The accomplishments of students throughout the school year haven’t been only academic in nature.
The 27th annual STRIVE Awards, held April 17 by Education Foundation of Sarasota County, honored 79 students from eight county high schools, deemed as exhibiting “exceptional resilience and determination in the face of adversity.” School counselors, teachers and principals nominated students.
Senior STRIVE Award recipients each received a gift of $1,000, which the foundations say will cover expenses overlooked by traditional scholarships, while one “Super Striver” senior from each school was awarded $2,500.
He said his time teaching fire academy gave
a love of helping kids, a reason he partnered with Preferred Shore Real Estate to visit Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties, at the Lee Wetherington Club on April 22. Part of the Meet & Mingle series of events held five times a year and showcasing different careers, it included a panel discussion and speed mentoring and networking.
City debates manager search again
Ian Swaby
Ian Swaby
Robert Milligan listens as Tony Fitzgerald
WEEK OF APRIL 24, 2025
BY THE NUMBERS
“It’s pretty clear to me we do not have consensus on this and we can’t vote on it anyway. So what are we talking about?”
City Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich. Read more on page 4
Ahouse in Lido Shores has hit the market with a $14.99 million asking price. The home at 424 Bowdoin Circle looks onto Sarasota Bay.
Premier Sotheby’s International Realty, the listing agency charged with marketing the property, calls it “a stunning West Indies-inspired architectural estate” where “every detail exudes sophistication and grandeur.”
The 5,882-square-foot gated house has five bedrooms with five full baths and one half-bath. Among its features, according
to the listing, are a kitchen with Thermador appliances, a large floating island with quartz counter tops and a walk-in pantry with an extra Bosch refrigerator.
The master bedroom has floorto-ceiling windows, two custom walk-in closets and a spa-like ensuite bath with floating vanities, a soaking tub, custom shower with multiple shower heads and sliders opening to an outdoor shower in a private Zen garden. A staircase and wine wall that lead to a loft with a wet bar and terrace overlooking the water.
The house is currently owned by the Paul J. Galeski Revocable Trust, which paid $2.1 million for the property in 2017 according to public records.
The $14.99 million price tag is becoming a bit more common around Sarasota as newer, luxury houses and condos come on the market plus the fact that prices have been rising.
On Monday, there were 24 houses in Sarasota listed for more than $10 million on Realtor. com. Three were for more than $20 million.
Ringling College president to retire
Larry Thompson will retire as president of Ringling College of Art and Design at the end of the 2025-26 academic year, the college announced on Thursday.
Thompson, the sixth president of the school, has been in the position for 26 years. No successor has been named, and a national search will commence with Board of Trustees Chair Joel Morganroth leading the search committee. He has served on the boards of numerous organizations, including as chair of the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, president of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, chair of Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida and more. Thompson is the recipient of many academic and humanitarian honors and awards.
Under Thompson, the campus on Tamiami Trail has expanded and student enrollment reached a record 1,722, more than double the number from his first year as president. The college also built 14 buildings and upped academic offerings from six majors in 1999 to 26 today.
VSC names visitor experiences leader
Visit Sarasota County has named Jennifer Manzanilla Dolgetta as visitor experiences coordinator. She will oversee the operations and programming of the tourism bureau’s three visitor centers and promote Sarasota County’s attractions, events and amenities.
Other core functions include community outreach, volunteer recruitment and retention and local business engagement.
A Sarasota native, Dolgetta joins Visit Sarasota County with nearly 13 years of customer service, hospitality operations and training design experience. As the customer care manager at First Watch Restaurants, she built and led the team responsible for servicing customer inquiries and experiences for more than 570 restaurants nationwide, in addition to spearheading the creation of the organization’s intern and volunteer programs.
Courtesy of Premier Sotheby’s International Realty This house at 424 Bowdoin Circle on Lido Shores in Sarasota was just listed for sale.
INTERSTATE I-75 AT BEE RIDGE ROAD
Reconstruct diamond interchange to hybrid diverging diamond interchange with a southbound diversion ramp and convert Bee Ridge Road at Cattlemen Road to continuous flow intersection and other improvements:
n Widen I-75 from Bee Ridge Road to Fruitville Road
n Widen I-75 bridges over Palmer Boulevard and Phillippi Creek
n Replace I-75 Bridges over Bee Ridge Road
n Widen Bee Ridge Road from Maxfield Drive to Mauna Loa Boulevard
TIMELINE AND FUNDING
n Design End: Mid-2025 ($2.5 million)
n Right of way acquisition: Ongoing ($41.8 million)
n Construction start: 2033 ($115 million)
LANES, INTERCHANGES AND AUTOMOBILES
regulatory and environmental rigors, it’s also all about the money — or the lack thereof.
“Unfortunately, there is a lot more need than there is money available to meet those needs,” Gaither said.
“That’s a part of working closely with our MPOs and your local elected officials to try and come up with the priorities, the best way to spend the funds to meet the needs.”
ANDREW WARFIELD
STAFF WRITER
Two leaders of regional transportation brought this message to members of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce last week: Road projects are very expensive and they take a really long time.
While not exactly breaking news, Florida Department of Transportation Southwest Area Office Director Wayne Gaither and Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director David Hutchinson laid out the arduous and costly process of road projects — from repaving to highway interchange reconstruction — to chamber members at its April 15 State of the Community luncheon.
Besides describing functions of their respective organizations, Gaither and Hutchinson described how they interact to bring transportation projects to life. The MPO, one of a nationwide network of federally established planning organizations, sets project priorities by continually updating 25-year transportation plans. From there, the FDOT plans and constructs roadway and multimodal projects based on the MPO priority list.
From conception to completion, depending on the complexity of the project, it can take one to two decades to bring it to fruition. In addition to
Gaither highlighted the FDOT’s Connect I-75 initiative, a collection of eight projects from North Port to just north of University Parkway into Manatee County, the two most significant a widening of the highway from Bee Ridge Road to Fruitville Road and replacing the interchange at Fruitville Road with a diverging diamond.
According to the FDOT website, the Bee Ridge to Fruitville project will widen about 3.8 miles of I-75 to an eight-lane highway with three through lanes and one auxiliary lane in each direction, adding lanes to the median. It will also widen three bridges in each direction and widen about one mile of Bee Ridge Road on approach to a new hybrid diverging diamond.
The project has a budget of $159.3 million, with construction beginning in 2033. On the closer horizon is the reconstruction of the Fruitville Road interchange as a diverging diamond, a design similar to the interchanges at Clark Road and University Parkway. Preliminary site work on that project has begun and, at $177.5 million, with a 2029 completion date.
The project will replace bridges over Fruitville Road along with other bridge widening and will widen two miles of I-75, including bridges from Palmer Boulevard to north of Fruitville Road to a six-lane highway with three through lanes in each
direction. It also includes widening Fruitville Road from Honore Avenue to east of Coburn Road.
All those projects set the state for an ultimate I-75 design project to widen the interstate from interim eight lanes to 12 lanes. That includes two express lanes, three general use lanes and one auxiliary lane in each direction to extend the acceptable level of service for I-75 well beyond 2050.
The FDOT has committed some $1.5 billon to address those needs in Sarasota and Manatee counties, needs fueled not only by population growth but also by nonlocal traffic passing through, mostly along the I-75 corridor. And although traffic is a local problem for residents, it’s a regional puzzle for the FDOT.
“Our population growth is going to increase by nearly 400,000 people by 2050. That is a lot of growth,” Hutchinson said of the two-county area. “We’re not a small town anymore. We can take advantage of our great small-town feel, but expect (growth) to continue.”
CONNECT I-75
Future improvement projects for Interstate 75 through Sarasota and Manatee counties: North of Fruitville Road to State Road 70, major improvements South of Clark road to north of Fruitville Road, express lanes North of Sumter Boulevard to north of Clark Road, widen general use lanes Toledo Blade Boulevard, operational improvements Sumter Boulevard, operational improvements North River Road, operational improvements Jacaranda Boulevard, operational improvements University Parkway, operational improvements
“Our population growth is going to increase by nearly 400,000 people by 2050. That is a lot of growth. We’re not a small town anymore. We can take advantage of our great small-town feel, but expect (growth) to continue.”
— David Hutchinson, Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director
population growth from 2023 to 2025: 186,821
Unscheduled city manager discussion wraps up commission meeting
Sarasota City Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch reasserts her position that the city should accept more applications for its top job.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Although not on the agenda, the subject of selecting Sarasota’s next city manager found its way into the discussion during Monday’s regular meeting of the Sarasota City Commission.
Already spared a potentially daylong appeal over the approval of the Obsidian condo tower at 1260 N. Palm Ave. — that was continued until a May 13 special meeting — during commissioners’ comments
Jen Ahearn-Koch resurrected her contention that the twice-delayed schedule to choose a group of finalists for city manager remains inadequate. She asked if the city could reopen the application process to augment the now 47 applicants culled by its search firm, Colin Benzinger Associates.
Rather than settle for the firm’s list of eight semifinalists to consider for its final cohort, commissioners previously opened consideration to the entire field during its April 11 workshop. Ahearn-Koch now wants the opportunity for more to apply.
What could be the problem, she wondered aloud, with a two-week period to collect a few more applications to consider prior to its scheduled May 22 workshop? She contends the previously listed requirement of possessing city manager or deputy city manager experience may have discouraged potentially qualified applicants — perhaps some locally or even from staff.
Interim City Manager Doug Jeffcoat countered opening the process
to more applicants is tantamount to starting the process from scratch.
Vice Mayor Debbie Trice offered a compromise position.
“My understanding following the (April 11) workshop was that we would continue with the process as is, with all deliberate speed, but if we didn’t find the person we wanted to hire as city manager then we would start the process all over again,” Trice said. “We have a special meeting in May to continue the process, so based on timeline, I would want us to move forward and do as best as we can, but then if we don’t find someone, then we can restart the process.”
As Ahearn-Koch pressed on, Mayor Liz Alpert interjected, “You’re obviously telling us that you have somebody in mind.”
Shot back Ahearn-Koch, “Please don’t put words in my mouth.”
Ever vigilant of governmental protocol and Florida sunshine laws, City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs ended the debate by reminding commissioners they shouldn’t be discussing the matter at all.
“We are going down a little bit of a rabbit hole, and we need to be careful,” Griggs admonished. “I just want to make everybody aware of that because this wasn’t noticed to be discussed, so come to some sort of understanding on this.”
Concluded Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich, “Yeah, it’s pretty clear to me we do not have consensus on this and we can’t vote on it anyway. So, what are we talking about?”
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Andrew Warfield
Sarasota City Commissioner
Jen AhearnKoch
Two Sarasota apartment projects clear preliminary hurdle
A multifamily development at the Temple Beth site is one of two apartment projects that have received partial sign-off from the city’s Development Review Committee.
ANDREW
WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
Two apartment buildings and a new airport hotel were among the projects presented to the Sarasota Development Review Committee at its April 16 meeting, including a project that is proposed to redevelop a portion of Temple Beth’s property into a multifamily complex.
Located at the corner of South Tuttle Avenue and Bahia Vista Street, the Temple Beth redevelopment is proposing a four-story complex that will include 275 apartments, 13 designated as attainable. Parking and amenities will be internal to the development with access and egress off South Briggs Avenue at Bahia Vista Street.
The developer is Gilbane Development Co. of Providence, Rhode Island.
According to the proposal, two structures on the site would face demolition and the existing temple will remain. To make way for the project, the site rezoning must take place from Medical Charitable Institutional to the Residential Multiple Family 7. The temple has filed a comprehensive plan amendment to change the future land use from Community Office/Institutional to Multiple Family-High Density.
The new development is across Bahia Vista Street from the underconstruction 250-unit Bahia Vista Apartments on the site of the former Doctors Hospital of Sarasota. The Sarasota City Commission approved that project in February 2023.
The DRC offered the project partial sign-off after its second submittal.
The City Commission must approve the comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning.
NEW MULTIFAMILY APPROVED
Also receiving partial DRC sign-off on its second submittal was a mixeduse development at 2101 Ringling Boulevard on the site of the former Checkers restaurant, which is demolished at the corner of Ringling and East boulevards. There, developer MRM Management plans to build a seven-story, 22-unit multifamily building.
Besides the apartments, the plan includes a 3,100-square-foot restaurant and 800 square feet of retail/ commercial space at street level. Two of the residential units will have attainable pricing under the downtown attainable housing density bonus provisions. The applicant has requested an administrative adjustment to reduce the parallel façade from 90% to 78%, and to reduce the habitable space coverage from 100% to 78%. The zoned site has a Future Land Use classification of Downtown Core. Access is proposed from the adjacent
alley and from the abutting site to the east. Ringling Boulevard is a primary street in this location.
According to sister publication Business Observer, MRM Management wrote in an email the restaurant will be a Tony Harper’s Pizza & Clam Shack. The family owned chain of four locations — founded in 1992 — is a New York mainstay known for its pizza, fresh seafood and a family friendly atmosphere. It will be the first location of the restaurant outside of New York, the Business Observer reported.
MRM Management has owned the property since 2002.
HOTEL IN THE WORKS
Also, making its first appearance before the DRC in a pre-application conference was a proposal for a new hotel, currently identified as SRQ Hotel 3, planned for the corner of Rental Car Road and Airport Circle. Proposed is a 60-room hotel on the 2.25-acre site.
The new hotel will complete a triplex of lodging options on airport property, including the Kompose Hotel and Hampton Inn & Suites,
both which front University Parkway. The SRQ 3 hotel site abuts the Hampton Inn to the north, all three accessible from Innovation Green, which connects University Parkway and Rental Car Road.
Elizabeth King
The former Checkers location at East Avenue and Ringling Boulevard will be the site of a seven-story building with 22 apartments and street-level restaurant.
Beth.
The existing synagogue will remain. Tuttle Avenue
Bahia Vista Street
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County rejects jail-plan land, city parcel in its sights
ERIC GARWOOD
DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Sarasota County Commissioners on Tuesday afternoon generally supported — but not widely enough to approve — the purchase of six-tenths of an acre in downtown Sarasota in support of the county’s Correctional Campus Master Planning project.
The proposal needed four of five commissioners to vote in favor of spending $4.87 million for the land at 2100 Main St. to pass, and commissioners Tom Knight and Joe Neunder voted against it.
Selling price — or more specifically, the gulf between county and land-owner appraisals — was a key driver of the dissent. Knight also voiced concerns over a planned fall 2026 referendum on the overall project and county options for the land if voters rejected the measure.
Another piece of land, owned by the city in the form of a parking lot on the south side of Ringling Boulevard just east of the Silvertooth Justice Center, now takes on a larger role in the jail-expansion project.
County Administrator Jonathan Lewis said the county has had “initial” conversations with the city about that land, which could also serve the county’s needs. However, no one has publicized prices, and further negotiations haven’t
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occurred. Neunder said he hasn’t heard anything about the city-land option since being raised during a county meeting in February.
“It would be, in my humble opinion, just prudent to pump the brakes a little bit,’’ Neunder said. “I think that if the city of Sarasota stuff doesn’t work ... I do think the owners would hopefully respect our ability to just pause and pump the brakes a bit for the public good.’’
As written, and rejected on Tuesday, the original sales contract includes a Friday deadline.
County appraisals of the land, which now houses a church, averaged about $3.1 million, and ownercommissioned appraisals averaged about $4.8 million. Commissioners were told Tuesday the owner appraisals included consideration of city-allowed affordable-housing bonuses. County appraisals did not.
The land plays a key role in county jail expansion plans to relieve overcrowding. In a phased sequence of events, the intention is for the new land to be a home for a new Criminal Justice Center. Plans call for the existing justice center in the 2000 block of Ringling Boulevard be demolished and additional jail space built in its former footprint. That space is intended to provide sufficient capacity to last into the 2040s after the new space opens in the 2030s.
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A legacy for us to carry on
Modest, likable, trusted, respected, Charlie Stottlemyer is a testament to a life welllived — and to which we should aspire.
Most
us don’t ever really know how much of a difference we make in our lifetimes. For sure, we don’t get to see how many people turn out for our funeral or a celebration of life, a measure of our effects.
Charles “Charlie” Stottlemyer — the modest, most-likable giant of Sarasota — likely would have blushed and perhaps overwhelmed April 11 at First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota.
He made a huge difference.
More than 500 people filled First Presybterian’s pews and overflowed into its fellowship hall for Stottlemyer’s celebration of life. He died March 20 at age 95. Stottlemyer touched every one of those attendees in his 70 years of business and community involvement in Sarasota. He touched them and, no doubt, hundreds more who were unable to attend, in a good, meaningful and lasting way. Everyone who came in contact with Stottlemyer surely has fond remembrances of him. But as is often the case, not until someone is gone do we learn the full measure of
Imbued with a sense of right/wrong, justice, decency, respect for all
STEVE STOTTLEMYER
Charles left us several weeks ago, but the impact, the effect, the love that he shared for his family and this community will never be diminished or forgotten.
Charles made many good decisions in his life, but the best was his marriage to Dee. For 73 years, they loved and supported each other, partners in every meaning of the word.
They had four kids, 15 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren. He knew every name, and every one of them knew they were his champion. His love was everywhere.
Charles’ parents, Peggy and Garnet Stottlemyer, were married in 1926. Both of them had dropped out of high school to help on the family farm.
They lived in a barn, truly a shack, with a wood stove the only heat. There was no insulation, and the temperatures were below freezing. Charles and Jean — his 3-yearold sister — slept between Mom and Dad to avoid dying of the cold. Charles’ dad, Garnet, was a smart man and saw value and opportunity when others didn’t. After building a successful lumber business in Indi-
A daughter’s memories
KAREN EASTMOORE
The following are excerpts from Karen Eastmoore’s tribute to her father.
The morning Dad passed, Mom went back to bed and slept for a while. When she awoke, she talked about seeing Dad in a bright white house. They were both young. She wanted to get inside. Dad told her she couldn’t come in. It wasn’t her time. She wanted to go there again … I have so many memories, Dad.
I remember standing on your white bucks when I was a little girl while you walked around with me.
I remember reaching up to hold your index finger.
I remember you handing out pads and pencils to us in this sanctuary when we were little.
I remember all of us dragging
ana, he saw promise and the future in Sarasota and moved the family — then Patricia, David, Michael and myself to Siesta Key. Charles was at Indiana University, then in the Army and Korea. I’m not sure where Charles and Dee would have settled, but I know his mom told our father to either bring the kids to Florida, or “I’m going home to Indiana.”
The Lumber Yard was born. John and Jean Shoemaker soon joined.
When Charles and Dee arrived in Sarasota, he immediately set out to change things. He built relationships in the community, played church league softball. I remember so well sitting in the stands of Payne Park, Charles was the best pitcher in the league, and on one occasion hit the ball so far it hit the centerfield wall — home run.
Charles practiced his pitching for hours, bringing that determination and will to everything he ever did.
I recall a day in 1955 when I was with him, and he had convinced the Lindsays of the newspaper to let him use an old house on South Orange Avenue. That was the beginning of the YMCA of Sarasota.
And there was Charles: ripping out the walls to make a place for
the individual and the life he or she lived.
If you had the good fortune of attending Stottlemyer’s celebration of life and hearing the tributes from his brother, son, daughters and Pastor Timothy Boggess, the portrait surely could be titled: A life well-lived. A life to which we can all aspire.
In the accompanying tributes below, given by Stottlemyer’s brother, Steve, and his daughter, Karen Eastmoore, they tell the story of a man whose life can and does serve as a model for us all.
Take the time to read them.
Indeed, the life of Charles “Char-
young people to gather, to grow, to learn community. Sarasota in the 1950s was a Southern town full of bigotry and racism. The water fountains, the bathrooms, the movie theaters, the schools — all segregated.
The Stottlemyers and Shoemakers, along with other new arrivals, set out to change that. Their business was the first to allow black employees to use the bathroom and the first to pay a black man a paid vacation.
Stottlemyers and Shoemakers came from modest backgrounds, but somehow they were imbued with a sense of right and wrong, of justice, of decency and respect for all people.
Charles served on the boards of numerous Sarasota organizations — both civic and financial in nature. He was recognized for his excellent judgment and intelligence and a whole list of qualities that set him apart. Most always, he was selected to lead those organizations.
Charles and Dee were extremely generous with both their time and resources. The aquarium at the library, the art at the hospital, this church, to name just a few.
Charles was always there for his parents and his siblings. Dad lived to 91 and mother 103. Mom was an avid reader as was Charles. Weekly trips to the library were routine.
Our brother, Michael, was confined to a bed with MS for 14 years. Charles would be there every Saturday morning to check, to let him
HALL OF FAMER
■ President of the Florida Lumber and Building Materials Dealers Association
■ Lumberman of the Year and induction into the Florida Lumber Hall of Fame
■ Designated honorary member of the Gulf Coast Builders Exchange
■ Businessman of the Year by the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in 1984
■ President of the Sarasota County Chamber of Commerce
■ Co-founder and president of the Argus Foundation
■ President of the Selby Foundation
■ Chairman of the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Foundation
■ Director of the FCCI Insurance Group for 40 years
■ Commodore of the Field Club
■ On the boards of Palmer Bank, Southeast Bank, United First Federal and Barnett Bank
■ An elder and member of First Presbyterian Church for 70 years
lie” Stottlemyer in his beloved home of Sarasota should be a legacy for all of us to carry on.
know he cared. Charles loved his brother, David, who died three years ago. Charles always looked forward to David’s recounting of how he was living every day as though it was his last. Every time I would see Charles, his first words were: “I really miss David.”
Charles and his sister, Jean, had a special bond, and a love forged out of a beginning in a barn. A lot of hard times and a great life of success.
It was amazing and wonderful to have a big brother like Charles. He looked out for us all. He never turned away, and I and my family owe him for the success we enjoy today.
Charles was diagnosed with lung cancer almost 11 years ago — the variety that gives you six to nine months to live. When I saw him after learning the news, I told him, “Well, you’ve always been a winner, and somehow you’ll find a way to beat this.” He did.
Charles was with his sweetheart Dee, his family, for most of 11 years. This last year, it was, as he might say, “a little tough,” but it was still Charles. “How you doing? … How are the kids? … How’s Terry doing?
… Tell them I said hello.”
… We know Charles couldn’t be here with us, any longer, and he knew that ...
He handled it as he did everything else in his life. His passing leaves us feeling a little less, his being here made us so much more.
grounder on purpose so one of the younger kids would make it to first.
I remember late summer evening on Bobby Jones with you and Joe, playing a few holes, and sinking putts as the sun set.
I remember your playing the jellybean game with the grandchildren and great grandchildren and how much they loved it.
I remember your faith and resilience and how hard you tried no matter what life brought your way.
Dad, I see your tenderness in the way your grandchildren care for your great grandchildren.
I see you in the beautiful oak trees that you had planted on Southgate Circle.
I hear you in the bells at church.
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vines and branches and helping to clear the jungle that was to be our home on Fruitville Road.
I remember your crew cut, your white gym shorts and white T-shirt and the sweat dripping down your nose.
I remember you reaching into your back pocket for your wal-
let when one of your employees stopped by the house and needed some help until the next payday.
I remember watching “Wild Kingdom” on Sundays and how much you loved the animal families living on our property.
I remember Bridge Club picnics at Myakka, and how you missed the
I see you in your sons and grandsons and the way they play with and tease their nieces and nephews. I see you when I see kindness in the world.
Dad, Thank you for loving Mom, your family, your friends and your community so well.
I hope that bright white house that mom saw is big. We’re all coming. We can’t wait to see you.
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MATT WALSH
Courtesy photo Charles Stottlemyer’s daughters, Peggy LaRochelle, left, and Karen Eastmoore, with Stottlemyer’s brother, Steve.
Mira Mar faces important compromise
Coming
gum blowing contest.
What: The First (and maybe only) Bubblepaste.
Where: In front of the old Mira Mar Hotel at 49 S. Palm Ave. Host: Seaward Development. Supplies: Provided bubble gum. Entry fee: Nothing.
This is a terrific idea, a first of its kind for Florida.
There are contests like this in corn-rich Iowa and Nebraska state fairs, but not here.
Kids of all ages — adults, too — can line up and make as many attempts to blow the largest bubble they can to win the grand prize.
There are two rules to abide by.
Contestants must use a new piece of gum for each bubble attempt.
Second, contestants must discard the chewed piece of gum, not in a trash receptacle, but in one of the hundreds of cracks located in the walls of the Mira Mar.
Bubble gum may be the best thing to hold the Mira Mar together. There’s not much else that is keeping it in one, well, no, several pieces.
Now, Seaward’s Patrick DiPinto and Matthew Leake haven’t resorted to holding such a contest, but the building has more crumbles than what you find at the bottom of a bag of chips.
Two years ago, when Seaward bought the ramshackle, the simple part was there. Just tear it down. What’s the point of keeping it?
Truthfully, because the building
was ’80sfied, which is a term I’m creating when you take a structure built in 1922 and put in bits and pieces from the architectural decade of disaster known as the 1980s, it loses its historic designation.
“Nothing’s historical,” DiPinto says. “It’s all renovated. So the state denied them (the designation.) So it’s not historical.”
The division of what is and what isn’t historic with the Mira Mar is as much of a dichotomy of public opinion as far apart as the decades of the era of its building to the “downgrades of design” the poor thing suffered through nearly 40 years ago.
The Mira Mar is a mess, a flimsy structure that took only 60 days to build.
Wait, huh? What? Are you serious? Sixty days?
The plot thickens ... unlike Mira Mar’s walls.
Two years ago, DiPinto and Leake had the intention of tearing it down, but the more they found out about the old ruin, the nicer it became.
“We realized that this building is beloved by so many and now we love this neat, old building,” DiPinto said.
History — genuine history, not the 1980s version — can have a lasting effect on people.
In time, DiPinto has acquired a collection of Mira Mar Hotel skeleton keys, postcards from the 1920s and a brick.
The brick has a story. It was once holding up a camper in North Florida and imprinted on it says “Spend a Summer This Winter at The Mira-Mar, Sarasota, Fla.”
The picture of the hotel on the brick can wisp you in a dream sequence back to a golden era of people from New York or Pennsylvania who came to Sarasota on the Henry Plant rail line to spend the winters dressed in white, nonfrill flapper dresses and blue suits, white pants and straw hats.
The building isn’t historic, but the building has a history.
For that purpose, DiPinto and Leake are all on board with saving it. Building it the proper way and keep its original overall feel and look.
They want, no need, to build a new foundation. The old foundation is mere sticks in the ground. It has a wood frame under the thin facade of what many would “think” to call concrete.
Poles inside the building along the outer edges hold the ceiling up, while the cracked plexiglass tube probably borrowed from the windows of a Rax Roast Beef fast food restaurant, circa 1988, tries to hold the two buildings together.
The halls on the second floor are so uneven it’s akin to standing and trying to keep a balance in the back of a moving van that stops and goes with every traffic light. Somehow, some way, the old structure withstood ... Milton. So you have to give credit to its resilience. It’s not coming down without a fight. There’s the rub.
First, in three years, DiPinto and Leake have gone from get rid of it, to save the building as the No. 1 priority. But honestly, to save it, without bubble gum, will cost $30 million, and they aren’t going to save it out of the goodness of their hearts — despite the fact that both of them grew up in Sarasota.
So yes, they are planning to put two high-rises of 18 stories behind it and yes, from the third floor up Seaward can make it look like one of the antiseptic white buildings we’ve come to terms with on downtown Sarasota’s west side.
But, at the very least, the designs of two-tiered high rises will take inspiration from the old hotel to give it some character. Now, I do agree 18 stories is a bit much, but hey, the condos right next door are — get this — 18 stories. However, quirky zoning allowed for the height of that building. Right next door is the Mira Mar, and only three feet away, but zoning only allows for 10 stories.
Ahh, the wonderful world of zoning. What did we do before it? Back in the 1920s, the demand was to build a hotel in 60 days or fewer. That is what we had.
There will be 70 units in the new towers and include offices, retail and restaurants in the old, well now new, building, with “a look” of the old mainstay. This is a compromise. We get something that’s new but looks crafted.
Maybe, just maybe, when complete, it may inspire future west side downtown developments to follow suit and retain the integrity of older, nicer looking buildings, whether they’re one story or 18. Or, we don’t save the Mira Mar, Seaward turns around, sells it for what it can get out of it — which may be a few packs of gum — and we’ll get a brand new 10-story looks-like-all-the-other-condos building.
MICHAEL HARRIS MANAGING EDITOR
Michael Harris
This brick dating back from the Mira Mar building was discovered by a tenant at a campsite in northern Florida and returned to property owner Seaward Development.
Sheriff’s new helicopter adds safety, rescue ability
The aircraft is designed to make rooftop rescues possible with greater hoisting power.
ERIC GARWOOD DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
Approved by county commissioners in 2023 and now on duty, the newest helicopter serving the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is first and foremost a “police car that flies.”
But beyond its un-car-like 170 mph top speed and its ability to reach across the county in under 10 minutes, the 2024 Bell 429 has one capability its predecessors didn’t, says Sheriff’s Office Chief Pilot Dave Bouffard.
The metallic green helicopter that arrived in March has two turbine engines instead of just one. While adding a wider margin of flight safety for the crew, the more powerful aircraft also has improved lifting abilities to, say, rescue victims from rooftops or carry water buckets for firefighting when lives or property are in danger.
“It was purchased specifically for the capability of doing hoisting operations, in case we get another mass flooding event,” said Bouffard, who has been flying with Sarasota County for 15 years and has experience as a patrol officer, a civilian pilot, and now a combination of both.
Outfitted for service with the sheriff’s department, the helicopter plus additional equipment and other related expenses cost just over $12 million, which included about a $1.3 million trade-in allowance of a 2005 model Bell 407 single-engine helicopter previously in the fleet.
The aviation unit, which is based in Venice, now operates a 2012 version of the Bell 407 and its newest model. Trained pilots and tactical officers can operate both, Bouffard said, adding he has about 30 hours to date flying the new arrival.
Sheriff Kurt Hoffman in March 2023 proposed the Bell 429 upgrade
to commissioners, saying the department’s older two helicopters would need costly upgrades and more frequent maintenance in years to come. The new helicopter arrives with a three-year, 1,000-hour factory warranty. That would “avoid an estimated $1.4 million in overhauls that would be required over the next two years if the 2005 aircraft was continued to be utilized,” Hoffman wrote then, seeking funding to be added to his office’s five-year capital improvement budget. The 2005 model had about 9,500 flight hours logged. The previous two aircraft cost the county just over $5 million total to purchase — one in 2005 and one in 2018.
At the same time, about $859,000 was sought to upgrade the 2012 helicopter’s equipment to the standards of the new one. About $4 million in hangar upgrades at centrally located Venice Airport were approved separately in 2024.
The aviation unit operates as part of the Special Operations Bureau, also home to SWAT, the mountedpatrol unit, marine unit, police-dog unit and more. But the role of the helicopters and the crews who fly them are similar and connected to deputies and police officers on the ground, Bouffard said.
The pilots and tactical deputies respond to calls often based on their own judgment, taking advantage of the view from about 1,000 feet and the capabilities of their optical gear that can spot a specific car from 5 miles. Though on call around the clock, the air crews work two of three shifts a day, six days a week routinely patrolling the county and responding to calls just like a road-patrol deputy would.
“We are a police car that flies,” he said. “Because of the nature of what we’re doing, we’ve got speed on our side, and we obviously have the
observation platform, so we can see everything. We can get there first a lot of times, and once we get there, we’ve got a great view of what’s going on.”
Finding missing people, helping spot suspects who might be hiding or fleeing, and directing deputies during vehicle pursuits are all typical missions.
Crews also connect to the communications networks of surrounding agencies; therefore, they can assist Manatee County, Sarasota Police, or Longboat Key Police if needed.
Likewise, if adjoining counties can help with air service in Sarasota County, they will. Manatee and Charlotte counties operate in the air. DeSoto County does not. Often, it’s a matter of who is flying, when and where, he said.
“We’re not like a fire department where we’re sitting in the hangar waiting for a call to come out,” Bouffard said. “Sometimes, that does happen, when the guys on the ground need us for something specific, something we can specifically help with.”
Bouffard said the Bell 429’s twin engines make overwater flying more reassuring, because typical helicop-
TALE OF THE TAPE
“We are a police car that flies ... We can get there first a lot of times, and once we get there, we’ve got a great view of what’s going on.”
— Dave Bouffard, Sheriff’s Office Chief Pilot
ters can land safely after an engine failure, but with limited options. With twin engines, “I have an engine failure over a populated area, like downtown Sarasota? I just fly back to the airport. It’s a non event.”
Even so, there are limits. In the case of missing boaters or other such maritime search and rescue flights, the Sheriff’s Office now has a little more leeway to venture offshore, but mostly to help find a stricken boat. Bouffard said they’d be fine searching and sticking with victims below while a marine unit boat responded or some other agency more suited to sea rescues.
“We make no pretense,” he said. “We are not the Coast Guard.”
HANGAR UPDATES
To house the new helicopter and provide for its maintenance, upgrades were approved in 2024 to the aviation unit’s base at Venice Municipal Airport. They include a larger concrete pad for safer departures and landings, additional office and hangar space and climate-controlled storage areas to ensure components are not affected by heat, humidity and salt at the seaside airfield. Funding for the $4 million improvements will come from $3 million in Justice Facilities Impact Fees and $1 million in Law Enforcement Impact Fees.
COPS CORNER
FRIDAY, APRIL 11
THREE TO TANGO
8:39 a.m., 1000 block of South Tamiami Trail
Disturbance: An officer responded to Bird Key regarding a possible assault that occurred on South Tamiami Trail. That’s where the complainant and her husband stated an unknown male cut her off on the road while driving a pickup truck, almost causing a crash. She stated while the subject was driving in front of her he continually brake-checked her, nearly causing her to crash into him on multiple occasions. What might have precipitated the incident was not disclosed in the incident report.
Her husband, meanwhile, was driving behind the complainant, where he was able to observe the actions of the subject driver. The subject, the woman said, often changed lanes in an attempt to position himself behind her as they proceeded northbound on South Tamiami Trail.
Recognizing this tactic, her husband said he followed him closely enough to not permit the subject from entering their lane.
In response, the subject allegedly made several hand gestures to the pair, and at one point, the husband invited the offending driver to pull over and settle the issue like men.
Declining the offer to engage in street-side fisticuffs, all three parties continued northbound until they came to a stop in the center lane.
At that point, the husband said he stepped out onto the street but remained by his car. That’s when he said he witnessed the subject retrieve a bag from behind his seat and place it on his lap in what he interpreted as an act of aggression. He added the subject never pointed whatever was in the bag at him, but that he was certain it was a rifle or perhaps a machete.
They all continued in tandem, crossing the Ringling Bridge and continuing through St. Armands Circle there the subject then continued toward Longboat Key.
The pair provided an officer with a description of the vehicle and the license plate number. The couple received a case number for future encounters, although law enforcement did not contact the subject.
MONDAY, APRIL 7
DOWNWARD DOG DAY AFTERNOON
6 p.m., 47800 block of Sun Circle
Disturbance: After a motorist yelled at her and shouted profanities while walking her dog, a woman told a responding officer she was near the intersection of Sapphire Drive and Bayshore Road when she witnessed a vehicle speeding toward her.
As the vehicle approached, she said she gestured to the driver to slow down. Declining to heed her advice, the driver, she said, began yelling at her as she continued to drive toward Sun Circle Park.
The complainant said she is familiar with the driver, a local yoga instructor whom she witnessed exit the vehicle before beginning a yoga class in the park. She told the officer this was not the first time the unyielding yogi has sped through the neighborhood and wishes to have a more visible police presence in the area.
SATURDAY, APRIL 12
BLAMING THE BOUNCERS
11:30 p.m., 1500 block of Main Street
Fight: In a demonstration that sometimes nothing good happens before midnight, officers responded to reports of a fight inside a downtown restaurant and bar. Witnesses reported staff members identified two males as the combatants.
The complainant told an officer the two started a fight toward the rear of the establishment with a member of the security staff. Once escorting the two outside, one of the men punched the complainant in the face. While he did not wish to press charges, he did want the agitators trespassed from the property. Naturally, when officers interviewed the offenders, they insisted the bouncers started fights with them, despite video evidence to the contrary. Both were informed they had been trespassed from the property.
Plymouth Harbor plans major expansion
The addition of 153 more residences and parking structure will help the 59-year-old retirement community reduce its five-year waiting list and parking shortage.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
When it opened in 1966, Plymouth Harbor was not only the tallest residential structure in Sarasota — as it remains today — it was also the tallest in Florida. As it rises above Sarasota Bay when reaching the peak of the Ringling Bridge toward St. Armands Key, it remains the dominant feature of the skyline.
Although a 2018 expansion to add assisted living and memory care units to its inventory, at 215 independent living apartments, Plymouth Harbor has a waiting list of about five years. At approximately 25 acres, the retirement community occupies most of Coon Key on the south side of John Ringling Boulevard, the only remaining buildable property a surface parking lot on the northeast corner adjacent to the Sarasota Yacht Club, which is also planning its own expansion.
That’s where Plymouth Harbor plans to build an eight-story, 115foot tall building for 153 additional independent living apartments plus amenity areas, support facilities and a second on-campus dining option for residents.
The project made its first appearance before the city’s Development Review Committee on April 16, officially starting its run through the approval process that will also require a rezoning from Medical Charitable Institutional to Residential Multiple Family 5.
“This all started in 2006 when the board of trustees and the CEO at the time decided to conduct a site master plan exercise to figure out where on the property would be best, what would fit well and what would serve the community well,” Plymouth Harbor President and CEO Jeff Weatherhead told the Observer. “At that time there were a couple areas in
the community that were buildable.”
By 2008, the process was ready to move forward, but it derailed by the onset of the recession. That postponed the first phase of expansion, which was completed in 2018 with the opening of the assisted living and memory care units in what are called the North Garden and Northwest Garden buildings.
“The community has always really enjoyed high occupancy, and because the tower, being built in the mid-1960s, was originally designed with small studios and one-bedroom apartments, we’ve been combining them over time to give people what they want,” Weatherhead said.
“That’s left us with far fewer apartments than we originally had, and we have a very robust wait list.”
They reactivated planning for the final expansion phase in 2022, around the time they hired Weatherhead, to both increase residential capacity and address other pressing needs. Construction of the Northwest Garden left Plymouth Harbor with a parking deficit, and with only one dining experience, the community was short of meeting contemporary demand. The current fitness and wellness center is also susceptible to the occasional high-water event.
Besides 153 new apartments, the fitness and wellness facilities will be relocated to higher ground in the new building, atop two levels of structured parking.
“We’re excited about what it can bring to the community, and it frankly makes us a much stronger organization to weather things like inflation, insurance hikes and all the things that go with operating a business,” Weatherhead said. “When we built the assisted living, it was contemplated that these new apartments would ultimately be here, so to help us get the right mix of independent living to the health care product, this was designed so that we could meet
the market demand.”
That means shortening, if not eliminating, that five-year waiting list.
The average age of a resident moving into Plymouth Harbor, Weatherhead said, is 80 years. The average age of all residents is 84. If that seems high, he added, it’s the result of the waiting list.
“If you’re waiting three to five years to get in, you started when you were 75 to 77, and that’s what we think we’ll see in the newer building,” Weatherhead said of projections for a reduced age of entry.
Should the project move through the city approval process on schedule, Weatherhead said he expects to break ground in 2027 with completion sometime in 2029.
and Susan Heitel
Courtesy image
The site map shows the existing and planned expansion of Plymouth Harbor.
New building & parking below
Andrew Warfield
Jeff Weatherhead is president and CEO of Plymouth Harbor.
SPORTS
FAST
Sarasota High School held a signing day ceremony for nine athletes on April 17. The signings included swimmers Henry Shoemaker (Davidson) and Natalia Franco (Cornell), softball’s Carley Ramsden (Georgia Southern) and Tyler Sciesinski (South Florida State), football’s Jaxon Smith (Wittenberg) and Seth Johnson (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M), track’s Alex Daverio (University of New Orleans), baseball’s Dylan Supple (Lander University) and soccer’s Francesca Magnotti (Webber).
The Riverview boys and girls track teams both finished second at the Class 4A-District 12 meet at Estero. The boys received first-place finishes from Ben Skaggs (2:02.17 in 800 meters), Alex Bates (3.75 meters in pole vault) and Anthony Miller (53.10 meters in javelin). The girls had first-place finishes from Madison Muller (11:38.81 in 3,200 meters), Felicity Ridgeway (1:12.47 in 400-meter hurdles), the 4x100 relay team of Dynasty Haygood Makayla Wilcox Kate St. Onge and Annabella Sanders (0:50.56), Kyrsten Montas (10.60 meters in triple jump) and Ava Sims (11.42 meters in shot put).
The Booker boys track team finished runner-up in the 2A-10 meet at Booker. The Tornadoes had first-place finishes from Chauncey Kennon (0:11.13 in 100 meters), Jacobey Mobley (0:22.12 in 200 meters and 0:49.6 in 400 meters) and the 4x100 relay team of Tyren Wortham, Imani Estrada, Kennon and Mobley (0:42.19). The girls team finished fifth and had firstplace finishes by Ibre Edwards (0:14.79 in 100 hurdles and 1:07.35 in 400 hurdles).
The Cardinal Mooney boys track team finished fifth. Nolan Besse (1.87 meters in high jump) finished first. The Cougars’ girls team finished in second and had first-place performances by Grace Hroncich (2.90 meters in pole vault) and Zoe Kirby (33.50 meters in javelin).
“I
just love winning ball games with these boys. I love these guys so much. We’ve been beating some big teams and having a great year. I think
that’s it.”
Booker’s Rodriguez advances to state championships
VINNIE
PORTELL STAFF WRITER
When Edizahir Rodriguez steps onto the tennis court at Sylvan Lake Park for the individual Class 2A state championships, he’ll be playing with an edge his competitors can’t emulate.
Rodriguez was born and raised in Venezuela and immigrated to the United States for a chance at a better life this past summer.
Part of living a better life for Rodriguez, a senior at Booker High, includes chasing his dreams of becoming a collegiate tennis player, but that pursuit condenses down to a little less than a year.
That means every match Rodriguez has played this season carries the weight of his future.
Those stakes are why Rodriguez had a slow start to the final round of the No. 1 singles bracket at the 2A-District 10 tournament on April 15 at Avon Park High School.
Rodriguez said he felt rushed and nervous as he fell behind four games to none in the opening set against Bayshore’s Mohamed Yasin.
“I was so nervous because I was like this could be my last high school match,” Rodriguez said. “I had to win, but I was nervous. I hadn’t eaten anything all day.”
Rodriguez was allowing his nerves to hold him back. Booker boys tennis coach Sonja Herke stepped in and reminded him to take his time.
Rodriguez then went on to mount a rally in which he won six straight games to steal the set 6-4 and won the second set 6-2, to win the No. 1 singles bracket and secure a spot in the state championships.
What made Rodriguez’s win even more crucial was he had no chance to advance past the district tournament with his team regardless of the results.
BUILDING A TEAM
When Rodriguez arrived at Booker to start the school year, there was no boys tennis team, but that didn’t stop him from finding a way to play.
“I said to myself, ‘No, I have a chance to keep playing tennis. I have to find the people,’” Rodriguez said. That led him to recruit his friend, Caiden Hough, to play, and Hough recruited Jeremy Perez to join, too. However, Hough and Perez had never played tennis, and three players isn’t enough to field a full tennis team that includes five singles players and two
RODRIGUEZ’S PATH TO A DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: 6-1, 6-2 win over Ezra Moreno of DeSoto County
Round 3: 6-4, 6-2 win over Mohamed Yasin of Bayshore
doubles teams.
Despite that, those three players were enough for Herke — who had been a volunteer coach for the Booker girls team for five years — to step in as the head boys tennis coach.
“In January, we had our first practice, and the boys came back and came back again,” Herke said. “So the boys kept showing up and I said, ‘Well, what are you going to do with the boys?’ And they said there’s no coach. I’m like, ‘What are you going to do, tell them to leave? We can’t do that.’ So I looked at the ground and said, ‘I’ll do it.’”
Creating a boys tennis team from scratch came with its fair share of work.
Hough said he showed up to practice without a racquet and wore Nike Air Force sneakers for the first week of practice, which didn’t go well.
Eventually, however, Hough and Perez improved, and Rodriguez had his pathway to playing.
Rodriguez went 9-3 playing out of Booker’s No. 1 singles spot this season and will have one last chance to make his mark on high school tennis when the 2A state championships begin on April 30.
For Rodriguez, though, life in Sarasota has been a step up regardless of what he does on the tennis court.
A BETTER LIFE
Rodriguez moved to Sarasota with his mother, Arelis Torres, and left his father, Edilbert Rodriguez, and five younger siblings behind in Venezuela to get away from what he described as unfit living conditions.
“In Venezuela, things are actually kind of hard with the living and the safety,” said Rodriguez, who added he’s applying for asylum. “For me, I’m a young person and I want to take all of the opportunities life can give me. I know here in the United States, I can use all of those opportunities.”
His only idea for what to expect came from watching movies about
Edizahir Rodriguez emigrated from Venezuela to chase his dreams.
high school in the United States, and it has lived up to expectations.
Even the most simple luxuries of life at Booker impressed Rodriguez, who said his school in Venezuela would often lose power and water and had no substitute teachers to fill in — all of which often resulted in missing class time.
“Over here I was like, ‘Oh my God, they have soap and water. That’s amazing. They have a budget,’” Rodriguez said.
Despite the challenges of schooling in Venezuela, Rodriguez said adjusting to academics at Booker hasn’t been a challenge.
Though some subjects, like U.S. history and government, are topics he’s unfamiliar with, other subjects like chemistry have been easier.
He said he hopes to go to college and study dentistry while exploring his passion for filmmaking as a hobby, but he’s also not giving up on his dream of playing tennis.
Because of his lack of time playing tennis in the United States, that may mean that he’s forced to walk on to a college tennis team, but that’s something he said he’s willing to do.
Success at the upcoming 2A state championships could make things easier, but win or lose, Rodriguez is already content.
“I don’t feel pressure or like I’m scared or anything,” Rodriguez said about the state tournament. “I’m really happy with what I’ve done. Going to states is something I’ve never done before. It’s a new expe-
that
really happy about.”
“I’m really happy with what I’ve done. Going to states is something I’ve never done before. It’s a new experience that I’m really happy about.”
— Edizahir Rodriguez
— Cardinal Mooney senior Tanner Jackson SEE PAGE 16
Vinnie Portell Sarasota High senior Jaxon Smith smiles as Sailors football coach Amp Campbell speaks on Smith’s commitment to Wittenberg University during a signing day ceremony on April 17.
rience
I’m
Photos by Vinnie Portell
Edizahir Rodriguez convinced Sonja Herke to step in as the Booker boys tennis coach for his senior season.
Edizahir Rodriguez went 9-3 this season out of the No. 1 singles spot for Booker boys tennis during his first year in the United States.
The best prep sports stories of the spring
The Sarasota area has an abundance of stories worth celebrating.
I’ve only been a sports reporter with the Observer for about two months now, but it’s already clear there is an abundance of special prep athletes in this area.
This spring season has included teams maintaining excellence through perseverance, breakout teams and players vying for state championships and teams having debut seasons.
Since the spring season is wrapping up with some teams already eliminated and others moving on in the postseason, it’s about time to look back on what’s stood out.
Here are the top stories you won’t want to miss from this spring:
CARDINAL MOONEY BASEBALL
As I wrote in a column earlier this year, I was a little skeptical when the Cardinal Mooney baseball team was talking about winning championships this season.
The Cougars were without seven of their top players from last season, including three who transferred to Venice, but that didn’t stop them from beating The Out-of-Door Academy 3-1 to win a district championship on April 17. Cardinal Mooney features seven underclassmen and just four seniors, but that’s worked in their favor.
This exceptionally tight Cougars team also defeated ODA twogames-to-none in the Class 2A Region 3 quarterfinals and will play the winner of Tampa Catholic vs. Bishop McLaughlin in the regional semifinal round on April 28.
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULES
Baseball: May 14-17 and 19-21 at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers
Softball: May 20-24 at Boombah-Soldiers Creek Park in Longwood
Track and Field: May 9-10 at Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville
Girls lacrosse: May 8-10 at Paradise Sports Complex in Naples
Beach volleyball: May 9-10 at Florida State University Beach Volleyball Courts in Tallahassee
Flag football: May 8-10 at AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa
SARASOTA
BASEBALL
Baseball at Sarasota is something taken seriously.
The Sailors are eight-time state champions, two-time national champions and known for winning, but that went by the wayside last season during a 9-17 campaign.
Rather than allowing that poor season to become the new standard, it now looks like it was simply an off year for an otherwise storied team.
The Sailors were 20-6-1 enter-
ing a 7A Region 2 quarterfinal series against George Jenkins. Although they lost 12-2 in the district championship against Venice, it’s undeniable that Sarasota baseball is again a strong team.
ANTHONY MILLER IN JAVELIN
Riverview junior Anthony Miller has done whatever he could to find success in high school sports.
He transferred from Venice to Riverview after his first semester of high school for a better path to playing time in football. When that didn’t materialize at quarterback, he shrugged that off and played receiver and backup quarterback.
In track and field, he’s tried sprinting and javelin.
The latter sport has put Miller in a spot to win a state championship.
He’s already broken the school record multiple times this year for the longest javelin throw, won the 4A-District 12 meet — besting the field by more than eight meters.
His personal-best throw of 55.81 meters has him ranked second in Class 4A, just 1.32 meters behind the top mark.
RIVERVIEW GIRLS LACROSSE
The Riverview girls lacrosse team lost one of the best players in the area, Susan Lowther, to Clemson this past season, along with a few other key contributors.
Some players returned, like this year’s leading-scorer, Caroline Steinwachs, but several underclassmen were key contributors.
Coach Ashley McLeod put those new players to the test with one of the more challenging schedules in the state, and it paid off with a district title in a 15-6 win over Lakewood Ranch on April 15.
The Rams followed with a 12-11 win over Tampa Sickles in the 2A
Region 3 quarterfinals. They’ll next play at top-seeded Tampa Plant in the regional semifinals on April 29.
RIVERVIEW SOFTBALL
This year was supposed to be Riverview’s best chance at making a postseason run and that’s about to be put to the test.
The Rams feature four highimpact seniors, Ella Trandem, Sierra Lipton, Isabelle Bain and Allison Cole, and each have lived up to the challenge.
Riverview (19-4) started the season 14-0, and even though it’s lost four games since, the Rams still rank as the No. 25 overall team in Florida — eighth in Class 7A.
Cole could be a player who takes Riverview on a run. The senior pitcher is 18-1 with a 0.32 ERA and 247 strikeouts in 1311/3 innings.
CARDINAL MOONEY BEACH VOLLEYBALL
The Cardinal Mooney beach volleyball team has been one of the top programs in the state since it began in 2022, but had every reason to suffer a setback this past year.
Coach Chad Davis left midway
through the season last year, and even though the loaded team had seven promising juniors; only Izzy Russell returned.
No matter.
The Cougars went 11-2 this season and rank as the No. 7 overall team in Florida — third in Class 1A.
BOOKER FLAG FOOTBALL
The Sarasota area didn’t have any girls flag football teams last year, but that’s no longer the case. Booker launched its flag football program this year. The team earned its first win over Lakewood Ranch Prep Academy 6-0 on April 2. Loaded with 18 underclassmen, the Tornadoes have the chance to build themselves into a contender for the next couple of years.
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Vinnie Portell
Anthony Miller winds up before unleashing his personal-best javelin throw of 58.1 meters at the Ram Invite at Riverview High School on March 13.
Vinnie Portell is the sports reporter for the Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer. Contact him at VPortell@
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Tanner Jackson
The Cardinal Mooney baseball team lost several key players coming into this season, but that didn’t stop it from winning the Class 2A District 11 championship over The Out-of-Door Academy 3-1 on April 17. Tanner Jackson has been a key player in the Cougars’ success this season. The first baseman is one of just four seniors on the team this year and took his role seriously. Aside from his leadership, Jackson has also been a steady presence at the plate. He leads the team with a .388 batting average, including six runs, 31 hits and 17 RBIs over 26 games. In the district playoffs, Jackson went 3-for-3 with a run, three RBIs and a walk in a 15-0 win over Sarasota Christian on April 15 in the district semifinals and went 1-for-3 in the district championship win over ODA.
If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Vinnie Portell at VPortell@ YourObserver.com.
What’s your favorite all-time baseball memory? Probably here, beating (Fort Myers Bishop) Verot last year. They’re our biggest rival, and we hate them over there.
What’s your favorite meal? I like a good steak. A ribeye cooked medium rare with corn and mashed potatoes on the side. My dad cooks a good steak.
What’s your favorite TV show or movie? I feel like it’s cliche, but I like The Sandlot. It’s probably my favorite movie.
What has been the most memorable moment this season?
I just love winning ball games with these boys. I love these guys so much. We’ve been beating some big teams and having a great year. I think that’s it.
What has gone right for you personally this year?
I feel like I’m just seeing the ball well right now. I feel like every ball that I see is a beach ball out there and I have a good hitting coach, Ryan Jackson.
Cardinal Mooney lost a lot of players coming into this season. Being a senior, how did you approach this season?
Everybody here is in the same boat. We all buckle down and just try to win baseball games. I don’t care if those guys transferred. I have my group here and we’re winning games. That’s all that matters.
What did winning a district championship mean to you?
It meant the world. Being a senior, it meant a lot to me to win that championship.
What’s your go-to warm-up song? I’m a big punk rock guy. I like the older 2000s punk rock, like Green Day.
If you’re not playing baseball, what are you doing? I’m in the gym working out. I play some video games here and there. But really it’s just baseball.
Finish this sentence. Tanner Jackson is … A winner.
Erik Vatter President,
LIBRARY LEGEND
The Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Library, founded in 2003, serves the predominantly African American community of Newtown.
lake Erquiaga and Kelley Larkin of Sarasota County’s Pop-Up Library eagerly welcomed the unexpected opportunity to meet Betty Jean Johnson on April 19.
The Pop-Up Library travels the county to offer books to underserved locations, but decades before its debut in 2023, Johnson had also established a traveling library.
That project eventually became the Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Library, which serves the predominantly African American community of Newtown and celebrated its 20th anniversary on that day, April 19.
“I can’t describe it. It’s just marvelous,” Johnson said of the feeling of being present that day.
The celebration involved remarks from Renee Di Pilato, director of Sarasota County Libraries and Historical
Resources, county commissioners Mark Smith and Joe Neunder, and Lois B. Wilkins, president of the Friends of the Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Library, as well as various activities.
BOOKS AND BELONGING
Johnson said she remembers a “very different” library system when Sarasota County hired her for a role at Sarasota Public Library, now Selby Library, where she worked for nearly 40 years.
“Kids were not introduced to the public library ... so the kids in this community did not have that asset of being able to go into the library, select books, take them home, and sit in the library and read them,” she said.
Johnson said access to Selby Library wasn’t possible for many kids due to transportation.
She began the push for a library in Newtown, due to what she said was her desire for kids to have a library they could identify with, and feel they were a part of.
Johnson herself knew the impact that books could create, having had access to them her whole life.
“Reading is adventurous,” she said. “You can go to many places through books. You may not ever go to that land, put feet on that land, but you can imagine. Imagination comes from reading. When you learn to read, then you are open to learning. If you don’t read and understand what you’re reading, you’re not open for learning.”
In 1979, with help from the Friends of the Library group she founded, she obtained a state grant of $10,000, using it to launch the mobile library service, which served five neighborhoods.
Even as the mobile library grew to a storefront, one operating on a small budget, Johnson and others contin-
ued to push for a full library.
Groundbreaking of the North Sarasota Library in 2003 was a dream come true.
In 2019, the renaming of the library honored Johnson, and they named the library’s meeting room after Dr. Edward James II, the community activist who was the first African American to hold a public library card in Sarasota County.
Johnson said at its onset, the idea of the library was to build a Black collection of books. In many cases, she said, Black authors’ books were not in other libraries.
“To be able to go in and actually pick up a book written by a Black author, that was something you didn’t see,” she said.
Johnson would provide suggestions for certain authors or books to include.
A SPACE FOR THE WHOLE COMMUNITY
Library Manager Erin Clay said she is proud to be part of the library’s legacy in the community.
“It’s really a big honor,” she said. “I feel like it’s very humbling, but also very just exciting to be a part of it. It’s just a very meaningful job.”
Clay has worked in the library since 2016, initially in the role of assistant manager, while she was eager to apply for the role of manager when it became available in 2019.
“There’s, to me, a little more energy than you find in some of the other libraries, and a really diverse range of people, different ages, backgrounds, everything,” she said.
Another notable aspect of the library is its African American Cultural Resource Center. Created by the Friends, the center hosts books, periodicals, media, art and artifacts about African Americans, as well as African people in other parts of the world.
Johnson says kids can’t immediately understand how to use this resource, and this is one area in which she wants more attention given.
Clay said the library is looking at reimagining the space to make it more interactive, possibly with kiosks, with volunteers helping to digitize some of the local history to make it more accessible.
Johnson said the center is a valuable resource when it comes to learning about local Black leaders in the community.
“Growing up, when you heard a Black person doing something historically important, they were never in the community where you live, and I often thought about that ... ” she said. “So now, the kids have an opportunity to know that, yes, there are people who have done outstanding things right here in Sarasota.”
Johnson said libraries are the “starting point for self-education and improvement.”
She has simple advice for the community.
“The thing I encourage people to do is to go into the library, and if you don’t see the book that you want, ask for it,” Johnson said.
“Reading is adventurous ... You can go to many places through books.”
— Betty Jean Johnson
Photos by Ian Swaby
Ellia Manners of Friends of the Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Public Library, who is the library’s bookstore manager, sells some of her creations.
Betty J. Johnson, center, stands with Blake Erquiaga and Kelly Larkin of the Pop-Up Library.
Walking one path
The annual Good Friday stations of the cross walk began 24 years ago with a small group of men at Church of the Redeemer, but it has since grown to encompass the wider community.
As the 2025 walk concluded, Father Charleston Wilson said he felt moved when he saw a number of people he estimated at about 1,000 gathered in front of Church of the Redeemer, where he serves as rector.
“It drew a tear from my eye to look out and see the power of all of us under the banner of Jesus and walking in his footsteps,” he said.
The church and the Sarasota Ministerial Association conducts the annual multidenominational event, which extends from Regal Hollywood Cinema on Main Street to Church of the Redeemer and also involves clergy from area congregations.
A Good Friday tradition, the stations of the cross grew out of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, and the 14 stations each represent a part of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion.
Wilson said hundreds of years ago, it would have been unheard of for different Christian denominations to celebrate together.
“It’s really something that needs to be lifted up in the community, to the state, to the country, to the world,” Wilson said.
— IAN SWABY
Stephen DeHart, an ordained minister, blows the shofar. “The shofar has a very, very deep meaning,” he said. “When you blow it, it changes the atmosphere.”
Photos by Ian Swaby Maria Guardado carried the weight of the cross throughout the walk.
Melinda Drake, worship leader of Vision Church, sings “Mary, Did You Know?” at the sixth station in front of First Sarasota.
The Rev. David Svihel stands before the crowd.
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Tebow takes the field
Victoria Ustach
She
is “really his love for God.”
“It’s an inspiration,” she said. “He does good things, and I’m just really happy we got to see him.”
She was one attendee at Good Friday at Payne Park, held by First Sarasota church on April 18, eager to see the former NFL player who won the Heisman Trophy and helped lead the Florida Gators to two national championship titles.
The event began with offerings including inflatables, food, greetings with the Easter Bunny and a stilt walker.
Tebow spoke about his faith and the significance of Good Friday.
“We put so much status and worth in things and stuff, and listen, I’m probably the biggest failure here, because my greatest effort and focus and energy and determination in life has been for a game, and a game that a lot of us love, but a game that ultimately is not something of eternity,” he said.
Pastor John Cross of First Sarasota said the church shared many mutual friends with Tebow and could become connected with him as a result, calling the opportunity “very special.”
Tim Tebow speaks at the event.
Photos by Ian Swaby Ro Pikat, 2, finds an Easter egg.
Sisters Alessi Kompo, 4, Emery Glauser, who is 1 month old, Vallen Glauser, 5, and Ally Glauser, 3, attended the event. “It’s our second year here, and we love this church,” said their mother. Ally Glauser.
COMING
Emerson Lakes Is Now Accepting Reservations.
Our first phase of construction is now underway. It includes the beautiful Coral Ridge Clubhouse and three residence buildings: Sandhill Point, anticipated to open in the fall of 2026, followed by Laguna Springs and Mangrove Run, opening in the first half of 2027.
At Emerson Lakes, Every Day Is a Holiday
Here are just a few resort-style amenities you can expect:
• Multiple dining venues
• Outdoor pool with a walk-up bar
• State-of-the-art fitness center
• Pickleball and bocce ball courts
• Outdoor fitness center with meditation garden
• Fire pits
A Financial Structure You Can Count On
Our community’s smart financial structure will provide peace of mind and security by streamlining most bills into an easy monthly payment. Your Monthly Service Package covers:
• Utilities, maintenance, and property taxes
• Cable TV, internet, and landline phone
• Use of fitness center, pool, and dozens of other amenities
A New Community With Decades of History
When you start a life at Emerson Lakes, you’ll be part of a community you can trust. The Erickson Senior Living network of managed communities has provided quality care for seniors like you across the nation for more than 40 years. Our track record is one you can count on.
The Astad family may have come all the way from Norway, and they said they love the community in Siesta Key.
While visiting family in the area, they attended the annual Easter Egg Hunt, hosted by the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce on April 19.
“We’re just having a good time here,” said Tord Astad, noting the “great events” in the area.
Taking place on the grounds of Siesta Key Chapel, the event included Easter egg hunts, with other offerings such as greetings with the Easter Bunny, a petting zoo, games and activities.
Marisa Merlino, marketing and event manager at the Siesta Key Chamber, said the chamber tries to make the event “bigger and better” each year, and said guests this year especially enjoyed the petting zoo by RCC Farm Experience.
She noted the event welcomes various organizations, including the Child Protection Center and Girl Scouts, while it made possible each year by the chapel’s lending of the space.
“It’s my favorite event of the year that the chamber puts on, because it really does bring the community together,” she said.
— IAN SWABY
Laila Mileto, 7, and her sister Liliana Mileto, 9, of New York, celebrated their birthday with hats made by their grandfather Ricky Mileto.
Photos by Ian Swaby
Stellan Salander, 5, holds a bunny.
Zachary Perez, 6, and his brother, Nate Perez, 8, start the egg hunt.
Hansen home tops week’s
ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR
AHansen home on Red Rock Way tops the week’s sales at $4.5 million.
C. Ted French, trustee, of Sarasota, sold the home at 3920 Red Rock Way to Red Rock Way LLC for $4.5 million. Built in 1967, it has three bedrooms, threeand-a-half baths, a pool and 3,994 square feet of living area. It sold for $2.5 million in 2016.
SARASOTA
HARBOR ACRES
Caldwell Trust Co., trustee, sold the home at 1402 S. Orange Ave. to South Orange LLC for $1.6 million. Built in 1954, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,660 square feet of living area. It sold for $525,000 in 2009.
ONE HUNDRED CENTRAL
Karen and Gregory Kuppler, trustees, of Sarasota, sold the Unit D-509 condominium at 100 Central Ave. to Payson and Lisa Adams, of Sarasota, for $1,475,000. Built in 2005, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 2,273 square feet of living area. It sold for $899,000 in 2018.
SARASOTA BAY CLUB
Sarasota Bay Club LLC sold the Unit 905 condominium at 1301 Tamiami Trail to Jenne Britell, of Sarasota, for $1.34 million. Built in 2000, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,546 square feet of living area. It sold for $695,000 in 2011.
Sarasota Bay Club LLC sold the Unit 206 condominium at 1301 Tamiami Trail to Steffi and Judith Gold, of Sarasota, for $950,000. Built in 2000, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,546 square feet of living area. It sold for $698,000 in 2022.
PHILLIPPI LAKE
Kristine Smith, trustee, of Sarasota, sold two properties at 2504 Wilkinson Road to Creek Group 25 LLC for $950,000. The first property was built in 1942 and has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,740 square feet of living area. The second property was built in 1991 and has one bedroom, one bath and 320 square feet of living area.
THE LANDINGS
Antonio Gil Jr. and Roberta Jo Gil, of Sarasota, sold their home at 1717 Peregrine Point Drive to Austin Doyle and Amanda Rosenberg, of Sarasota, for $920,000. Built in 1981, it has three bedrooms, four baths, a pool and 2,673 square feet of living area. It sold for $450,000 in 2008.
SOUTH GATE
Robert and Sheridan Skinner sold their home at 2511 Alpine Ave. to Kimberly Anna Guzan and Richard Allen Guzan, of Sarasota, for $730,000. Built in 1959, it has three
bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 1,889 square feet of living area. It sold for $675,000 in 2022.
BAHIA VISTA HIGHLANDS
Reuben and Barbara Fisher and Martha Fisher, of Sarasota, sold their home at 1011 S. Allendale Ave. to Chester Stoltzfus, of Gap, Pennsylvania, for $680,000. Built in 1957, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 1,688 square feet of living area. It sold for $151,000 in 2016.
BELLEVUE TERRACE
Sarasota Sunshine LLC sold the home at 3037 Alta Vista St. to Kyle Miller, of Milford, Indiana, for $615,000. Built in 1958, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,493 square feet of living area. It sold for $221,000 in 2016.
GULF GATE
Diane Dixon and Matthew Stuart Dixon, trustees, of Coconut Creek, sold the home at 6708 Keystone Drive to Dennis Dodd Jr. and Maribeth Macconel, of Sarasota, for $587,000. Built in 1970, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,619 square feet of living area. It sold for $238,000 in 2018.
FOREST LAKES COUNTRY CLUB
ESTATES
Opendoor Property Trust I sold the home at 3625 White Sulphur Place to Robert Tarbell and Guiseppina Ciarla, of Sarasota, for $570,000. Built in 1965, it has three bedrooms, two baths and 2,233 square feet of living area. It sold for $563,600 in 2024.
Golex Properties LLC sold the home at 2204 Tanglewood Drive to Commercial Residential Investments LLC for $539,900. Built in 1979, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,287 square feet of living area. It sold for $514,400 in March.
GULF GATE EAST
Barbara Portnoy, of Surfside, sold the home at 3615 Kingston Blvd. to Susan Leona Russell, of Middleton, Massachusetts, for $560,000. Built in 1987, it has four bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 2,269 square feet of living area.
THE LANDINGS CARRIAGEHOUSE
Ronald and Carla Riffel sold their Unit 51 condominium at 1716 S. Kestral Park Way to Arthur and Jamie Krasnow, trustees, of Sarasota, for $550,000. Built in 1982, it has three bedrooms, two baths and
1,440 square feet of living area. It sold for $345,000 in 2016.
SIESTA KEY
SIESTA BEACH
Franklin Fred Luke Jr. and Lauren Courain Luke, of Sarasota, sold their home at 5143 Oxford Drive to Jill Renee Mills and Joshua Glenn Mills, of Sarasota, for $1.9 million. Built in 2005, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, a pool and 2,830 square feet of living area. It sold for $1 million in 2020.
Sabbath Rest LLC sold the home at 5159 Oakmont Place to Spartandew Sports LLC for $990,000. Built in 1977, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,953 square feet of living area. It sold for $395,000 in 2009.
ONLINE
See more transactions at YourObserver.com
Other top sales by area
SIESTA KEY: $3.3 MILLION
Sarasota Beach Bradford and Katie Halley, of Columbus, Ohio, sold their home at 317 Beach Road to Scott and Dorothy Cummings, of Suwanee, Georgia, for $3.3 million. Built in 2009, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,362 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.27 million in 2010.
PALMER RANCH: $700,000
Villa D’Este
Frank Fradkin and Beverly Koltov, of Sarasota, sold their home at 7379 Villa D’Este Drive to Robert and Theresa Ruebusch, of Sarasota, for $700,000. Built in 1987, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 2,371 square feet of living area. It sold for $379,000 in 2014.
OSPREY: $1,051,100
Edgewater at Hidden Bay XM HBH Waterview LLC sold the Unit C-502 condominium at 280 Hidden Bay Drive to Neil Brown and Lindy Antonelli, trustees, of Sarasota, for $1,051,100. Built in 2024, it has three bedrooms, two-anda-half baths and 1,937 square feet of living area.
NOKOMIS: $595,000
Sorrento East
Putz’s Properties LLC sold the home at 2269 Lakewood Drive to Bart and Laura Myers, of Nokomis, for $595,000. Built in 1985, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,842 square feet of living area. It sold for $592,500 in 2021.
Courtesy image
The home at 3920 Red Rock Way was built in 1967 and has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a pool and 3,994 square feet of living area.
SATURDAY, APRIL 26
BLINDS•SHUTTERS DRAPERIES•WALLCOVERINGS
YOUR CALENDAR
YOUTH ART FEST
10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at South Palm Avenue. Free. Creative Kids SRQ hosts its inaugural celebration of young artists on the Suncoast. Enjoy hands-on art-making with installations by creative partners like Mote Marine and teaching artists, live demonstrations by Sarasota School of Glass and Sarasota Clay Co., a youth art exhibition and gallery walk and live music and dancing by Music Compound and others. To RSVP, visit CreativeKidsSRQ.org.
BEST BET SATURDAY, APRIL 26
EARTH DAY AT THE BAY
GATOR CLUB 20TH
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
8 p.m. at The Gator Club, 23 N. Lemon Ave. Free to attend. The band 22N hosts this celebration of the 20th anniversary of The Gator Club, with a block party on Lemon Avenue. Visit Facebook.com.
FRIDAY, APRIL 25 TO SUNDAY, APRIL 27
SUNCOAST BOAT SHOW
11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Common Ground, The Bay Park, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. Enjoy hands-on, family friendly activities about the wonders of nature, art and science. A Suncoast Remake Learning Days event includes experiences by organizations such as Architecture Sarasota, Sarasota Butterfly Club and Sidewalk Science Center. Running concurrently is the City of Sarasota Earth Day Celebration Tabling Event, with organizations including City of Sarasota Sustainability, Science and Environment Council, Solar United Neighbors and others. To register, visit EventBrite.com.
By Kathy Pontillo, DOGPerfect Department Leader
If your dog is constantly itching, licking their paws, or experiencing digestive upset, food sensitivities may be to blame. Just like people, dogs can develop allergies to common ingredients like chicken, beef, wheat, or dairy. The good news? Nutrition plays a powerful role in managing these symptoms. At DOGPerfect, we believe in proactive pet care. Our team can help you choose limitedingredient diets and hypoallergenic formulas tailored to your dog’s needs. These foods often include novel proteins like duck or fish and are free from common allergens, helping your pup feel better from the inside out.
Stop by your local DOGPerfect where healthy, happy dogs shop—and let us help you find the perfect nutrition plan for your sensitive pup. Because every dog deserves to live their healthiest, happiest life.
About the Author: Kathy has been in the pet industry since 2007, when she opened her own store, specializing in high-quality pet products. With a strong interest in pet nutrition and overall wellbeing, Kathy has spent years helping pet owners make informed choices for their furry companions. Her commitment to promoting health and happiness in pets has been at the heart of her work in the pet industry.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, at Marina Jack, 2 Marina Plaza. General admission $20. Browse different vessels, including motor yachts, sportfishers, inflatables and kayaks, along with tents with electronics and accessories, and retail items such as clothing, jewelry and art. Kids can enjoy Kids Fishing Clinics with Captain Don. Visit SuncoastBoatShow. com.
SARASOTA TATTOO EXPO
11 a.m. to noon at 801 N. Tamiami Trail. Free. Join Ink Masters Tattoo Show for an expo featuring live tattooing throughout the weekend by more than 100 award-winning tattoo artists from around the country, along with custom jewelry, temporary tattoos and delicious food. Visit InkMastersTattooShow.com.
SATURDAY, APRIL 26
REPTICON
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sahib Shrine Center, 600 N. Beneva Road. Adults $12; ages 5-12, $6; ages 4 and younger, free. See exotic reptiles of many varieties, along with equipment to help you care for your pet, and possibly bring home a critter of your own. Visit Repticon.com.
SUNDAY, APRIL 27
EDUCATION FOUNDATION
RINGLING BRIDGE RUN
7-11 a.m. at The Bay Park, 1055 Boulevard of the Arts. 5K, $65; 10K, $75. Fun run is free. The Education Foundation of Sarasota County is bringing back its bridge run. Options include a 5K, a 10K, and a family fun run. The event starts at The Bay, heading across the Ringling Bridge and back to the finish line where the run began. All proceeds will benefit the Education Foundation programs and resources for students and teachers in Sarasota County. Visit TheBaySarasota.org.
54TH ANNUAL DEVEREAUX KAISER CAR SHOW
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at County Fairgrounds, 3000 Ringing Blvd. $5 donation; kids younger than 10 admitted free. View cars, trucks and motorcycles 25 years old and older, with food trucks, vendors and a beer tent. Visit DKCarShow.com.
Andrew L. Clark, Esq.
M. Michelle Robles, Esq.
Emily M. Flinchpaugh, Esq.
Ian Swaby
A LIFE AQUATIC.
By the water, in the water, on the water. Whenever you wish. Wherever you want. All this, steps to Sarasota, yet tucked privately away on Golden Gate Point. This is the incomparable life Amara, unquestionably, Sarasota’s most exciting and remarkable residences, ever. Now accepting reservations.
NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH
“ODE OVFBLP
EYE-OPENERS by Priyanka Sethy & Rajiv Sethy, edited by Jared Goudsmit
By Luis Campos
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SEEKING
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