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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
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Together with you.
From the shores of Anna Maria Island to Boca Grande, we are proud to call the Gulf Coast of Florida our home. Just like our nation, Michael Saunders & Company was founded on the values of independence and community.
Wishing you a happy and safe 4th of July.
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Licensed Real Estate Broker
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THE ADDY WITTIG TEAM TOP 1.5% AGENTS NATIONWIDE REALTRENDS 2022
B E N CMH ESU SU LT S•••SSSTT TRR RAT AT EEGIC GIC M TIN G • •P R S OSONA NALIZ S E RV I C EICE BENCH RRERESU LTS IING LL E II Z SERV ICE BENCH MAM ARA RKRKK LTS ATEGIC MAAARRRKKKEET ET NG • EPER PER SONA ZDED ED SERV
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
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JULY 2022
CONTENTS ALSO INSIDE
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Calendar............................ 8
CARS From cruising down the local strip to zooming across country, we love our four-wheeled independence.
Fireworks shows............ 10
OTHER THINGS WE LOVE Wide open spaces........... 12 Our national anthem...... 14 Honoring veterans......... 16 Rocking out.................... 19
20
Beer................................ 22 BALD EAGLES As national mascots go, our is a fierce representation of our spirit.
Revolutionaries.............. 23 Jazz................................ 24 The American dream.... 26 Football........................... 28 Apple pie........................ 32 Our flag.......................... 34 Freedom......................... 34
30
HISTORY To know where you’re going, sometimes it’s important to know where you’ve been.
WALTER GROUP REAL ESTATE - Michael Saunders’ Top Team on Longboat Key 2020
For all your Sarasota Island’s Real Estate needs... Janet and Steve Walter 941.232.2000/941.809.0907 www.waltergrouprealestate.com
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Land of the Free Because of the Brave - God Bless America!
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BACHELOR’S DEGREES WHEN YOU CAN, THE WAY YOU WANT. Early Childhood Education Elementary Education Exceptional Student Education Health Services Administration Public Safety and Emergency Management Supervision and Management Nursing
Apply Today!
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate and baccalaureate degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota does not discriminate on the basis of sex, pregnancy, race, religion, age, national origin/ethnicity, color, marital status, disability, genetic information or sexual orientation in any of its educational programs, services and activities, including admission and employment. Direct inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies to: Equity Officer, 941-752-5323, 5840 26th St. W., Bradenton, FL 34207. The Bachelor of Science degrees in the fields of Elementary Education and Exceptional Student Education (ESE) will begin enrolling students this fall, pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
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JULY 2022
HAVE A
America: We have a lot in common
JULY 4
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Don’t let the noise fool you. As Americans, we agree on more things than you might think. My fellow Americans, I am writing here to tell you something that perhaps people don’t want to admit. Something so outlandish and contrary to the current narrative in our country that it might seem like it couldn’t be true. Something that the politicians and perhaps some media don’t really want us to realize. That we, as Americans, have a lot more in common than we think. Right before the 2020 election, at a time that we seemed witheringly polarized as a populace, a Harvard University study found that 71% of Americans “have more in common with each other than many people think.” That’s a pretty large majority, but now consider this. One of the key questions of the study was asking Americans about what they deem are “essential rights important to being an American today.” More than 93% of respondents — across all political affiliations — agreed on the following as being essential rights: voting, equal protection, free speech, equal opportunity, privacy and racial equality. Even on the touchy issues, things like the right to bear arms and LGBTQ rights, bipartisan
majorities agreed on those as being essential rights, to the tune of about 70%. Let’s be honest: It benefits certain groups to divide us. That is, after all, how they win. They are asking us to choose one candidate over another, one channel over another, one ideology over another. But when it comes down to it, we might agree on way more than on which we disagree. In psychology, one tool to help people experience gratitude is to ask them to focus on what’s going right rather than on what’s going wrong. Just this simple reframing can help us enjoy our lives more, feel more satisfied and give us a better outlook on the future. As we planned this section, we wondered: If it works for individuals, why wouldn’t it work for us as a country? In the spirit of finding common ground, we sought things we can celebrate about America. Things we all have in common. And guess what? We had way more than 15. That, to me, was good news. It means that as a country, much like a family, we share a lot of DNA. So the next time people try to focus on how we’ve never been more divided, try to remember the things we have in common. Turns out, there are a lot of them. — KAT HUGHES, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
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JULY 2022
FIREWORKS
File photo
The crowd watches fireworks explode along the Sarasota bayfront in 2021.
SUNDAY, JULY 3
MONDAY, JULY 4
traveling down Tamiami Trail to catch the impressive fireworks show launching from the south jetty at Venice Beach around 9 p.m. The free, 30-minute show can be checked out at several area beaches from Caspersen to Nokomis. The south jetty and Jetty Jack’s Refreshment Deck will be closed to the public. For more information, visit VeniceGov.com.
VENICE FIREWORKS There are few better ideas than
PALMETTO FOURTH OF JULY FESTIVAL The Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency’s annual Fourth of July festival will again be a lively affair, with craft beer and food vendors at Sutton Park, 1036 Sixth St. W., Palmetto. Live music and kids activities start at 5 p.m., and fireworks will begin
FIREWORKS ON THE LAKE Take part in this fireworks show with festivities beginning at 4 p.m. at Nathan Benderson Park. The fireworks will begin over the lake when the sun goes down, around 9 p.m. Details to come. For more information, call 3587275. BAYFRONT FIREWORKS SPECTACULAR The fireworks display will kick off around 9 p.m. with seating around Sarasota’s Island Park, the bayfront and downtown. Free. For more information, visit SuncoastSummerfest.org.
at dusk. Event is free. For more information, call 723-4988. SIESTA KEY COMMUNITY FIREWORKS The Siesta Key Community Fireworks show, now in its 31st year, has families and friends flocking to Siesta Key’s whitesand beaches for an evening of fun. The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce hosts the community event on Siesta Key Beach. Fireworks are free, but the event has sponsorships available that provide free parking, free beverages and snacks, as well as preferred seating at the hospitality area for the best view. Viewing area opens at 6 p.m., and fireworks start at dusk. For more information, call 349-3800.
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JULY 2022
Robinson Preserve features incredible vistas and wide open spaces to hike and kayak.
Photos by Spencer Fordin
Carlton Reserve is a seasonal mix of dense vegetation, wet prairies and pine flatwoods.
No. 1:
Wide Open Spaces
From deserts and mountains to forests and beaches, when it comes to a variety of landscapes, climates and breathtaking features, ‘America the Beautiful’ got it right: We’ve got just about everything you could want to see in our 50 states. Close to home, our wide open spaces usually revolve around water. Here are a few places nearby to enjoy.
The pine trees in the area were used for making turpentine starting in the late 1800s. The forest did not become a nature reserve until 1995, when it was purchased as part of the Myakka Estuary Conservation and Recreation Lands project. Now it consists of 8,592 acres of protected spaces that provide hiking and recreational opportunities to area residents. Here are just a few of the wide open spaces Sarasota residents can enjoy.
SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR
I
t’s a city known for its beaches and posh resorts. But it’s nestled in a thicket of forests and wide open spaces. Sarasota, bordered on the west by the Sarasota Bay, stands in the shadow of the Myakka State Forest, a natural habitat that provides a home for deer and countless species of birds. The forest is made of mesic flatwoods, characterized by an open canopy of tall pines and a dense ground layer of shrubs and grasses. The Myakka River runs through the northeastern part of the forest, cleaving the forest into two distinct tracts. Much of what we now know as state forest was historically used for cattle grazing and farming.
MYAKKA RIVER STATE PARK
The seeds for the Myakka River State Park were sown by a Chicago businesswoman named Bertha Palmer, who relocated to the Gulf Coast and bought thousands of acres of land. She used much of the territory for cattle and swine
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ranching, and when she died in 1918, the Civilian Conservation Fund purchased 17,000 acres of Palmer’s land. That territory was turned into Myakka River State Park, which was developed between 1934 and 1941 and opened to the public in 1942. Many of the amenities still in use today — including the visitor center and two picnic pavilions — were originally developed by the Civilian Conservation Fund, and the park has grown up all around it. There are two ways to enter the park, and if you enter off State Road 72, you’ll quickly be confronted with a large open space on both sides of the road. If the weather is right, you’ll see alligators lounging in open fields or submerged up to their eyes. There’s also a spot named Deep
Hole Trail where you can see dozens of alligators sunning themselves. What else can you see in the park? That depends on the season and the time of day. You can routinely see deer and large wading birds such as great blue herons and sandhill cranes in the park, many of them congregating near the boat launch and in scattered water holes throughout the park. There’s also an elevated canopy walk that will allow you to take a 100-foot jaunt through the skyline 25 feet above the ground. The walkway also has a tower that stands 74 feet high, giving you a chance for a bird’s-eye view of the forest. The canopy walk was completed in 2000, and it’s billed as the first public treetop trail in North America. Another cool feature of the park is the birdwalk, a walkway that extends over the river’s floodplain. From here you can look out over a wide expanse of land and see birds of prey hunting over
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CARLTON RESERVE
The Carlton Reserve is closer to Venice than Sarasota, and it’s connected to the Myakka River State Park Reserve via the 12-mile Myakka Island Wilderness Trail, but it serves its own distinct purpose. The property was purchased in 1982 for the purposes of developing a wellfield to provide drinking water for Sarasota County, and today it consists of 24,565 acres set aside for conservation. There are more than 100 miles of trails to walk, bicycle or ride horses on, providing endless opportunities for recreation. Some treeless areas of the ground are known as wet prairies; this means they are low-lying treeless areas with soft-stemmed plants. The Carlton Reserve has more than 1,000 of these wet prairies over its territory. During the rainy season, flood waters will cover much of the 38 square miles of the Carlton Reserve, and fish can navigate the whole expanse. But in April and May, when the waters recede, the fish are trapped in shallow pockets. That gives wading birds plenty of opportunity to pick off a meal with minimal effort. There are more than 80 miles of hiking trails within the Carlton Reserve, and they are delineated by color-coded markings. The Carlton Reserve also has a kayak launch, and 6.5 miles of the Myakka River abuts the reserve. ROBINSON PRESERVE
To the north, the Robinson Preserve is situated on a salt marsh in Bradenton and consists of a 600-
acre span of coastline. Here, you’ll find waterways to canoe or kayak down and scenic bridges, mangrove forests and picnic spots to traverse on land. The Valentine House, a 120year old home, was relocated to the Robinson Preserve and rests near the entrance. Perhaps the most prominent feature of the reserve is a 53-foot tower that provides a commanding view of the Tampa Bay. You can see the Sunshine Skyway off in the distance, and in the foreground, canoes or kayaks lazily cutting through the water. Interestingly, Robinson Preserve was formerly distressed farmland. Much like the other parks in the area, it has been restored to its natural state by a partnership of state and local agencies dedicated to conserving wild Florida. Here you can see a wide variety of birds all yearround, and there are miles of hiking trails to saunter down and enjoy the view.
JULY 2022
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Roseate spoonbills are plentiful at Myakka River State Park, as are sandhill cranes and great blue herons.
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JULY 2022
Our National Anthem
Ever hear other nations’ anthems? Yep — booorrring. Not only is our anthem spirited (sort of like us), but it has been performed in every style out there. Three singers explain what it takes to do it justice. LIZ RAMOS
and hitting the right pitch is important so she can be confident, said the singer, who is 11. “I get nervous every time I sing it, but I feel honored they picked me to sing it and not some other adult who could probably sing it better than I can,” she said. The first two times Ochsendorf sang the national anthem at the Sarasota Polo Club, she sang accompanied by a piano recording. In her final performance, Ochsendorf decided to show the ultimate in national anthem courage — performing it acapella. The “Star-Spangled Banner” is a song everyone in the U.S. has heard, but our national anthem is rarely performed the same way. Whether it’s the key, tempo, style, or sometimes the notes themselves, singers’ interpretation can be as unique as we are. Three local singers, who are students and a teacher at the Music Compound, share their own approaches to the national anthem. “Many different artists are singing it in many different ways,” said Lakewood Ranch’s Sabine Kvenberg, a teacher at Music Compound. “You have to find the right way that works for you and your voice.” Lakewood Ranch’s Jasleen
STAFF WRITER
S
arasota’s Jessie Ochsendorf likes to focus on an object when she’s standing in front of a large crowd preparing to sing the national anthem. So what better object to focus on than the red and white stripes of an American flag? Ochsendorf uses the flag as her mode of concentration. Beginning the national anthem strong
Courtesy photo
Sarasota’s Jessie Ochsendorf chooses to sing the national anthem acapella.
Liz Ramos
Lakewood Ranch’s Sabine Kvenberg, who also is a teacher at the Music Compound, takes Lakewood Ranch’s Jasleen Kaur have both sung the national anthem before polo matches at the Sarasota Polo Club.
Kaur, who is 17, said being able to put her own spin on a song that is so well known is scary. “You don’t want people to be like, ‘Oh, she didn’t sing it the right way,’” Kaur said. “You just have to know that any song you sing you have to add your own little twist to it. Nobody wants to sing it exactly how it’s written.” Kvenberg said the national anthem actually is quite challenging to sing because of its wide range. “The modern pop songs have a small range, so a lot of people can sing them,” Kvenberg said. But the “Star-Spangled Banner” has notes that span an octave and a half, making it difficult for even
seasoned singers. At times, singers like Kaur and Ochsendorf admit they have trouble reaching the high note that comes with the word “free” in the song. The key to a great rendition, the singers said, it just that — finding the right key to start on to be able to achieve that high note, and then identifying the areas of the song where they can showcase their singing abilities. Kvenberg, who is 62, looks for moments where she can show off the power of her voice. “The ramparts red glare, the bombs bursting in air,” is her sweet spot. Ochsendorf agreed. That line in particular is her favorite because
it allows her to project as the melody builds. “The music gives you guidance,” Kvenberg said. “The melody is so important. For me, words are important too, but the melody is something that touches you on a different level. With the national anthem and how it is written, it’s just so beautiful.” In contrast, Kaur said she takes it slow and her voice is often softer. She emphasizes lyrics with a lot of emotion because of the deep meaning behind the song. Kvenberg’s favorite lyric is the last line of the song “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” “Living in a country like the United States, sometimes we take it for granted, the freedom we have,” she said. “And also the bravery from a lot of brave souls who fought for freedom. It reminds us how lucky we are, and we should be eternally grateful for that freedom.” The same lyrics are Kaur’s favorite because they give her an opportunity to play with the melody and sing at different notes. Each of the singers said she is honored to be able to sing the national anthem at an event. “It feels special because it also represents our country,” Kvenberg said. “When I sing a song, I am 100% engaged in it. I put my whole self into a song. In that moment, when I perform, the song becomes part of me, and I become part of the song.”
QUIZ Test your anthem acumen at YourObserver.com
WE REMEMBER & HONOR. WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR OUR VETERANS WHO SELFLESSLY DEFENDED OUR COUNTRY AND PROTECTED OUR
FREEDOM.
We are THANKFUL for all veterans and are HONORED to have over 25 working side by side with us. We are so GRATEFUL for their service to this country and we are PROUD to have them on our team now serving our clients. We also thank the HEROES who continue to fight for our freedom today, as well as the families who support them at home.
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
No. 3:
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YourObserver.com
JULY 2022
Honoring Veterans
It’s easy to take it for granted as Americans, but we celebrate several holidays to remind ourselves: Freedom isn’t free. From wreath laying to taps ceremonies, our traditions ensure we never forget to thank those who sacrificed for our country. One local in particular makes sure he does his part to keep these traditions alive. HARRY SAYER STAFF WRITER
S
arasota pays respect to its veterans. The city comes together for Memorial Day parades, soldier memorials, Fourth of July celebrations and more. But these traditions don’t just happen. They are the work of many individuals, each contributing in their own ways. Danny Bilyeu has become a part of that support year in and year out, and maybe not in the way you’d expect. Bilyeu has a long and involved history with the public service — you’ll likely remember him as a former city commissioner and later a field representative for U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan. If you have enjoyed Sarasota’s annual holiday parade recently, it’s Bilyeu that organizes that lively march down Main Street each year. His day job is as construction field manager for Habitat for Humanity Sarasota. But another one of what he considers his duties — quietly but no less importantly — is act as the bugler who plays taps on his horn to close out military funerals and services. If you’ve attended one of Sarasota’s many tributes to those who have served our country, and stayed for
the ceremonies that follow, you’ll likely have seen Bilyeu standing proudly and blowing his horn in musical tribute. The 24 notes that compose the melancholy music that typically ends military funerals and memorial services is an everpresent fixture at these events, and Bilyeu takes his role playing them seriously. “It brings an end,” Bilyeu said. “Especially on Memorial Day, where we’re remembering those who gave it all. It’s a remembrance of them.” Bilyeu found his musical passion early, growing up in Illinois where he started playing music in middle school. That developed into playing for the high school band and learning to play the trumpet. He studied music at Manatee Community College — now the State College of Florida — and played jazz music. He had a respect for the military even earlier than that. Bilyeu’s father was a Navy veteran who saw his share of combat while serving on a Destroyer warship in World War 2. Living and learning about his father’s time in the military — and seeing the toll that time had on him — fostered a respect and patriotism in Bilyeu that he carried with him as he grew.
“I respected his service to the country,” Bilyeu said. “After he died when I was 15, I didn’t (play taps) as much until I moved to Sarasota in ’79 and became involved with the (city) commission.” Bilyeu started attending veterans events and services while serving as a city commissioner, and that carried on after he moved on to new positions. Bilyeu has played at veterans events, parades, memorial services and more. When his dear friend Paul Thorpe, who started many downtown Sarasota parades and traditions, died in 2017, Bilyeu was there performing taps at his service at Sarasota National Cemetery. He’s contributed to veteran groups in other ways as well. Bilyeu routinely plays the Kiwanis Veterans Breakfast each year and plays service songs for the group. “It’s a privilege and an honor to be able to play,” Bilyeu said. “These people gave their lives so we can do what we do.” One of his most proud moments
through the years has been helping put together the Spirit of 45 observance program and threeday celebration in Sarasota in 2015, which had a dinner event that invited World War II veterans to attend and had big band music, swing dancers and more. The weekend of events concluded with a large production with more than 40 trumpet players who played a moving rendition of taps at the Sarasota
National Cemetery. Bilyeu still thinks about performing with the group, and the veterans he recognized over the weekend, with pride. “It had to be the highlight of my work supporting veterans,” Bilyeu said. In spite of his many times performing and participating in events, Bilyeu makes it a priority to keep from becoming the center of attention during the ceremony. When he’s playing taps out in the Sarasota National Cemetery, he keeps away from the stage and stands behind the crowd near the headstones. “You just need to hear the music, you don’t need to see me playing because it’s not about me,” Bilyeu said. “It’s my contribution to what these people have done. There’s mixed emotions, but God gave me the talent so I’m going to use it.” Danny Bilyeu plays taps at ceremonies locally.
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JULY 2022
No. 4:
Cars I
ERIC GARWOOD MANAGING EDITOR
With nearly 47,000 miles of interstate highway in the U.S., it’s no wonder Americans dig cars. At a recent car show, we tune into what we love so much about our four-wheeled rides.
Photos by Eric Garwood
Chevrolet Corvette noses in a patriotic color scheme.
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t’s a sunny Saturday morning in some agrarian, eastern European country that ends in -ia or -stan. Villagers arise to a bucolic setting, grab a creamy mug of dhallë and head to the main square to chat with old friends or make some new ones. It’s a few kilometers down the rutted dirt road, so maybe they walk, ride a bike, hitch an ox to a cart or fire up a decades-old, Soviet-era tractor that runs on anything from kerosene to cooking oil. Either way, the fellowship is obvious as the villagers chat about things they love: the harvest, livestock, who really owns the means of production or that wacky Borat fellow. Just like-minded people enjoying each other’s company. Here in the USA, on a sunny Saturday morning, the sentiment is much the same, replayed in gatherings over and over from Miami to Seattle with origins further back than the real-life people who inspired “American Graffiti.” It’s a motor-crazy staple called a Cars and Coffee meet-up, where people chat about things they love: rumbling muscle cars, six-figure exotics, classic vintage sportsters, built-from-theground-up hot rods, hatchbacks seemingly propelled by their stereo systems alone and zoomy rebuilds of what once were sensible econoboxes. We may say we hate bumperto-bumper traffic, $4.75 gas, spiraling insurance premiums, redlight cameras, slow-pokes in the passing lane, 55 mph speed limits, radar guns and parking meters — the trappings that accompany
25
Robert Alfarone and his 1955 Chevrolet pickup truck.
everyday commuting. But we love our cars and the freedom they deliver, to the point that all other headaches pale once we, quoting Steppenwolf here, “get your motor running.” So unconditional is that love, mind you, that a drivers’ license is not required. Meet Brian Sanchez, a soonto-be-fourth-grader from St. Petersburg whose Lakewood Ranch grandfather is as car crazy as he is. Standing next to a waisthigh-to-an-adult Ford GT that even Brian towered above, the youngster made clear that soccer is cool, video games are cooler, but internal combustion, man . . . “Look at them all,” Brian said, shooting a smile at his grandfather not far away and plugging his ears when a monster-sized motor fired up 20 feet away, instantly turning a few bucks worth of refined former dinosaur into noise, heat, fumes and boyhood joy. “I’m not sure which one is my favorite ... this one maybe.”
CORVETTE LOVE
John and Nita Govoni, of Bradenton have owned their 1963 Chevrolet Corvette coupe since he bought it in 1969 at age 22. To look at it today, you’d think John F. Kennedy was still a newly minted president and a gallon of Sinclair was still 30 cents. They drove their blue, split-window fastback to hang out with other owners of America’s quintessential sports car, doing what most everyone at such an event does: chat with anyone who stops by. “It’s gotta be in your blood, you’ve gotta be a gearhead, I’ve been messing around with cars since I was 15,” John said, adding he brought eight cars with him when he and Nita moved to Florida. “If we didn’t have these cars, we wouldn’t meet anybody. You know, neither of us work. If you’re working at a job, you meet people, so with these cars, we go to shows and we meet all kinds of people. You talk to them, we all got something in common: We
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spent all our money on cars.” He’s had the Corvette brought back to original condition. Though it’s not a daily driver, Govoni said he regularly enjoys the memories it delivers. “My daughter, she grew up in the car,” he said, adding the Corvette is probably worth about $150,000 (original list price in 1963: about $4,300), adding the “not-for-sale price is $250,000.” “If someone wanted it bad enough and they wanted to spend $250 (thousand),” he said, pausing for a moment, “I gotta give it to my daughter.” A TOY THAT REALLY WORKS
Robert Alfarone’s 1955 Chevrolet pick-up truck is more than a play thing. He uses it as part of his ice cream catering business and, a bit, as a connection to his wife, who died of cancer in 2015. Together, they had worked on the truck since 2003. “It’s an ongoing project,” he said, agreeing with a passer-by who added “they always are.” “That’s it, it’s kinda a fun project. It kinda, sorta keeps me out of trouble — until you get in and start the motor.” Oh, the motor. It’s a rumbling 350 cubic inch (that’s 5.7 liters, kids) V-8 that’s been modified to displace 383 cubic inches — a far cry from its factory-original six cylinders. He’s designed the truck’s look, the custom interior, the custom wood bed. “It’s a labor of love. Every time I walk into the garage, I find something new to do on it.” Alfarone said he’s at a car gathering most every weekend with his dog, but he likes the Cars and Coffee meet-up the best. “I love the get-togethers,” he said. “And this is even nicer
because there’s no pressure, you don’t have to win a trophy, you just come and show up.” The night before a car show, Alfarone said, he made $450 with his ice cream business, selling scoops out of the back. Ice cream, he’ll sell. The truck, well ... “I could never sell it,” he said. “And again, only because my wife and I had 19 years into it before she passed away,” he said. “So, no, it’s going to my daughter when I’m done.”
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On the opposite end of the gathering far from the bluster of American iron and muscle, Rich Barbieri’s car-show neighbors were, shall we say, a little more refined. He loves his new 1968 Jaguar E-type, considered one of the sexiest machines ever built. Barbieri has owned the Jaguar a little more than a year, but other classics such as a BMW M3, Porsches, a Ferrari are in his garage as well. “I own seven cars, which is kid of silly.” This one, though, is something special. It’s that sexiness, even without air conditioning. “I’ve always liked the styling,” he said. “Enzo Ferrari said it was the nicest car he’d ever seen, which is saying a lot coming from Enzo.” A recent gathering was the first time he had brought the butteryellow convertible out to a car show. He said he’s always had a soft spot for the Jaguar — he’s in cool company: Steve McQueen, Tony Curtis, Brigette Bardot also owned one. So does the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “There’s something nostalgic about older cars...” Barbieri said.
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As our more musically inclined Americans have proven: there’s nothing better about freedom than singing about it.
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hether you’re on the beach, at a barbecue or just sitting with a beer ready for the fireworks, the key to Fourth of July is the perfect playlist. Classics like Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and Ray Charles’ rendition of “America the Beautiful” will always put you in the patriotic spirit, and you can never go wrong with Whitney Houston singing “The StarSpangled Banner.” But this year, try broadening your soundtrack for some extra flair. Johnny Cash’s “Ragged Old Flag” is a spoken piece that tells the history of the proud country the flag has flown over. On her patriotic hit “American Heart,” Faith Hill said, “Times are hard and people are struggling, but our spirit as Americans always seems to prevail.” Although the country genre might not be everyone’s favorite, it’s provided plenty of road trip-type hits that celebrate the U.S. Can you listen to “Dixieland Delight” without singing along? And make sure to catch the Sarasota call-out in Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere.”
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“Sweet Caroline” is of course a must, but don’t miss another of Neil Diamond’s patriotic songs, “America,” which celebrates being the home for immigrants. “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” written in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson on the struggles Black Americans faced following the Reconstruction era, has been known as the Black national anthem since 1917. Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” ranked No. 3 in Rolling Stone’s 2021 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, became a civil rights anthem after its 1964 release. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” is another Fourth of July classic, thanks to its catchy and upbeat chorus, but listen to the bluesy verses for the tale of veterans facing economic hardships after returning from Vietnam. Turn up the volume with spirited pop too. Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A” will fit in with every playlist, and Weezer’s “I Love the USA” is a fun close to the party.
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
No. 6:
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YourObserver.com
JULY 2022
The Bald Eagle As anyone who has seen one of these beauties in person can attest, it’s hard to imagine a better symbol of strength and freedom. Luckily, we have an abundance of them, so we talked to a few aviary enthusiasts on what makes them so special.
Jay Heater
Bald eagles often frequent the area in Lakewood Ranch aptly named White Eagle Boulevard.
JAY HEATER MANAGING EDITOR
Photography Club and a Florida Audubon Eagle Watch volunteer. “When I see a bald eagle flying, my eyes are drawn to its size, strength, agility, and how free it looks. Like the birds, Americans are strong, love where they live, and protect it. But mostly, we are free like the eagles.” Sarasota’s Rick Waid said the fact the bald eagle has been America’s national bird since 1782 makes photographing it special. “It’s a symbol of our country, and of bravery,” Waid said. “It’s a bird of prey, and intelligent. I’ve grown up with it. Eagles are dramatic, huge, acrobatic.” He loves the bonds they form. “You can see the attraction between them,” he said. “I was watching a mated pair the other day and it almost looked like they
BIG BIRD
National recognition: The bald eagle has been the national bird of the United States since 1782 when it was placed on the Great Seal of the country. Partially protected: The bald eagle was removed from the federally endangered and threatened list in 2007 and was removed from the Florida Fish and Wildlife threatened species list in 2008. However several state and federal acts still project the majestic bird. Right on the money: Do you know why the bald eagle is considered the most photographed bird? Look at your $1 bill. Big crib: Bald eagles build the biggest nests of any bird, sometimes reaching 13 feet deep, 8 feet wide and weighing almost a ton. Fast flyer: Bald eagles often fly at speeds from 35 to 40 miles per hour but can dive at speeds up to 100 miles per hour. Not so bald: Bald eagles don’t develop their white head and tail feathers until they are 4 or older. Get to know me: Eagles can live more than 30 years in the wild. Somebody’s watching you: Bald eagles can see forward and to the side at the same time. Somebody’s watching me: Audubon Florida has a nest locator map at Fl.Audubon. org/News/EaglewatchLaunches-Novel-Nest-Locator-Map
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n speaking with friends from outside Florida, University Park’s Susan Beausang often mentions she had just come back from photographing bald eagles. “They are amazed to hear I can go out and photograph a bald eagle here in Florida,” Beausang said. Indeed, Florida ranks third in the U.S. with its more than 1,500 nesting pairs (study by AZAnimals.com) of bald eagles, behind only Alaska, which boasts more than 30,000 bald eagles, and Wisconsin, which has an estimated 1,600 nesting pairs. Beausang, a member of the Lakewood Ranch Digital Pho-
tography Club, takes advantage of the many bald eagle nests in Sarasota and Manatee counties to photograph the majestic bird. She especially likes watching nests on White Eagle Boulevard in Lakewood Ranch, at the Manatee County landfill site in East County, and on Lido Key Beach in Sarasota. “White Eagle really is the best because it is so open there,” Beausang said. “And it’s such a fun thing because you can watch the ongoing story.” Although most bald eagles fly north in the summer, some remain year round. “Watching the bald eagle, it’s no wonder it is our country’s symbol of freedom,” said Margaret Lanier, who is a member of the Lakewood Ranch Digital
were kissing.” Waid likes the White Eagle Boulevard nest as a place to shoot, and he likes that the mating pair there seem to keep coming back to the same nest every year. He also shoots photos of bald eagles in Longboat Key just off Gulf of Mexico Drive at Triton Bend. Getting dramatic shots of the bald eagles can be tough though. “Believe me, they can sit on a perch for hours on end and do nothing,” Beausang said. Sarasota’s Jane Lyons, who moved to the area five years ago from New York City, knows that patience is rewarded when it comes to photographing bald eagles, but that’s OK because she has made visiting a nest on Lido Key Beach in Sarasota part of her everyday walk down the beach. She said the bald eagles seem like part of her family now. “I know them and can identify them by their expressions,” she said. “I can tell them apart when they fly. Every day gives me more insight.” She has gained respect for bald eagles after watching them be caring parents, and she has grieved with them the past two years when their chicks have died, possibly due to poisoning from the adults bringing home rodents that have eaten rat poison. Jeanne Dubi, president of Sarasota Audubon chapter, said that is a problem in the region that area residents can solve by not using poisons that can kill bald eagles. Those who photograph the majestic bird are just glad it is no longer rare to see one. Lyons is just happy they chose the bald eagle as the national bird. “They were going to choose a turkey,” she said.
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JULY 2022
No. 7:
Beer
Just because we didn’t come up with the idea doesn’t stop Americans from taking something and making it uniquely ours. Like beer. So crack open a cold one and dive into the debate : big brews vs. craft concoctions.
ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER
B
eer. Americans didn’t invent it, but we’ve have spent the last few decades trying to perfect it. From the time the federal government lifted the ban on home brewing in the late 1970s, craft beer has migrated from the kitchen sink to the brewpub as brewers have toiled to mix unique flavors and specialty grain blends into gourmet concoctions. But did they really need to do that? And is there still a dominant taste for commercially produced, familiar brands from decades gone by? Whether swilling by the waves or sipping at a table, both have their following, and they are by and large the same. “Beer drinkers come back to the legacy brands when they are doing some hardcore, sitting-on-thebeach drinking, poolside drinking and golf drinking. They’re not drinking the heavier craft beers,” said John Saputo, who owns Gold Coast Eagle Distributing in Lakewood Ranch. They are drinking the heavier craft beers, though, in growing numbers straight from the tap in brewpubs, tasting rooms of trendy micro breweries and from bottles and cans from grocery store shelves as distributors — like Gold Coast Eagle — cater to the demand craft brewers are creating. Mike Bisaha, co-founder and CEO of the Sarasota-Bradenton area’s first craft brewery, Big Top Brewing Co., said his brewery produces roughly 10,000 barrels a year. Big Top and other breweries are taking a small but hoppy bite out of the market. “We’re with 13 different dis-
Nearly as old as mankind itself, the history of beer production dates back some 6,000 years. In 1516, Germany enacted the Beer Law requiring beer to be brewed using only water, malt, hops and yeast, the same raw ingredients used today. According to The Atlantic, here is a history of the craft beer movement in the U.S. 1965: Fritz Maytag, great-grandson of a home appliances tycoon who purchased a 51% stake in Anchor Steam, set out to improve the quality of his favorite beer and enhance its flavor, leading to new styles including Liberty Ale, the country’s first modern IPA.
tributors, primarily AnheuserBusch distributors, throughout Florida and we have thousands and thousands of accounts,” Bisaha said. Piggy-backing on the distribution of the major domestic brands demonstrates that craft and legacy commercial beers can coexist in harmony. “I honestly think that we’re complementary of each other,” Bisaha said. “The big brands are always going to have their place, and the craft market is just fighting for the scraps. But there’s no question that if one local craft gets someone to try a craft beer, as it allows that consumer to have a different perception, we’re more likely to get them to try our brand as well. “In general, there’s a perception craft beer is hoppy and bitter. That’s not what all craft beer is by any means. It’s just getting getting consumers to try something outside of their wheelhouse.”
TOP BREWS
According to research agent TOP Data, which surveyed the drinking habits in the U.S. during COVID-19, here are the top 5 popular brands, in order among Floridians.
FORD VERSUS CHEVY
Commercially produced beers still control 80% of the market in the U.S., slightly higher locally, according to Saputo. Gold Coast Eagle distributes 285 different labels and has more than 1,100 varieties in its warehouse. Saputo said 70% of the American adult population drinks beer, account-
n Stella Artois n Bud Light n Budweiser n Miller Lite n Corona Extra
ing for 40% of all alcohol consumed in the U.S., with 20% of it liquor and the remainder wine. Brand loyalty among the commercial beers is fierce. Craft beers not so much. “The craft beer drinker by design is always looking for something that’s new and creative,” Bisaha said. “It could be an IPA, but there are thousands of different IPAs, so there’s no loyalty, whereas if you look at the domestic side, there’s absolutely brand loyalty. It’s the same as Ford and Chevy. There’s no steering away from it, where in craft beer we see the exact opposite.” Brand loyalty aside, the craft beer movement is driving change among the legacy commercial labels, with women leading the adaptation toward more fruitflavored beers, seltzers and readyto-drink pop-top cocktails. “A lot of these these new products are driven by demands of women,” Saputo said. “They are consumers who have not been into beer, and they’re demanding different flavors, they’re demanding different products and we’re trying to stay ahead of the game by coming up with new stuff as fast as we can.” Beer producers feel the need for speed as nimble craft brewers can create new concoctions daily to test the on palates of the ever-
“The craft beer drinker by design is always looking for something that’s new and creative.” — Mike Bisaha
evolving new brew demographic. That’s why hyperlocal craft breweries’ audiences are within a short trip of their brewpubs and tasting rooms, providing geographical loyalty in person, less so in bottles or cans on grocery shelves in farflung locales. Big Top and other craft breweries in Sarasota-Bradenton that started a decade ago and survived are competing for that 20% of the market share on both fronts. “When we started in 2013 we saw the the mad rush with a lot of breweries coming into the market,” Bisaha said. “There was a lot of emphasis on local breweries and everybody wanted to have local, and they only really wanted to focus on what’s in a 15-mile radius, which is really good to some extent, but when you’re a brewery that’s been built for distribution, which are a lot of what we call like our class of 2013 are, you can’t do it within just a 15-mile radius.”
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YEARS OF BEER
1979: Home brewing is legalized. Signed by President Jimmy Carter, HR 1337, made way for the home brewing movement. According to some sources, up to 90% of craft brewers began as home brewers. 1997: The home brewing legislation paved the way for microbreweries to start opening. Between 1985 and 1997, new brewery growth was at least 20% per year; some years considerably more, most of them not surviving. 2000s: More than putting their own spin on old-world styles, breweries that survived the beer bust began reinventing beer, adding everything from apricots to algae, resulting in a cohort of “beer geeks” who not only loved beer, but also collected it. 2010-present: As more consumers began demanding more flavorful American beer, the largest beer companies in the U.S. began to adapt, most recently resulting in a variety of flavored seltzers and readyto-drink beer-based cocktails.
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
YourObserver.com
No. 8:
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23
JULY 2022
Mavericks
They zig when others zag. They see not what is, but what could be. We’re talking about mavericks. No, not the ‘Top Gun’ kind (although we love them as well). The trailblazing kind. Here are a just a handful of the mavericks who helped make our area great. Can you name them?
Happy
Being the first to do something is part of the very definition of a Maverick. In 1884, this individual was Sarasota’s first black settler, who also went on to help survey and plat the town of Sarasota. He and his wife, Irene, sold the land to build Bethlehem Baptist Church for $1 in 1897, and he served as its first minister.
4
TH
JULY
While some wealthy ladies were out socializing, this one was out buying up land and introducing new agriculture advances to the some 80,000 acres of Sarasota County she owned (OK, she did that socializing stuff, too.) She also helped extend the railroad from Manatee County to Venice and was responsible for recruiting other settlers to the area.
Sometimes, it takes an outsider’s perspective to find a new path. That’s exactly what this individual did when she came here from Chicago in 1984. She was hired to make Lakewood Ranch a profitable agriculture operation; instead, she helped transform the land into what’s now one of the top master-planned communities in the country.
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That beautiful bridge that garners about a million tags on Instagram? Yep, it almost didn’t happen. But this individual fought the naysayers in Sarasota to make a fixed-span Ringling Bridge a reality in 2003. While a city commissioner in the 1960s, he also helped build Bayfront Park and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
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No. 9:
YourObserver.com
JULY 2022
Jazz
Unlike many things in America, this one started here. Sarasota is home to its own following of this original musical genre, which has proved a lasting homage to our country’s history of hardship and hope. SPENCER FORDIN A+E EDITOR
I
f only Hal Davis could see the Jazz Club of Sarasota now. Jazz, one of the original American art forms, was once an undernourished passion in Sarasota, but over time it has developed into one of the area’s most ubiquitous calling cards. The club, birthed by Davis with listening parties in his home, has grown into a regional institution with hundreds of members. And it might be ready to grow more. “There’s a need identified there to explore and to evolve the group into a more professionally managed organization,” said Ed Linehan, president of the Jazz Club of Sarasota, adding that without staff, the club might have to do less. Nobody wants that. If there’s anything the decades have shown, it’s that there’s an appetite for more jazz. When Davis, a former advertising executive and member of Benny Goodman’s management team, relocated to Sarasota, he quickly found a lot of like-minded people. His small group of music aficionados quickly outgrew his
living room, his condominium’s meeting room and even a third location at a bank community room. Davis established a roster of performers, a series of concerts and also the Sarasota Jazz Festival, which held its latest incarnation at Nathan Benderson Park in March. But Davis, who died in 1990, might not recognize the club he started. “It was a social group and then became a membership group. It grew amazingly, but without a master plan,” said Linehan. “... It was people who just enjoy the kind of music and recognize that there was a lot of local talent, some of which had retired here from a professional career.” Now the group doesn’t just build the audience; it helps to develop the artists. It raises more than $20,000 in scholarships to higher education for young artists every year, and it helps organize events multiple nights a week during its respective seasons. The Jazz Club has its Monday Night Jazz Cabaret series, hosted by Florida Studio Theatre, in addition to its Friday Jazz at Two performance series
Ian Swaby
The Sarasota Jazz Club held its annual Sarasota Jazz Festival in March at Nathan Benderson Park.
at Unitarian Universalist Church. Between those two series, you’re talking about more than 40 performances per year. The club’s newest offering, Jazz Thursdays at the Sarasota Art Museum, have also brought in a dedicated following. Linehan said the jazz club now has more than 800 members. Nancy Roucher, the club’s music committee chair, has been deeply involved in the club’s maturation for decades. She calls Davis, “a genius masquerading as an advertising man,” and she said she’s fortunate that she got to know him. Her husband, Jerry Roucher, took the mantle from Davis and ran the Jazz Club of Sarasota for a decade. Over time, the club began to not just foster jazz appreciation but to enrich the community from within, and its expanded performance calendar has given regional art-
ists the chance to showcase their skills to a wider audience. Some of those artists are teachers, and some of them are local scholarship winners who have brought their career to a higher level. Roucher singled out pianist Liston Gregory III. “He was at our first cabaret this year,” she said. “He grew up in the community and went to the University of North Florida, which is known for its jazz program. He’s now touring with a nationally known group, and he’s been to Singapore and all over the world.” Adversity appeared on the horizon a couple years ago for the Jazz Club, much like every other industry in America. Linehan said the club’s membership was at 960 people in March 2020, nearly doubling as the result of a 15-month campaign to bring in new faces. Then came
the COVID-related performance shutdown and slowdown, and the memberships dwindled. Recovery has come slowly; Linehan said that many people did come back once performances resumed, but he estimates that there’s at least a few hundred subscribers that never returned. But he remains optimistic for the club’s future. If you look at the environment it was born into, you can begin to understand why there is still limitless potential to grow. “They had the Asolo,” said Roucher. “The opera was still in its infancy. They had the orchestra. And they had the Ringling Museum. But they didn’t have any jazz, and that’s what he loved to listen to. So he and his wife started inviting people over to their house to listen to records in their living room. And that’s how the jazz club started.”
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JULY 2022
25
ANDRICK & ASSOCIATES
CELEBRATES THE BEST OF AMERICA At this time of year we celebrate our Independence, our Liberties, and the brave men and women who made it possible.
Of all the National Holidays, July 4th may be the most special. It celebrates our Independence and the creation of a Free American Republic to benefit the people it serves. For almost 250 years, the United States has prospered as a Great Nation established by the Freedom Fighters in the 1770’s.
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However, the Republic created by our Founders, has been resolute allowing all Americans to continue to cherish the Liberties bestowed upon us by their sacrifices.
SPIRIT OF AMERICA
|
YourObserver.com
JULY 2022
No. 10:
The American Dream
We’re all familiar with the phrase ‘the American dream.’ But what that looks like depends on the person. For immigrants, it’s an especially poignant ideology. Two such individuals share their stories and what it means to them. SANDDY MARCHENA LIZ RAMOS STAFF WRITER
W
h e n L a kewo o d Ranch’s Sanddy Marchena received documentation in 1994 stating he was a U.S. citizen, being a teenager, he didn’t really realize the significance of the papers. But he remembers his mother, Isabel Marizan, was ecstatic. Reflecting on his life now at the age of 42, Marchena said his mother’s decision to emigrate her family from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. and obtain their citizenship led to a world of opportunities. “I tell my wife all the time, that’s one of our most important documents,” Marchena said. “Now later in life, especially with what goes on in the world, I’m so thankful I’m a citizen of the United States. I’m thankful, but I’m also proud. I’m proud to call this country my country.” In 1985, Marchena’s family moved to Manhattan, New York, after Marizan won a trip to New York as a reward for being the top salesperson for Mary Kay Cosmetics. She saw a world in which
her sons could thrive and build successful lives. At 5 years old, Marchena moved with his mother and brother, Edwin, to New York. “I was young, but for my mother, I’m sure it was scary being the main provider for two children and one on the way,” Marchena said. “That key decision by my mother probably changed the trajectory of my life and my family now.” After his family’s arrival in New York, Marizan’s first priority was for her children to learn English, Marchena said. His mother hired a tutor, and he went through a 30-day crash course in learning how to speak English. “I must have learned well because I did really well in elementary school, grammar school and high school,” Marchena said. “It was important for my mom that as soon as we arrived I immerse myself in learning the language, even though to this day, she struggles with it.” As a child, Marchena said he was like a sponge, wanting to learn anything he could and try new things, so he didn’t have a hard time learning the language or adjusting to life in the U.S. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t notice the changes.
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Courtesy photo
“I was a skinny kid from the Dominican Republic, and within six months of being here, I was pudgy and fat,” Marchena said with a laugh. “I discovered places like McDonald’s. I think that was one of my favorite places to go when I was 9 or 10 years old.” Education has always been important to Marizan, so Marchena and his brothers always made sure they went to class, did their homework and studied. “She believed education was the way to take our family to the next level,” Marchena said. Marchena remembered his mother looking over his homework, even though she didn’t understand what she was looking at. But she always made sure he finished it. The family moved to Union City, New Jersey, where Marchena continued his education. His high school history teacher, Nellie Chapman, was instrumental in helping Marchena get accepted into Brown University. Chapman would take a group of students, including Marchena, on college tours. “She believed before we even had an awareness that we could be successful and we could further ourselves,” Marchena said of Chapman. Marchena recalled the day he received notice from Brown University regarding his application. He remembers watching a TV show where people were receiving acceptance letters to college. “If it’s a regular letter, it means you didn’t get in; if you got in, it’s a big envelope,” he said. “I remember coming to my mailbox and seeing a big envelope. When I saw it was from Brown, I was excited. It’s the culmination of all my hard work. I’m not the smartest guy, but boy I will outwork you.” When he graduated, Marchena gave his diploma to his mother as a symbol of gratitude for her influence in his achievement. His mother, meanwhile, had been busy pursuing her own achievements, including owning multiple salons. “If my mom had a 10th of the
opportunities I’ve had in this great country, she’d be a known name,” Marchena said. Marchena’s career in banking with Capital One led to many good things in his life, including meeting his wife, Melodie Marchena, and learning about the Kiddie Academy franchise. Marchena followed his mother’s entrepreneurial example by purchasing two Kiddie Academies with his wife. They own Kiddie Academy of Cedar Knolls in New Jersey and took ownership of the Kiddie Academy of Lakewood Ranch on May 20. He can’t wait for his mother to be able to visit him and his family in Lakewood Ranch so she can see the new business and the life he and Melodie have built for themselves and their daughters, Sophia and Camila. “I can’t wait to see her eyes the first time she looks at the building,” Marchena said. “I know that she’ll be proud. I just wish I could do more.” Marchena said becoming a U.S. citizen feels like a gift, and his job is to pass it on, whether that’s helping his staff at Kiddie Academy pursue their dreams or guiding his daughters to become contributing members of society. Marchena wants to pass down his culture and Dominican heritage to his daughters. “I don’t think you can go forward without understanding where you’re coming from,” he said. Marizan’s decision to leave her family and friends in the Dominican Republic to move somewhere she only had been once before always has inspired Marchena to dream big. “I need to be at least as courageous as my mom or at least 50% as courageous as her,” Marchena said. “That’s the great thing about this country: if you believe in yourself, if you’re someone who is resourceful, there’s nothing you can’t do. My mom had a vision, so for me, that’s what I try to impart on myself, my family, my two young daughters. I want them to have vision. There’s nothing they can’t accomplish.”
Lakewood Ranch’s Sanddy Marchena and his wife, Melodie Marchena, love living in Florida with their daughters, Camila and Sophia Marchena. Sanddy Marchena says immigrating to the U.S. changed the trajectory of his life.
SPIRIT OF AMERICA
YourObserver.com
DRAGOS ALEXANDRU
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JULY 2022
27
A SUNCOAST FAMILY TRADITION!
RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR
A
t the age of 23, Dragos Alexandru thought he was headed to the United States within
Ryan Kohn
Dragos Alexandru immigrated to the U.S. from Romania in 1988. He lived in New York until moving to Sarasota in 2002, where he worked in IT and became a rowing coach.
kind. In Manhattan, staring at the bread aisle, Alexandru felt overwhelmed. He bought a soft white bread, not knowing that he had to toast it to unlock its full potential. He ate his bread mushy for a while until he figured out the secret. Other things that confused Alexandru at first: coin-operated laundromats and greeting people with handshakes as opposed to kisses on the cheek. Despite these cultural differences, Alexandru thrived in America. He decided to take classes at Grumman Data Systems Institute and was able to find a job in his field of IT work. He stayed in New York until 2002 when, in the wake of 9/11, he and his family moved to Sarasota. Once here, Alexandru stayed in IT but also became a rowing coach with Sarasota Scullers. He stayed with the program until 2012. He is now the head coach of Sarasota County Rowing Club and assisted in the development of Nathan Benderson Park as a top rowing destination. Alexandru experienced a personal tragedy in 2007 when his son, George Alexandru, died in a car accident at the age of 23. Dragos Alexandru said his son’s death is the only thing he would change about his time in America. In every other aspect, his experience has been more than he ever dreamed. “You use your brain and you work hard and you can make it,” Alexandru said. “It’s not perfect, but no place is perfect. All the good here cannot be pushed out by the bad. Living here is an advantage. Take it.” It is the extent of America’s freedom of choice, Alexandru said, that separates it from all other countries, even other welldeveloped nations. In Europe, he said, people can’t sit and talk after finishing their drinks at a cafe on a weekday morning. They will be questioned and told to leave by the staff. In America, you can relax. If you want to move to another state, you don’t have to get approval from the government first, you just do it. You can travel any time you want. You can swim in the bay or visit a gun range. These are things many Americans take for granted. After growing up in Romania, Alexandru never will — not even mushy bread.
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months. He was not — at least not yet. Though he had talked to the U.S. Embassy about immigrating, it would be four years of waiting for him to leave his home country of Romania, for his government did not want him or anyone else to leave. The years in between were filled with harassment from the Romanian government and stress about when (or if) the country would let him leave. It got so bad that Alexandru attempted to defect via an oil ship headed for Houston; Alexandru was caught and arrested, but ultimately let go with a warning. When he finally arrived in America at the age of 27, Alexandru said, he realized all the hassle had been worth it. Alexandru, now 65, was not just anyone in his home country. He had represented Romania in the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics as a rower. It was during his travels as a rower to places like Italy, he said, that he began to realize just how restrictive the communist Romanian government was. It controlled the news you consumed, the food you ate and the place you worked. One week, Alexandru remembers, in an attempt to save on gas, the Romanian government allowed only half of its drivers to use their cars, the ones with license plates starting with even numbers. The next week, only cars with odd license plates were allowed to be on the road. “It’s all one way,” Alexandru said. “It’s ‘follow or else’ and the ‘else’ is putting you in jail.” When many Eastern Bloc countries announced they would not partake in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in support of Russia, Alexandru feared Romania would follow suit. He found himself with a choice to make: he could stay and make an attempt at qualifying for the 1988 games, or he could put his rowing career aside and leave, starting anew. He opted for the latter, and he wanted to go to the United States, even though he knew no one there. He had heard enough stories of achieving the “American dream” that he believed he could make a life here, and that was enough. “I had no real expectations (for the U.S.),” Alexandru said. “What I did know, for sure, was that it could not be worse than where I was. That’s the bottom line. It could only go up.” So he left, or at least prepared to leave. Four years later, he found himself on a train to Rome, where he spent two weeks with other Romanians immigrating to the U.S. in a type of adjustment period, learning about U.S. customs from an English-speaking teacher. He brought little with him other than clothes. After two weeks, Alexandru flew from Rome to Manhattan, New York, where the U.S. had an organization waiting for him, helping him transition. He was given two weeks’ worth of money and a place to stay. He had that amount of time to find a job and a more permanent residence, which he did via a Romanian connection he made in the city. When Alexandru arrived in Manhattan, he was shocked by many things, but none more so than the choices he found in the bread aisle of his local supermarket. In Romania, people simply buy bread, for there is but one
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
No. 11:
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Football
RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR
T
here may not be a more American image than the one of legendary football coach John Madden, hand in the air, being carried off the field by his Oakland Raiders team after winning Super Bowl XI in 1977. If you know football, you know the image. The Raiders had defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Madden, who died in December at the age of 85, looks so happy in this photo. Whether as a coach or a broadcaster or a video game cover star, no one loved the game of football more than Madden. He was representative of America: big, loud and never too serious, but sharper than a steel knife. When he won that Super Bowl, it was a result of not just his success, but the people around him, all working together to achieve a goal. It’s appropriate that he came to represent our country’s favorite sport. Yes, baseball may be America’s pastime, but it is football that controls our fall weekends. Like America itself, football grew out of something English and made better. In 1869, college students from Princeton and Rutgers played the first intercollegiate football game, something students in the Northeast created as a mix of rugby and soccer. In fact, the game was originally known as “gridiron football” to differentiate it from soccer — which is short
4th of
July
copenhagen imports
YourObserver.com
JULY 2022
for “association football,” if you didn’t know. The game was still fairly rugby-ish at the beginning; we have Yale student and eventual coach Walter Camp to thank for the implementation of most of football’s signature features, like the concept of downs, turnovers, the line of scrimmage and, crucially, the quarterback. Would we love football as much if there was no quarterback position? When you watch Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady or Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes make a 40-yard throw to the corner of the end zone that falls gently into their receiver’s arms, as if handing them a newborn, it almost makes you want to cry — but this is football, so you hoot and holler instead. Know what else is beautiful? Kids playing football in the snow. That’s how Braden River High Head Coach Curt Bradley came to love the game. Bradley, the son of former University of Missouri quarterback (and pro baseball player) Phil Bradley, was born in 1985 in Missouri and grew up watching not the Tigers, but the University of Colorado Buffaloes. “They had a running back named Eric Bienemy, who is now the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs,” Bradley said. “He was a small running back and I was small. In those days running backs used to go over the top of their linemen at the goal line. I would practice that, going over the top of my dad, who was on his hands and knees.” Bradley said snow was not a
Yes, we are well aware that baseball is America’s pastime. But when it comes to sports, we are obsessed with the pigskin. Explore how this rough-and-tumble sport has grown to dominate our sports landscape — and all our fall weekends.
Photos by Ryan Kohn
Braden River offensive coordinator Eric Sanders and Head Coach Curt Bradley played football together at the University of Northern Iowa.
hinderance to him and his football-playing friends. In fact, it created one of his fondest memories, when the group snuck spray paint out of a friend’s garage and spray painted an entire football field, complete with end zones, in the neighborhood and played a full game. See that? Football teaches innovation. It teaches a lot more than that, too. Bradley said despite the rise of social media in today’s age — which has created a more individual sport with a “me first” attitude — football has a lot to teach our country’s youth. “I tell my team all the time, if you work hard and do the right thing, the game will pay you back,” Bradley said. “For some, that means playing the game at the next level, but for others it
means learning how to persevere through difficult times. What it takes to be successful in football is still the same: commitment, toughness and being a good teammate.” You don’t need to look further for proof of that than Bradley, who not only has been a successful football coach at Braden River, but has turned many of his players into stand-up members of the community. Bradley said he’s blessed for the opportunity to do so. Watching former Pirates turn into parents and successful businessmen is one of his favorite parts of the job, he said. I played football for a few Pop Warner seasons. I stopped, ironically, to focus on baseball, which was more suited to my skills, but my experience playing football has stuck with me. It was where
The Braden River football program has been elite since Head Coach Curt Bradley was hired in 2012.
I learned how to get yelled at, which is a surprisingly important skill to learn. It was where I learned how to pick myself up, literally, after taking a beating. And it was where I learned how to do a touchdown dance, because this is America, damn it, and if there is one thing Americans know how to do, it’s celebrate. Now go have a beer and throw the pigskin around your backyard. You deserve it.
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Photos by Ian Swaby
Vickie Oldham, president and CEO of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, was taught by Leonard Reid’s daughters Ethel Reid Hayes and Viola Reid.
No. 12:
History
Admittedly, we’re just babies relative to the legacies of other countries. But history — even a short one — is crucial to understanding our community. The following landmarks help connect us to the past. IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER
people,” he said. He said that while little is known about the descendants of these early inhabitants, some members of the Seminole tribes of Florida trace their ancestry back to Florida’s ancient peoples. The Historic Spanish Point campus, located in Osprey off North Tamiami Trail, is open daily from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Visit Selby.org.
Sarah Bennett, archaeologist at the Spanish Point campus, said that the Window to the Past exhibit is the only one of its kind in Florida.
A WINDOW TO THE PAST AT SPANISH POINT (UP TO 2,500 YEARS AGO)
Around the same time that Stonehenge was created, at 1,000 to 2,500 years ago, the shell midden at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens’ Historic Spanish Point campus was gradually formed by the native people of the area. Visitors to A Window to the Past at Historic Spanish Point can view a cross section of time as they walk inside the layers of shells, peering into them through a literal window. According to John McCarthy, vice president for Regional History at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the materials, which were stacked over approximately 1,000 years, reveal the utilization of shellfish as dye, tools, and technology, as well as the evolution of pottery. The site is far from simply a trash disposal site, said McCarthy; rather, it was designed as a foundation to maintain a coastal village during storms, as well as for the people to live where they could experience the breeze. “The people who built these were very wise, strategic, resourceful, creative, successful
Jane Kirschner was president of the Historical Society of Sarasota County when the Bidwell-Wood House and Crocker Memorial Church (pictured) were moved to Pioneer Park in 2006.
PIONEER PARK (1901 / CIRCA 1884)
Pioneer Park offers a picture of where it all began. The Bidwell-Wood House, a classical revival-style home, is among the earliest documented homes in the Sarasota area. It was originally located at the corner of U.S. 41 and Wood Street. The home has notable ties to the area’s past. Alfred Bidwell, who had built the home by 1884, was implicated in the murder of postmaster Charles Abbe by the Sara Sota Vigilance Society. Abe had allegedly been aiding land-
grabbers, helping them to find land-boundary violations to acquire others’ property. In 1896, Luke A. Wood from Rhode Island purchased the home for his wife, Annie Wood, as a winter residence, and in 1934, Wood donated 12 acres to the city, creating Luke Wood Park, which still exists today. The house remained in the family until 1966. The Crocker Memorial Church began in 1901 at what is now the intersection of Bee Ridge Road and U.S. 41, on two acres of land that its founder Peter Crocker purchased for just $1. A Civil War veteran born in 1843, Crocker fought at the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. The building now serves as a venue for weddings, funerals, plays, musical entertainment, art classes, and clubs. Jane Kirschner, who helped coordinate the move of both buildings to Pioneer Park in 2006, when she was formerly president of the Sarasota Historical Society, said that preserving buildings like these is important for understanding Sarasota. “If you don’t know the history of a place, you don’t know the place as far as I’m concerned,” she said. The park can be found at the intersection of North Tamiami Trail and 12th Street. LEONARD REID HOUSE (1926)
Vickie Oldham, president and CEO of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition, said she recalls a bustling business district in Sarasota’s first African-American community, Overtown. She said the Leonard Reid House, which was recently moved to Newtown — the community that evolved from Overtown and where where Oldham grew up — exemplifies the frame vernacular architecture typical of the homes Overtown residents built and inhabited. Oldham said that during those times, which saw the oppression brought on by Jim Crow laws, the community was resilient because of its reliance upon itself. “They tried their best to live their lives and endure the hardships of this life in Sarasota,” she said of its people. “And they were able to have a quality of life because they loved one another, and the community was tightknit, and they did the best that they could.” The home, built in 1926, is known for its past ownership by a pioneering member of the community, Leonard Reid. Born in South Carolina in 1881, Reid became acquainted with and then employed by Sarasota’s first mayor, Col. Hamilton Gillespie, even helping to lay out the town’s first golf course. Reid and his wife, Eddye Coleman, were influential in establishing Payne Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Their daughters Ethel Reid Hayes and Viola Reid were prominent educators and taught Oldham herself when she was a young child. “We will take very good care of this Leonard Reid family home, and we will love it,” she also said. “Just like the family loved the Overtown community and the Newtown children.” The house is now found at the corner of Orange Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Courtesy photo
Manatee County Commissioner Jonathan Bruce, Mary Fran Carroll, and SMR President and CEO Rex Jensen perform the ribbon cutting atop the Mary Fran Carroll Bridge in 2004.
the 60 years of its operation. The forge was founded by German immigrant George Kreissle Sr., in 1947, and occupied by his son George Kreissle Jr. until 2007, when it was sold to another metalsmith, Martin Hoss, then changed hands to Kingston Realty in 2018. Ralph Hoehne, the company’s owner, said that a search is ongoing for another generation of craftspeople to occupy the location, although it is a challenge. The site still retains its equipment, including a fireplace and coal repository for heating metal, a hammer press for flattening metal, steel tables for working on projects, rollers for bending and twisting metal, and welders. Just a few examples of items produced by the forge include the re-creation window grilles on the Ringling Mansion, the metal staircase at the St. Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church on Longboat Key, the light fixtures inside Columbia Restaurant on St. Armands Circle, and the gates in the courtyard of the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature. However, so extensive was the collection of items the forge produced, that many of them have yet to find a place. Those interested in purchasing the metalwork can visit the location from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. MARY FRAN CARROLL BRIDGE (2004)
The name of Mary Fran Carroll (1922-2014) will not be forgotten in Lakewood Ranch.
As the individual credited with envisioning the Lakewood Ranch community, she once said that the Mary Fran Carroll Bridge, which spans the Braden River along Lorraine Road just north of 70th Terrace East, was “validation” for her efforts when it was dedicated in 2004. Carroll graduated in 1943 from business school at Northwestern University and entered public accounting at Northern Trust Co. in Chicago, where she was a native resident. “It was a perfectly lovely time for a woman to be a business major, because men were going off to war,” said Carroll in 2013. “They would never hire a woman before then.” She traveled to Sarasota in 1980, exploring the area for a bank client, which led to a career with Schroeder-Manatee Ranch as chairman of the board and CEO from 1984 to 1997. When rumors of an airport east of I-75 arose, Carroll told the board to reconsider the use of its 26,000 acres of land, which was then devoted to ranching and farming. She went on to lead the establishment of the Summerfield and Riverwalk communities and to help create the Sarasota Polo Club. Carroll was noted for her toughness, intellect and strong desire to do what was right. Having watched Lakewood Ranch develop into a full-fledged community, she said in 2008, “God, I have to be proud.”
KREISSLE FORGE (1947)
A familiar sight located on the eastern side of Tamiami Trail, just north of the airport, the Kreissle Forge supplied a wide array of items to the community during
Ralph Hoehne activates the hammer press, which flattens metal that is hot from the furnace.
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SPIRIT OF AMERICA
No. 13:
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JULY 2022
Apple Pie
‘As American as apple pie.’ Need we say more? Apple pie has been a symbol of American prosperity since the early 1900s. Local superstar pie makers share their secrets on making the perfect one. HARRY SAYER
2. FIND THE RIGHT MIX
pple Pie. America is many things to many people, but there are touchstones in our cultural imagination. Baseball, Norman Rockwell paintings, etc. And of course, apple pie. It’s one thing to have it in your head, though, and another thing to make it real. Which begs the question — how does one make a great apple pie? The baking experts at Der Dutchman restaurant and bakery certainly have their ideas. Managers Robin Wild and Devon Williamson share some of the tips on how to make your own perfect apple pie at home.
After peeling and slicing your apples, create that delicious sugary filling that will showcase them properly. The guys at Der Dutchman recommend sprinkling the prepared apples with an equal ratio of sugar to cinnamon. Williamson also substituting corn starch for flour to make the pie thicker and more satisfying. He also recommends adding slices of butter on top of the filling before placing the top of the pie crust to make a hearty mix. When the pie’s crust is placed on the pie tin, Williamson wets the edges of the crust with a water-soaked brush to prevent the crust from drying too fast and crumbling when the dough for the lid is placed.
1. PICK THE RIGHT APPLES
3. PRESENTATION MATTERS
STAFF WRITER
A
Most (if not all) restaurants used canned apples to keep up with demand, but you don’t have that excuse — you had better start with fresh apples. “I grew up making apple pie with my grandma; we always used green Granny Smith apples,” Wild said. “It’s a tart apple that holds its integrity.” Although tart apples are best, crisp apples like pink ladies and gala apples will work as well.
Before putting your pie in the oven, cut some vents in the crust, in any style you choose. Another pro tip: Williamson recommends brushing an egg on top before sprinkling it with brown sugar — it helps brown the top of the pie. It’s best not to overdo it — he stresses to just beat one egg and spread a light layer over the crust — but the final product will look even more delicious because of it.
ALL-AMERICAN APPLE PIE INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS 1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Double crust n 2 cups flour n 1 teaspoon salt n 1/4 cup butter, chilled n 1/2 cup shortening n 6 tablespoons cold water
2.)Create filling by mixing sliced apples with sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon and pinch of salt. Substitute 1/2 of flour for cornstarch depending on desired consistency.
Filling n 1 cup sugar n 3 tablespoons flour n 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon n Pinch of salt n 5 Granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
3.)Cut butter into cubes. Fold the flour, salt, butter and shortening together to form the dough for the crust. Sprinkle with cold water as needed to bring dough together without making it sticky. 4.)Once dough is formed, divide into two balls. Roll first out into a circle, then place on bottom of pie tin, leaving about an inch around the pan. Pour filling into bottom crust. Roll out second ball of dough to create pie top. Place on top of filling, cut any excess dough, then crimp the edges closed with a fork or your fingers. Cut vents in the top of the crust, then bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until top is golden brown. Enjoy! Recipe courtesy of Christie Wingert
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No. 14:
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JULY 2022
Our Flag
No. 15:
Freedom
Old Glory is a distinctive and beautiful representation of our pride. So much so that we like to plaster it everywhere. Below are a few examples of our patriotism.
Because without freedom, none of these other things matter. Happy Independence Day. “Freedom, in any case, is only possible by constantly struggling for it.” Albert Einstein
“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.” John F. Kennedy
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” George Washington
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