your wheelhouse, don’t worry. Instructors help sketch out your painting before you put acrylic to canvas, which is important to note because after two or three glasses of merlot, all art starts to look abstract. n For more information, call 361-1491 or visit artlwr.com

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Make the Y your vacation destination for the summer. Enjoy 100+ group exercise classes, cycling, sports, swimming and more. Our Family

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members receive $5 Swim Lessons & $5 Sports Leagues, Heidi Kurpiela and baby sitting is FREE while parent works out!

members receive $5 Swim Lessons & $5 Sports Leagues, and baby sitting is FREE while parent works out!

IF YOU’RE NEW TO TOWN All members receive FREE “12 Weeks to a New You Program” when they join the Y. For longtime Lakewood Ranch deni-

All members receive FREE “12 Weeks to a New You Program” when they join the Y.

zens, Music on Main might seem like a hackneyed date destination. For new inhabitants, it’s the perfect night out. The event provides an immediate introduction to one of the perks of 1:30-3:30pm. master-planned freeActivities, music on Aquaticliving: Family June 12th Main Street the first Friday of every Sports Family Fun Activities, June 26th month. The mini festival functions as Family Fitness Classes, July 10th a monthly mixer for locals; complete Pool Party for All, July 24th with food vendors peddling everything from pulled pork sandwiches to cupcakes and Access pizza. A revolving lineup FREE to our branches on of bands means you’re guaranteed a Family Fun Sundays and if you join we fresh vibe month.

June, catch willevery waive theInJoining Fee. local rock darlings Kettle of Fish. The Up to $50 Savings. ensemble never disappoints with its Ask about Individual Unique Pricing to mix of blues/rock/soul covers and the Y and reduced originaljoin jams.

Bring yourreceive folding a chairs membership fee! and your dogs — Music on Main doubles as a doggy date night, too.

Join us at Family Fun Sundays

n Music on Main is held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Lakewood Ranch Main Street the first Friday of the month.

For more information and a schedule Lakewood Ranch Branch of upcoming performances, visit www.manateeymca.org lakewoodranch.com/musiconmain 941-798-YMCA (9622)

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MEET OUR MODELS Escape suburban domesticity on horseback and book a Hallmark-movie-of-theweek date at Myakka Trail Rides. The 40-acre Myakka River Ranch, located off Clay Gully Road in sleepy Myakka City, offers a variety of guided rides, including a steamy sunset trot under the oak canopy. Couples are encouraged to bring wine and sandwiches for a picnic at dusk. Experience in the saddle is not required. According to owner Dasha Cole, a longtime equestrian who toured with the famed Herrmann’s Royal Lipizzan Stallions, 80% of the couples who come out to ride have never mounted a horse. “The rides are leisurely, not scary,” says Cole. n For more information, call 219-9399 or visit myakkatrailrides.com

IF YOU NEED TO WORK ON COMMUNICATION What does rowing a tandem kayak mean to you? It means you better be willing to communicate with your shipmate lest you crash into a mangrove. If you’re having communication problems, rowing is a great way to sort them out — and burn calories. Starting in June, Nathan Benderson Park will offer single and double kayak rentals on its 400-acre lake. We can’t think of a more fitting activity or backdrop for bickering able-bodied couples. It’s cheap therapy with a pretty view. n For more information, call 358-7275 or visit nathanbendersonpark.org

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Dex Honea

IF YOU’RE IN THE MOOD FOR ROMANCE

BRUCE AND MICHELLE HEARON, (left) married 27 years with two children How they met: Working at Macy’s in Sacramento, Calif.

Where they live: Bridgewater Favorite date destination: The Caribbean Their biggest challenge as a couple: Striking a healthy work/life balance.

They’ve worked together for two decades. In addition to selling homes for Keller Williams, they own Hearon Advisory Group, an independent financial firm in Sarasota and Venice.

The secret to their success: Making time for dates. “When your children are young, it’s easy to fall into the mom and dad role,” says Bruce. “If money is tight, go see a movie at the dollar theater. Go to happy hour. Block out time and do something that keeps the spark going, otherwise that spark goes out.”

GABRIEL AND TINA JIVA, (Page 56) married two-and-a-half years with one toddler How they met: Tina’s roommate at the University of South Florida went to high school with Gabriel in Fort Lauderdale.

Where they live: Riverwalk Hammock Favorite date destination: Bijou Café for special occasions and MacAllisters Grill & Tavern for everyday occasions Their biggest challenge as a couple: Sharing parenting responsibilities. “Tina takes care of 90% of the baby’s needs,” says Gabriel. “I’ll do things when asked, but she wants me to preemptively do things.”

The secret to their success: Being thoughtful in little ways and not taking their problems too seriously.

ALLAN AND GAIL SHAIVITZ, (Page 58) married for 17 years and together for 34 years with four children How they met: Their children played Little League together in Baltimore. At the suggestion of a mutual friend, they reconnected years later when Gail was the director of a large senior center.

Where they live: Riverwalk Ridge Favorite date destination: Lido Beach Their biggest challenge as a couple: Staying active and healthy. “I’m 75 and my wife is 72,” says Allan. “As you get to this age, you need to make an effort to exercise and take care of yourself.”

The secret to their success: Compromise, communication and cooking a lot of dinners together. “We are each other’s best friend,” says Allan.

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Dirt

The on Clean Eating Two local foodies are making it easier to eat healthily in Lakewood Ranch.

SHELLIE TERRY BENSON | CONTRIBUTOR

F

or Andy Zion, weight loss has always been a challenge. For years, his body yo-yoed due to a nagging list of factors: a hectic job at a car dealership, a knee injury that sidelined his gym

schedule and long days spent taxiing his kids around town.

His diet always fell by the wayside.

Continued on Page 64

Jenn Burns’ Above The Grain proves you can cook healthy food in a truck.

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Photos by Heidi Kurpiela

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63

Continued from Page 62 “I get busy and eat whatever is around,” says the 45-year-old GreyHawk Landing resident. “I go out to lunch or spend five minutes with the microwave. I often work past dinnertime… it’s just all the things that make for a tough job, diet-wise.”

His dilemma is a common one. We’re all guilty of eating on the run, which makes sticking to the latest diet du jour, “clean eating,” feel like a Herculean task. If you listen to the current wellness rhetoric, you might think the only way to eat clean is to nibble on kale and quinoa every day between glasses of kombucha. You’re wrong.

When Zion’s doctor told him he needed to get his weight under control, he embarked on a classic no-refined carbohydrate/no-sugar diet. Like so many of us, he fell on and off the wagon — until he began ordering from a local meal delivery service that prepares “real food” for busy people.

His weekly meals come from Above the Grain, a Lakewood Ranch-based food service that prepares pre-cooked, pre-proportioned “clean” meals for health-conscious clients. The meals are considered clean because they don’t contain refined sugars, dairy, preservatives and gluten. In other words, they’re made from whole foods and nothing processed.

Above the Grain clients like Zion get a different meal plan every week.

The plan is posted online and the meals are packaged into to-go containers, stuffed into a canvas bag and delivered to your door. The business’s owner, Jenn Burns, says her food puts a modern spin on the Paleolithic diet, which came into the zeitgeist years ago with Loren Cordain’s book, “The Paleo Diet.” More a lifestyle than an eating regime, Paleo devotees essentially eat the same food as cavemen: lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, nuts and eggs.

Burns herself is a testament to the concept. Like Zion, she was a gym rat who bounced from diet to diet before deciding to “go clean.” She hopped on the Paleo trend at the suggestion of a personal trainer who told her, “I can’t outwork your diet.”

Continued on Page 66

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Above The Grain’s Aloha Coconut Lime Marinated Chicken Salad

You can get creative with it. There’s a lot of room for interesting meals, so you don’t feel like you’re being starved.”

Above The Grain’s food truck menu

– JENN BURNS, ABOVE THE GRAIN

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Continued from Page 64 The results were astounding. She shed 75 pounds over the course of a year. Soon she was whipping up Paleo-friendly meals for her trainer and several other people at the gym.

Her clean to-go meals were so popular she decided to buy a food truck and launch Above the Grain. By the end of her first month, she had more than a dozen clients.

“You can get creative with it,” Burns says of her rotating menu. “There’s a lot of room for interesting meals, so you don’t feel like you’re being starved.”

In addition to Paleo fare, she offers sundry dishes for gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian eaters — all without the fat, salt and added sugar. Her favorite recipes include Coconut Lime Marinated Chicken Salad, Oven Baked Latin Chicken with Cauliflower Rice, and Shredded Pesto Chicken over Noodled Butternut Squash. For her “home-style healthy” clients, she fixes Sloppy Joes.

While weight loss is often the catalyst for a diet overhaul, there’s much more to gain from clean eating than a trimmer waistline, says Karen Odierna, founder of CROP, a local chain of organic juice bars.

Odierna’s CROP concept sprouted from a leafy green cold-pressed juice she concocted for her always-sleepy husband, Keith. “Within 15 minutes he was a different person,” Odierna says.

“He was so depleted of nutrients, and just powered on sugar and caffeine like the rest of us.”

Once a fad embraced by crash dieters, juicing has evolved over the years into a formidable niche in the health food industry. The objective is no longer to detox your body by consuming only juice for days. Instead, today’s juice buffs add cold-pressed nectar to an already clean diet. They say cold pressing fruits and vegetables gives you the most nutrients and live enzymes.

Odierna opened her first CROP, which stands for cold-pressed raw organic produce, two years ago on Gulf Gate Drive in Sarasota. Since then, she has opened three other locations, including one last fall on University Parkway.

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“Our intake of fruits and vegetables is so poor, with only 1% of adults and 2% of kids getting enough,” says Odierna, a former oncology nurse and fitness instructor. “We’re a society that’s killing ourselves.”

Both women say coming over to the “clean side” isn’t easy at first. The first few weeks of clean eating can trigger withdrawal symptoms: headaches, irritability and even stomach pains. By the end of the first month, however, you’ll start to notice clearer skin, stronger fingernails, improved focus, increased energy and lower cholesterol. “You can almost see people come to life,” says Burns.

DO’S AND DON’TS OF CLEAN EATING DO use an app on your smartphone to count calories.

DON’T quit sugar cold-turkey.

DO add a salad or two to your weekly meal plans.

DON’T eat food with ingredients you can’t pronounce.

DO snack on nuts between meals to curb hunger.

DON’T shop in the center of the grocery store. The healthy stuff is along the perimeter of the store.

DO start juicing with fruits first.

They’re more palatable than vegetables.

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Pope Paradise The area along Pope Road may be changing,

but for the Smith brothers, it’ll always be home.

BY PAM EUBANKS | CONTRIBUTOR

O

ut Archie Smith’s front door, history and progress collide. Live oak trees line the eastern edge of his property off Pope Road, moss

drips from the limbs, roots rise up from the ground and trunks twist together as if locked in an embrace.

“I grew up on the land we’re sitting on,” he says from a chair in his living room. “The house I grew up on was on the corner of this property.”

He turns to the trees. His favorite has grown so big it’s now considered a Century Oak. “I remember when these trees went in the ground,” he says.

He and his wife, April, have strolled beneath this canopy a million times. To the west, through the foliage and over a picket fence, yellow construction equipment levels the land. The daily hum of bulldozers reminds them that growth is coming — specifically 400 single-family homes in Mallory Park and 300 in Arbor Grande.

“We’re getting four lanes right in front of our property,” April says, nodding in the direction of a freshly paved thoroughfare intersecting sleepy Pope Road. “It will eventually take you straight to State Road 64.”

But the Popes’ history allows the land’s legacy to live on. In 1906, Archie Smith’s great-grandfather, Andrew Curtis Pope, for whom Pope Road is named, homesteaded 160 acres in the

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Photos

by Heidi Kurpiela

Above: The Smiths have a front row seat to expanding development.

Left: Scott and Lois Smith; Maria and Kevin Smith; Jared, Archie and April Smith

heart of what is now Lakewood Ranch. Each of Andrew Curtis Pope’s nine children inherited a piece of the land, and then handed down those pieces from generation to generation. Most of the property has been sold off, but about one-third still remains in the family.

Archie, 64, and his brother, Scott Smith, 59, own a combined 7.5 acres on Pope Road, a gift from their grandmother, Myrtie Smith. Another 50 acres or so of the original homestead are still privately owned, the majority of which is in a family trust in the name of Lucy Wager, the brothers’ aunt. The remaining acreage, save for a two-acre parcel that belongs to their second cousin, is owned by non-family members.

“They raised rice out here and other crops,” Archie says. “For income, my great-grandfather traveled by horseback to a big turpentine camp that was east of what it is today, Lorraine Road.

They had cotton and anything they could raise here. You can imagine how hard it was to clear land. They had pigs, cattle. It was a typical farm.”

The property is whirling with memories.

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Archie, called “Butch” by family members, and Scott were raised on the property, along with their two brothers, Elven, who lives in Missouri, and Kevin, who lives with his wife, Maria, in nearby Country Creek.

The bus ride to Manatee Elementary and later Southeast High School took nearly an hour every day. After school, the boys would run through the fields, staking out secret spots in the wild terrain, wandering onto Schroeder-Manatee Ranch’s cow pastures and building forts out of hay in a pole barn.

“I remember playing with our toy cars in the dirt, building towers,” says Archie, a retired Air Force officer. “We’d spend hours and hours doing that. We entertained ourselves. We were always outside.”

Their great uncle, Richard Pope, an old Florida cracker, would gather the kids in a swamp buggy and drive them around to catch rattlesnakes. He would snatch them using a stick and rope contraption, then the kids would pop the top of a 55-gallon barrel and Uncle Richard would fling them in. When the bucket was full, their uncle would sell them to a man named Ross Allen in Silver Springs for $5 apiece.

“That was terrifying at first,” Scott says. “After a couple of times, I enjoyed it. He was a funny guy.”

The four boys were scrappy: a tight-knit pack of tanned little rascals living so far east of Bradenton they might as well have been residents of Arcadia. At night, they slept in one bedroom, stacked in bunk beds in the family’s two-bedroom home. Between them, they had one dresser and one closet. “We each got a drawer,” says Archie.

They weren’t allowed to keep pets in the house; except for that time they nursed a female raccoon back to health after she had fallen out of a pine tree. They named the animal Bandit and bottlefed her until she weighed 30 pounds. One day, she went into heat and tore up their mother’s arm, so they hauled her off to Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. “A girl would not have lived with us,” muses Scott.

The Smiths are proud of their heritage. Like any family that sticks close to home, their history runs deep. Each year they gather for a reunion of Pope family descendants at the Gamble Plantation in Ellenton. The crowd is usually 100-Popes thick.

“There are a lot of us around,” Archie says.

“My wife is a member of the Daughters of the Confederacy. I went with her to a luncheon one time and we met a second cousin of mine. Turns out her great-grandfather and my great-grandfather were brothers. To think we never knew each other over all these years.”

The brothers say their patchwork of stories — garnered from years of hanging out with

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Courtesy of the Manatee County Public Library System

This historical image is a portrait view, possibly drawn in charcoal, of Andrew Jackson Pope and Melinda Cason Pope. A.J. Pope was born June 26, 1836 in Muscogee County, Ga. He left there when young and moved to Alachua County, Fla. He served in the mounted volunteers during the Third Seminole War and in 1861 eloped with Melinda. They resided with the Pope family in Georgia until A.J. joined the Confederate forces of the 17th Georgia Regiment Infantry. He was captured in 1862 at the battle of Malvern Hill but was later exchanged. In a later battle he suffered a shattered hand. Having seen the Manatee River area during his Indian War service, he and Melinda made their way south via Alachua County to the Duette area of Manatee County. They settled on 160 acres at what was later known as Pope Gully, but soon moved to better land east of the later Rye Road and south of the later Waterline Road. In spite of his damaged hand, he still raised livestock, farmed and worked as a carpenter. The couple had 13 children. Image is dated 1900-1910.

FAMILY TREE ANDREW JACKSON POPE + MELINDA ANN FRANCES CASON POPE

Thirteen children, including Andrew Curtis Pope (others: Mary Alice, Lewis Austin, Annie Belle, Thomas Jackson, Lena Frances, George Dallis, Lucy Ellen, John Barrow, Stephen Byrd, Daniel Roscoe and Augustus Marcius)

ANDREW CURTIS POPE + LETICIA POPE KENNEDY

Nine children: Myrtie, Lucy, Lardner, Clayton, Roy, Beulah, Dick, Lola and Richard

MYRTIE POPE + MORRING SMITH Two children, Archie Morring Smith and Julian Claude Smith

ARCHIE MORRING SMITH + EDNA JO SMITH

Four sons, Archie Morring Jr., Samuel Scott, Elven Joseph and Kevin Andrew

Photo by Heidi Kurpiela

Right: Archie Smith’s grandmother, Myrtie Pope Smith with her husband, Morring and two sons, Archie Smith Sr. (right) and Julian Smith (left).

Courtesy of the Manatee County Public Library System

Cattle crew at Bee Island in the Myakka River State Park.

From left to right are Frank Kennedy, Van Williams, Hollis Webb, Edward Kennedy, Lardner Pope, Libby Warner and Superdawg, the cattle dog.

ORAL HISTORY

Interview with Lardner C. Pope, 1983, transcribed by Libby Warner “My granddaddy was A.J. Pope. Andrew Jackson Pope. He came here from Columbus, Ga. … A.J. came down here before the Civil War to fight the Indians. I know when I bring this out that you’ve heard this. They head to land where they had water. In them days, it isn’t like it is now. You had good water everywhere, on these creeks and gullies, better than you can drink these days. And he stopped up there in the northeastern part of Manatee County on a nice gully there. And where he camped there with his troops to fight was named Pope Gully.”

grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins — is what defines them, not their land. As Archie walks through his garage, he pauses to look at an aerial photograph he hung years ago. The picture shows the old family home, a barn and a smattering of rustic structures on what used to be their grandmother’s 10-acre estate. “It’s a neat comparison of what was there then and what’s there now,” he says.

They knew development was inevitable. When Eagle Trace broke ground on their Great Uncle Lardner Pope’s land several years ago, they accepted the fact that their rural outpost was about to change.

“I understand why people want to move out here,” Archie says. “It’s a nice place to live. When we were growing up, all the growth was taking place to the west of us. Now there’s nowhere to go but east. It’s progress from a lot of people’s perspectives. If we remain here, it’ll take some adjusting. I’m basically at peace with that.”

WANT TO LEARN MORE? Snippets of the Pope family’s history are chronicled in books, including “Tater’s & Biscuits,” “The Singing River,” “Peace River Pioneers” and “Yesterday’s Bradenton,” all of which are available from Manatee County’s Public Library System.

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Interview with Lola Pope Powell, 2006, interviewed by Anne Whelan “One night, my grandfather had to go to town. And one night when he was coming back, it was quite late, on his horse. That was the only way they had to travel, was either on a horse, if alone or the wagon, if the family went. It had been raining all day and a very heavy, heavy rain. And it was still raining and when he got to where the creek was, it was so wide… as the creek was wide then. It’s narrow now. I can step across it. But anyway, it was so wild. The water was churning and jumping and everything and the horse was afraid and wouldn’t cross it. So, he had a time to get him across. But finally, after a long time, the horse did go across and he didn’t get home until early morning. My grandmother was so upset and worried.

She was up when he got there and she was and he said, ‘Well, I’m sorry, but that old creek was so full it was just milling and the horse was afraid.

It wouldn’t cross it.’ And from that day on that river… that creek was known as Mill Creek. So, I know my granddad named Mill Creek.”

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LBKC_LWRLife-1/2 page_4.19.16.indd 1

4/19/16 2:28 PM

HAVEN

SPOTLIGHTING LIFE ON THE RANCH

Custom homes are about more than style — they’re about lifestyle.

PAGE 74

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“There’s a connectivity now between the inside and the outside of the house,” says custom homebuilder John Cannon. “It’s very conducive to the new open floor plans. Everything opens up to the outside.”

MADE TO ORDER Some Lakewood Ranch house hunters are building their dream homes from the ground up.

HEIDI KURPIELA | MANAGING EDITOR custom construction veteran John tional hub.” They opened up the foyer

W

hen Tim and Michelle Hornung moved to Lakewood Ranch four years ago, they refused to settle for any old home. They knew what they wanted and they weren’t shy about asking for it: two stories, a four-car garage, custom ceilings, abundant closet space and bathrooms in each of their children’s bedrooms, among other niceties.

They picked a lot in The Lake Club, a neighborhood renowned for its luxury, one-of-a-kind properties, and hired

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Cannon as their builder.

“The spec houses were too small and not up to the quality we wanted,” Michelle says. “We didn’t want to move into anything preexisting. We wanted it to fit our family from the start.”

The Hornungs, who run a private wealth management company, toured one of Cannon’s models, then tailored the project to suit their needs. They added a second story, moving bedrooms from the first floor to the second. They created a bonus room and tripled the size of their downstairs laundry room, an enormous space that Michelle describes as her “organiza-

to make room for a grand piano and turned the back den into Tim’s office.

They added flex space to the front of the house and lifted the ceilings in the great room.

Unlike the couple’s first house in Ohio, this 5,300-square-foot dwelling was intentionally designed to accommodate their three daughters, ages 8, 9 and 11, and two big dogs.

“The kids basically have their own wing upstairs,” Michelle says. “We even put a washer and dryer up there so they can do their own laundry.”

Continued on Page 76

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Top: Tim and Michelle Hornung’s three daughters have their own “wing” upstairs in their Lake Club home.

Middle: “It’s my favorite room in the house,” says Michelle Hornung of her oversized laundry room.

Bottom: The Hornungs added a second story to their 5,300square-foot John Cannonbuilt house.

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Continued from Page 74 The Hornungs aren’t the only choosy homebuyers in Lakewood Ranch. Families interested in custombuilt houses are flocking to the area for myriad reasons. They’re attracted to the community’s live/work/play vibe and they know they can get more bang for their buck out east.

“A million dollar house costs the same to build whether you build it on the water or in Lakewood Ranch,” says Cannon. “The difference is in the cost of property. A waterfront lot might cost you $2 million. A nice lot in Lakewood Ranch is less than half the cost.”

Most of the developable land is located east of the urban service boundary, which is why Lakewood Ranch is such a hotbed for new construction.

However, the majority of the new homes inside the master-planned community are built on speculation.

Of the 15 villages in Lakewood Ranch, only two neighborhoods are currently putting in custom projects: The Lake Club and Country Club East. Although these places go up with less frequency than spec homes, builders have noContinued on Page 78

Courtesy photos

Above, right: Tom and Gina DeLong toured 40 places in Lakewood Ranch before deciding to build a semi-custom home by Neal Signature Homes in Country Club East.

Right: The DeLongs selected their kitchen cabinetry and countertops.

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Above: Glass tiles are trendy in home construction right now. Far left: Today’s custom homebuyers have a say in all the fit and finish aspects of their home, down to the crown molding along the ceiling.

Left: Elaborate chandeliers are out. Sleek contemporary light fixtures are in.

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Continued from Page 76

Courtesy photos

Above: T.J. Nutter’s 4,000-squarefoot model in The Lake Club boasts a wine room with aquarium glass barn doors.

Right: Aged driftwood flooring gives this Great Room by Nutter Custom Construction a coastal zen vibe.

Bottom: Nutter’s model master bath features accordion glass doors that open up to a wall mural.

ticed an uptick in the market.

According to T.J. Nutter, owner of Nutter Custom Construction, the custom market has become more attainable in recent years.

“I think custom has new meaning now,” says Nutter. “It used to mean expensive. Now it means built the way the way you like it.”

His price point runs the gamut, from $180 per square foot to $600 per square foot. He says most clients have reasonable wish lists and that his most outrageous request so far has been for a lazy river in lieu of a pool, to which he has no objections.

A builder for 28 years, Nutter says the recession has affected how and what people buy. A decade ago, buyers favored Mediterranean Revival architecture, formal living rooms, fussy dining rooms, heavy trims and ornate design flourishes. Now they favor clean lines, open floor plans, large outdoor living areas, sleeker cabinetry and a lot of flexible space.

“I think people subconsciously want to simplify,” says Nutter, who has nine homes in The Lake Club. “The market has moved toward a more understated elegance. Instead of having 6,500 square feet, people are living just fine in 4,000 square feet. They’re finding that when designed properly, the house lives like it’s bigger.”

The pool area in Nutter’s Leeward model has a finished shell surface, outdoor kitchen, cascading spa and sunken fire pit.

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GRAND OPENING New Models & Sales Center Now Open IN LAKEWOOD RANCH

Stock Signature Homes, the region’s leading luxury homebuilder, has opened two designer-decorated models and its new sales center in Country Club East at Lakewood Ranch. Come see the impeccable craftsmanship, exquisite interiors and incomparable lifestyle of a Stock Signature Home and learn about our expansion into Sarasota—we’re building in three villages in Lakewood Ranch and in The Concession, bringing over 40 new floorplans,13 gorgeous models and 12 move-in-ready homes to the market. Recognized for excellence in design, architecture and construction, quality is built-in to everything we do.

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Gardening

Ease your summer growing pains Does your garden have the summertime blues? Take a tip from me and your green thumb will endure the heat wave.

LORI WALKER CERTIFIED MASTER GARDENER AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE LAKEWOOD RANCH GARDEN CLUB

T

here’s this myth that permeates Florida gardening circles: only weeds grow in the summer. I’m here to debunk that.

Plenty of gardens thrive in our warmest months. Some plants actually prefer heat, humidity and torrential downpour. I call these guys heat seekers.

When I moved to Florida four-and-a-half years ago, I wasn’t privy to heat seekers. I grew up in Michigan, where you planted tomatoes in the summer and picked them in the fall. In Florida, the planting seasons are reversed. Here, my favorite heirloom tomatoes go in the ground in the Continued on Page 82

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MY FAVORITE YEAR-ROUND FLOWERS n Lavender, below n Beach Sunflower n Plumbago, left n Mexican Heather n Bromeliads n Periwinkle (or Vinca)

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www.homesbytowne.com LWR LIFE

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BUTTERFLIES LOVE THESE SUMMER PLANTS

Continued from Page 80 winter and come out in the spring.

A seasoned gardener, I was at first confused by Florida’s summer growing season. It wasn’t until I took a master gardening class at the Manatee County Extension Office that I began to develop an appreciation for Florida summers. I came to embrace vegetables that flourish south of the Mason Dixon line: okra, sweet potatoes, blackeyed peas, pole beans, cantaloupe and Jerusalem artichokes — you know, the stuff from a Paula Deen recipe.

I learned there are several ways to ensure optimum plant health during our brutally hot summers and falls.

For example, laying a summer cover crop helps provide a partial nitrogen source for fall vegetables, and reduces the risk of soil erosion. In Florida, cover crops aren’t so much valued for their yield as they for keeping the sandy ground fertile between plantings.

Perennial peanut makes a great cover crop, as do sunn hemp and velvet bean.

Keeping your garden nutrient-rich is one battle. Keeping it pest and fun-

n Dill n Fennel n Parsley n Passion Vine, below

gus-free is an entirely different nuisance. One way to safeguard against bugs is to let Mother Nature do the dirty work. Before you plant your fall crop, try solarizing your soil in the summer.

In July or August, stretch transparent plastic over your soil, securing the edges with rocks or landscaping pins. If you have any seams, be sure to duct tape them. The environment needs to be completely sealed for the process to work. The temperature inside your plastic trap can get as high 150 degrees in the summer. Pests and pathogens won’t survive the inferno.

Summer vegetable gardens are a commitment. For less patient gardeners, I suggest growing succulents such aloe, cactus or jade. These hardy sun worshippers are equipped to withstand sweltering climates thanks to their ability to store water inside their leaves, stems and roots. Besides, every Florida gardener should have at least one aloe plant. It comes in handy when friends and family from northern states come to visit and spend too much time baking in the sun.

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Golf

S

ummer is fast approaching, and a round of golf is a great way to spend some quality time with the family. Although golf has been stigmatized in some circles as being exclusively for rich old men, the fact is the game has flourished with people of all ages and genders in the years since Tiger Woods’ late-’90s heyday. And why not? The golf course is the perfect place to unplug from your electronic devices, and enjoy the great outdoors with the people who matter most.

When I started to play golf in the 1980s there were few juniors at my club — you had to be a minimum of 12 years old to play. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we see children hitting golf balls as soon as they can walk.

That said, golf can be hard to learn if not taught correctly.

At the Golf Academy at Lakewood Ranch, where I work as a golf pro, we teach children of all ages through our instructional programs and summer camps. Every student is coached in the fundamental skills of the game by a certified PGA golf professional — from big drives to precise putts, and every shot in between. Our students learn the proper way to tee off, sand divots, rake bunkers and maintain proper etiquette on the green.

Golfing is a privilege for adults as well as their children, and it should be played with utmost respect. All players need to be mindful of the other golfers on the course and at the practice facilities. The inherent discipline required to play the game makes learning golf a great way for kids to pick up important character traits like honor, respect and integrity.

We’ve found that most of our young students pick up the game quickly, and even become great teachers to their parents. Every round comes chock-full of coachable moments for adults and children alike. Kids love to show mom and dad what they have learned, which is great since there’s always something new to discover playing what Arnold Palmer called “without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.”

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Families on the Fairway

Pack up the kids and the putters.

Let golf bring your family together this summer.

JON BULLAS | DIRECTOR OF INSTRUCTION AT LAKEWOOD RANCH GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB

TOP 5 TIPS FOR ADULTS AS GOLFING ROLE MODELS 1. Set an example by following the rules — Stand where you tell them to stand, be quiet while they hit, etc.

2. Don’t over-coach your child — less is often more 3. No whining or club throwing.

4. Stay hydrated and reapply sunscreen liberally 5. Remember that golf is a game — so have fun!

TOP 5 THINGS FOR JUNIOR GOLFERS TO REMEMBER 1. Stand in a safe place behind the golfer that is hitting — never walk ahead.

2. Dress in the required attire with shirt tucked in 3. Use quiet voices on the golf course 4. No running on the golf course 5. Enjoy and have fun.

LEARN MORE If you would like to learn more about our adult and junior instruction, please contact Jon Bullas, advanced PGA professional and certified US kids golf coach at 961-9329 or jon@jonbullas.com.

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twitter.com/manasotafloors LWR LIFE

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TROPICAL NIGHTS SPARKLES & SPURS SATURDAY, APRIL 23, AT SARASOTA POLO CLUB

Jerry and Sharon Stewart with Mary and Andy McGavic

Photos by Pam Eubanks

Kristen Theisen enjoys the appetizer buffet before dinner.

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193300

Brad S. Lerner, MD | Louis M. Cohen, MD | James R. Cocco, MD

2016 - 2017 SeaSON WALSH, TUDOR & LAYTON 28 - 30 October 2016 Dominic Walsh’s Wolfgang for Webb Antony Tudor’s Continuo Joe Layton’s The Grand Tour BALANCHINE, ASHTON & TUDOR 18 - 20 November 2016 George Balanchine’s Apollo Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sinfonietta Antony Tudor’s Gala Performance BALANCHINE’S JEWELS 16 - 17 December 2016 George Balanchine’s Emeralds George Balanchine’s Rubies George Balanchine’s Diamonds GRAZIANO & TUCKETT 27 - 30 January 2017 Ricardo Graziano’s World Premiere Will Tuckett’s Changing Light THE SARASOTA BALLET PRESENTS 24 - 27 February 2017 The Paul Taylor Dance Company A TRIBUTE TO ASHTON 10 - 11 March 2017 Sir Frederick Ashton’s Scènes de ballet Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Two Pigeons ASHTON, DE VALOIS & ROBBINS 28 - 30 April 2017 Sir Frederick Ashton’s Apparitions Dame Ninette de Valois’ Checkmate Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free

Danielle Brown in George Balanchine’s DIAMONDS

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Photography Frank Atura

The Sarasota Ballet Box Office

941.359.0099 | www.SarasotaBallet.org

BLU MANGROVE

OPEN DAILY AT 11AM • Lunch • Dinner • Happy Hour • Special Events Complimentary Valet after 4pm: Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun

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RAW BAR • SUSHI BAR • FRESH EXOTIC SEAFOOD • HAND SELECT STEAKS

What Locals know: OFF season is THE season to celebrate Florida. Enjoy a scenic drive along the gulf, take in the sunset, and find yourself in this historic cottage, the quaint and popular Euphemia Haye. Since 1980, internationally recognized and awarded, Chef Ray Arpke and his team, have provided a consistent, delicious, globally inspired a la carte menu and thoughtfully selected wine list. Reservations are recommended for our downstairs fine dining rooms. Upstairs, the Haye Loft, is an upscale lounge with live music, a lighter bite menu, and homemade desserts, designed for walk-ins on a first come, first served basis.

GIVE EM' A FULL BELLY!

5540 Gulf of Mexico Dr, Longboat Key 941. 383.3633 | euphemiahaye.com

FULL BELLY STUFFED BURGERS

Award winning gourmet STUFFED hamburgers.

Delicious side dishes. Unique appetizers. Great assortment of local craft beer. FULL BELLY is a can’t miss. Feeling adventurous? Dive in to the acclaimed peanut butter and maple bacon stuffed burger. Bringin’ Fun back to the Bun! Mon – Thu: 11am – 9pm; Fri – Sat: 11am – 10pm; Sun: 12pm – 8pm. Happy Hour Mon – Fri: 4 – 7pm.

FRANCHISE OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE. XNLV12377

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Recently renovated, a slice of upscale tropical heaven! Located in Riviera Dunes Marina along the beautiful Manatee River. Visualize yourself sipping on a fabulously crafted cocktail while your eyes are mesmerized by the panoramic marina views of yachts, swaying palm trees and beautiful sunsets. You have arrived in PARADISE! Feast on the FRESHEST seafood, chef prepared entrées, super fresh raw bar, hand rolled sushi and so much more. From lite bite snacks to a full course meal, BLU MANGROVE has something to satisfy everyone’s craving! Excellent to host your next social or family celebration, cocktail party, fundraiser or business meeting. Daily Specials, Live Nightly Music, Indoor & Outdoor Dining, Bars & Lounge Areas.

102 Riviera Dunes Way, Palmetto 941. 479. 7827 | blumangrove.com

EUPHEMIA HAYE RESTAURANT

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dining out

BLU MANGROVE

8742 SR 70 East, Lakewood Ranch 941.727.7111 | fullbellystuffedburgers.com

Restaurant

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LINGER LODGE RESTAURANT

Nestled along the lazy Braden River, Linger Lodge Restaurant is quintessentially “Olde Florida” at its best. Established in 1945 as a fishing and hunting camp, the Lodge has evolved into a great place to dine, listen to live music and enjoy the great views. Two outside covered and screened decks provide picturesque water views. A full liquor bar and an inside air-conditioned Dining room complete the setting. Dishes range from the ever popular Catfish to the elegant Linger Ettoufee’.

Also serving Florida Grouper sandwiches, Burgers, Ruebens, Alligator Bites, Gator Chowder and our award winning Gumbo.

7205 85th Street Court E, Bradenton 941. 755. 2757 | lingerlodgeresort.com

MACALLISTERS

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MAIN STREET TRATTORIA

Opened in 2010 by owner Gary Fennessy, Main Street Trattoria in Lakewood Ranch features fresh Italian cuisine including their signature bruschetta focaccia, chicken Milanese, and hand tossed thin crust pizza, just to name a few. Mr. Fennessy wanted to create a place where friends and family alike can gather for a one of a kind dining experience. Make sure to save room for their homemade tiramisu and a cappuccino for dessert.

One of the best features is their inside/outside bar that opens up to a great outdoor dining area, where you’ll find live music Wed.- Sat. from 6-10 p.m. and Sundays 4-8 p.m. Offering happy hour daily 3-7 p.m. Kids menu and take-out menu also available.

8131 Lakewood Main Street, #101, LWR 941.907.1518 | mstrattoria.com

dining out

Step into MacAllisters Grill and Tavern and meet the new owners, Greg and Tina Bliss. With over 25 years experience, they are committed to fresh ingredients and quality service. Their new menu features local favorites: Fish n’ Chips and Shepherd’s Pie, plus new dishes sure to please everyone! From the bar, enjoy a large selection of Scotch and local craft brews on draft. Daily happy hour. MacAllisters is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week 11:30am-10pm SundayThursday and 11:30am-11pm Friday & Saturday. We also offer patio dining. Kids welcome!

8110 Lakewood Main Street, LWR 941.359.2424 | macallisters.com

PARTING GLANCE Lynn Flood captured this shot of water lilies blooming in Lakewood Ranch Professional Park.

The Serene Luxurious Waterfront Hideaway

ner AwArd win

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Three bedrooms Three bathrooms Gourmet kitchen Disappearing glass doors Wine room Pool deck with waterfall

The Grand Santa Maria by Medallion Signature Home was an Overall Winner at the 2016 Parade of Homes— an award our Bimini model has won two years in a row. State-of-the-art details include a wine room, butler’s pantry, soaring wood-plank ceiling in the great room and a cabana with the summer kitchen and al fresco bar.

Disappearing sliding-glass doors create a genuine outdoor-indoor flow and frame a spectacular pool and waterfall overlooking the Manatee River. Don’t miss the chance to own the gorgeous 4,000-square-foot Grand Santa Maria with a private dock offering Gulf water access in The Reserve at The Inlets.

MEDALLION SIGNATUR E HOME Don’t let The Grand Santa Maria escape. Call 941.748.7777 today for a private showing. $2,695,000 furnished. Inquire at 532 Regatta Way, Bradenton, Florida 34208

204297

www.MedallionSignatureHome.com

R E L A X , P L AY & E N J OY E V E RY DAY

AT I N D I G O !

CALL TODAY FOR

MORE INFORMATION

941.200.0019

Club Indigo Pool

The Estate Homes at Indigo by Neal Communities offer enticing design features inside and out, with generously proportioned floor plans and highly appealing Tuscan and Spanish elevations.

To learn more about the Wind Star, visit NealCommunities.com

One- and two-story designs Floor plans from 2,395 to 2,980 under roof sq. ft.

3-5 bedrooms and 2-3.5 baths Open concept island gourmet kitchens Design Gallery options to personalize your home Wind Star Model now open!

AT L A K E W O O D R A N C H 64

N

LORRAINE RD

LAKEWOOD RANCH BLVD

• • • • • •

AT L A K E W O O D R A N C H

44TH AVE

12916 Deep Blue Place Lakewood Ranch | FL 34211

70

I-75, exit 217A. Route 70 East.

Left on Lakewood Ranch Blvd.

Right on 44th Avenue.

Now Open!

WIND STAR MODEL • 2 elevation style options • Spacious 3-car garage • 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths • Living area 2,878 sq. ft.

• Beautiful open floor plan • Total area 3,725 sq. ft.

.COM SOUTHWEST FLORIDA’S MOST EXPERIENCED HOME BUILDER FOR OVER 40 YEARS Prices and availability subject to change without notice. CBC1256375 202813