Sarasota/Siesta Key 6.6.24

YOUR TOWN

On the run

As Angel Borrero, 10, headed across Siesta Key Beach in sneakers, it was already apparent that this run was going to be different from others.

“I’ve got sand in my shoes already,” he said. Nonetheless, he was eager to try something new.

“When we heard about it, he got so excited. He said, ‘I can do it!’” said his mother, Lili Mendoza. “I feel so happy he got so excited.”

The Kids’ Summer Beach Runs, hosted by Sarasota County and sponsored by the Manasota Track Club, have been going on for more than 20 years, said Fiona Bowers, the events and programs coordinator for Siesta Key Beach.

“It’s a really great family friendly event that encourages kids to come out during the summer, get some exercise, have some fun and explore the beaches,” she said.

At Siesta Key Beach the runs are held at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday, with registration beginning at 5:30 p.m. No runs will be held the week of July 4. The last run for Siesta Key Beach is July 30.

Park power

It’s pretty cool to be able to camp right on the beach on a gorgeous island like Siesta Key, and a recent award for Turtle Beach Campground goes to show that others recognize how special it is too.

Sarasota County’s Turtle Beach Campground has been recognized as the Small Park of the Year by the Florida and Alabama RV Park and Campground Association. The award celebrates the campground’s outdoor hospitality, accommodations and service.

The campground’s history dates back to 1921, when it was the Gulf Beach Campground. Sarasota County acquired the property in 2006. The campground boasts a year-round occupancy of more than 95%.

Ian Swaby

Maggie Poppoon, 6, a visitor from Texas, examines stone items at the Sarasota

WEEK OF JUNE 6, 2024

BY THE NUMBERS

“We don’t have specific numbers, but I can tell you the forecast for available monies for transportation improvement projects is not great.”

MPO consultant William Roll of Kimley-Horn. Read more on Page 6A

Having awarded $10 million in grants and scholarships since 1962, The Exchange, formerly the Women’s Exchange, will award $404,000 to 25 local arts and cultural organizations and 10 high school and college students. The organization’s grants support specific projects and outreach programs. Individual scholarships are awarded based on factors such as grade point averages, the individual’s artistic goals and achievements and letters of recommendation.

Organization grant recipients

are Art Center Sarasota, Artists Series Concerts, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Azara Ballet, Chalk Festival, Chamber Orchestra of Sarasota, Choral Artists of Sarasota, Circus Arts Conservancy, CreArte Latino, Diversity: Voices of Sarasota, Florida Studio Theatre, The Hermitage, Key Chorale, La Musica di Asolo, Lifeline Productions, Sarasota Cuban Ballet, Ringling College, Sarasota Ballet, Sarasota Jewish Theatre, Sarasota Opera, Sarasota Orchestra, Sarasota Pops Orchestra, Sarasota Rising, The

Art League of Manatee and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. Additionally, seven organizations are recipients of the Elizabeth Lindsay Arts in Education grant. They are Chalk Festival, Florida Studio Theatre, The Hermitage, Key Chorale, Ringling College, Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation and Westcoast Black Theater Troupe.

With funds received from its volunteer-driven consignment operation, The Exchange annually awards grants and scholarships to support local arts.

Chamber is a finalist for national award

The Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives has named the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce as a finalist for its 2024 Chamber of the Year award among more than 1,600 chambers representing more than 9,000 industry professionals.

The award is the most prestigious and competitive recognition presented by ACCE, recognizing the leadership role chambers of commerce play in their communities. Chamber of the Year winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 17, during the ACCE annual convention in Dallas.

To compete for the award, chambers of commerce must qualify by participating in a multistage process, which includes meeting minimum thresholds in at least three of five key performance areas in ACCE’s Annual Chamber Operations Survey. Applications are scored by peer chamber executives to determine finalists, and winners are selected based on an interview before a panel of chamber professionals. Applicants are grouped into four categories based on annual revenue, membership area population and other factors.

Allegiant adds two seasonal routes

Allegiant has initiated seasonal service from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport to Austin, Texas, and Des Moines, Iowa.

Service to and from Austin via Austin Bergstrom International Airport began Thursday, May 30, with twice-weekly flights on Thursdays and Sundays. Beginning June 8, the airline will offer service to and from Des Moines via Des Moines International Airport on Saturdays only.

“Anticipating accelerated travel demand, we are excited to bring back these seasonal routes for passengers to enjoy some of our network’s most popular destinations just in time for summer vacations,” said Allegiant Chief Revenue Officer Drew Wells in a news release. Flight days, times and fares are available at Allegiant.com.

Courtesy image

The Exchange Secretary Anne Johnson, CEO Karen Koblenz and President Chris Gallagher at the organization’s arts and cultural awards ceremony in 2023.

Terminal veracity

Airport CEO says available land can support growth without the 31 acres SRQ leases to New College.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

The wall-to-wall windows that surround Rick Piccolo’s office on the third floor of the terminal building provide a bird’seye view of the airfield activity at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

Sitting at a window-side meeting table, he points across the tarmac and says, “If we ever need to expand, we can always do it over there.”

“Over there” is the northeastern portion of property owned and managed by the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, of which Piccolo is president and CEO. There, a collection of commercial businesses lease space from the airport.

Southwest of the terminal, the airport owns more than 100 acres with plans for future revenue-producing commercial development along University Parkway, shared rental car preparation and staging area plus additional parking, which will be needed when sometime in the future it goes vertical on the short-term lot with a four-level parking structure.

There, plans are for the first two levels to house quick-turn car rental service below two levels each with about 500 parking spaces. That construction will include a new arrivals roadway, which will separate arrival and departure passenger traffic. Baggage claim will also be relocated there and the current luggage pickup space repurposed.

If expanding “over there” were to become necessary it would be well beyond 2050 based on SMAA and the more conservative Federal Aviation Administration passenger count projections.

The SMAA forecast projects four million boardings will require 29 gates by 2050, four shy of the airport’s complete build-out plan of 33 gates. Boardings, or enplanements, are departing passengers, meaning the total passenger count through SRQ is approximately doubled.

Projections by the FAA are lower. It forecasts growth rates of 1.2% per year from 2026 to 2030 with an aggregated 1.2% growth rate between 2024 and 2040 and also between 2024 and 2050. Both growth rate projections are low compared to SRQ’s recent growth and the FAA’s national forecast for domestic passenger enplanements.

At issue is the ongoing attempt by SMAA to sell 31 acres currently leased to New College of Florida, where its East Campus is immediately adjacent to the loop road around the airport’s parking lot.  Piccolo has appealed the FAA’s rejection of the plan to sell the prop-

erty to New College for $11.5 million. Former SRQ Director of Facilities John Schussler, who retired in 2017, has actively opposed the sale and, as such, has lobbied the FAA, insisting the airport will need that land for future expansion when the 99-year, well-below market-rate lease with New College expires in 2056.

MORE PARKING ON THE WAY

The airport’s master plan at full buildout, Piccolo said, indicates the site occupied by New College is disposable. Parking is not a concern to him as a new 500-space remote lot opened at the corner of University Parkway and Old Bradenton Road late last year, and another lot just north of the terminal is under construction. More as-yet unpaved lots along Rental Car Road are also currently available for overflow vehicles.

In all, 1,100 spaces will have been added by the time the new five-gate ground boarding facility opens late this year, the first of a three-phase project that will eventually bring 15 new gates, a net of 14 gates with the loss of Gate B2 to the construction.

Piccolo said there is adequate parking included in the expansion plans, but wonders if even that will be necessary.

“Thirty years from now, are people still driving their cars or using some other means of transportation?”

Piccolo said. “A quarter of millennials don’t even think they need a car, and so how does it affect your parking? When you build a parking structure, today it costs about somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000 per space, so you do a revenue bond and 25 years from now, how many of those people will be parking cars in order to pay off the bond?”

The evolution of self-driving vehicles, he added, won’t need to park and wait for their owners to return, and the anticipation of vehicle sharing rather than individual ownership will require less parking demand even as the airport grows.

The airport’s current master plan shows $35 million in parking improvements and expansion that will take it to 2040 when, if passenger projections hold true, more will

Enplanements Forecast for 2024-2050

= Calculated from actual 2023 boardings

be needed. That is unless alternatives to personal vehicles abate parking requirements.

“If you go vertical you’re virtually unlimited,” Piccolo said.

If not parking, the New College land could be used to generate revenue, but not without considerable cost. Between now and 2056, the undervalued lease is anticipated to generate only about $3.5 million. Afterward, the costs to remove any structures there at that time would likely be even higher.

“It would be 2056 before you’d have it available anyway, so you live with this tremendously undervalued lease for another 31 years. Even if we need it in 31 years when the lease expires, do you think they wouldn’t fight us?” Piccolo said,  transitioning his thoughts to the New College perspective. “It’s our 100-year anni-

versary and you want to kick us off because you need to put some parking here? Put your parking someplace else or let’s work cooperatively.”

Cooperatively as in build a parking structure along General Spaatz Boulevard large enough to meet both airport and college needs.

“There are many ways that this could be done,” he said.

CAPACITY THROUGH 2050 Between 2017 and 2023, boardings at SRQ experienced explosive growth, from 593,830 per year to 2.16 million, largely fueled by postpandemic travel beginning in 2021.

The SMAA projections anticipate a slower annual growth rate of about 2.7% starting in 2026.

“We had this fantastic growth that was unprecedented, but it wasn’t going to continue forever,” Piccolo said. “We’re projecting probably a 2% increase in passengers next year, because things are starting to bottom out a little bit because of a number of factors.”

Those include aircraft safety issues experienced by both Boeing and Airbus, impacting production and limiting the supply of new aircraft and reducing the number of total seats in the air.

The five new ground boarding gates have already been leased to Allegiant, which has yet to announce routes and the number of flights per day. Piccolo said he anticipates the new gates to bring 2.2 million more passengers traveling through SRQ.

When, or for that matter if, an extension of the new Concourse A is built to connect with Concourse B, that brings a net gain of three gates, followed by a future expansion of another five ground boarding gates. Depending on travel trends at that time, SRQ’s expansion could be done for several years.

Currently, gates at SRQ average about 166,000 passengers each per year. The projected future average is 140,000. The current expansion alone will take SRQ to about three million boardings per year, or about six million total passengers.

Andrew Warfield

New College students live in the Dort Residence Hall just a few yards from Airport Road, which loops around the parking lot at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

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All is fair

County commissioners learn that as long as the fairgrounds hosts an annual agricultural fair, the land won’t revert to the county.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

During its fall 2023 workshop, the Sarasota County Commission directed staff to study the highest and best use of the 54-acre fairgrounds property along Fruitville Road and whether such higher and better use can even occur there.

At issue is that the county conveyed 14 acres of land in 1947 to the Sarasota County Agricultural Fair Association, plus 40 more acres in 1964, and unless it fails to stage an agricultural fair there for two consecutive years, it will retain ownership in perpetuity.

In addition to the fair, the site is used for events in Robarts Arena, county job fairs, emergency responder vehicle driver training and post-disaster staging for emergency utility restoration.

None of that, in the commissioners’ view, is the highest and best use of prime property along the city’s eastern gateway 2.3 miles from downtown and 3.8 miles from I-75.

Following the staff report delivered to commissioners by Director of Planning and Development Services Matt Osterhoudt during Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners are also resigned to the fact that there is nothing they can do about it.

“If the property ceases to be used for such purposes, title shall revert to the county of Sarasota,” Osterhoudt read from his report. “Additionally, if the property is not used by grantee for (agricultural fair) purposes for a period of two successive years, such failure to be used said property shall automatically cause reversion to the grantor.”

That’s legalese for “no fair, no land.” The association can partner

with other organizations to improve the site — a 2019 flirtation with the Sarasota Orchestra is one such example — but is a challenge with the ever-present reverter clause.

A January 2024 appraisal valued the 40-acre parcel of the 54 total acres at $16 million, not including any structures such as the arena.

It was a bitter pill for commissioners to swallow.

“It’s a little frustrating and disappointing to me simply because if you went out on the street and interviewed 100 people and asked ‘How do you feel about this parcel?’ I think an overwhelming majority would say it’s probably not highest and best use,” said Commission Chairman Mike Moran. “The problem is the power and authority this board has, given your presentation, is frankly at zero.

“This is one example when I don’t think this board, I don’t think any future board, I don’t think any past board, should ever be able to put something in stone such as this.”

Commissioner Mark Smith added that even for one of its current uses, post-hurricane staging for utility vehicles, the site is inadequate.

“They’re staging all the trucks there, but the buildings aren’t strong enough to withstand a storm, so we could actually end up hurting our own or hurting FPL’s efforts,” Smith said. “We have an area that we use during emergencies that isn’t up to snuff as far as being hardened enough to actually withstand a storm.

“That’s not our problem. It’s not our property.”

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Andrew Warfield County commissioners recently discussed the highest and best use of the fairgrounds site at 3000 Ringling Blvd.

Trail blazed

By the end of 2025, 96 new affordable and attainable apartments, with the look and feel of a market-rate development, will be available when New Trail Plaza opens for occupancy. New Trail Plaza is a joint project of Tampa-based Blue Sky Communities and Community Assisted & Supported Living of Sarasota. The development will be built on 3.5 of 6.2 acres acquired from Sarasota County along North Tamiami Trail

between 46th and 47th streets. For now, Blue Sky Communities has no plans for the remaining 2.7 acres east of the development.

New Trail Plaza will be a fourstory, 90-unit apartment building plus a three-story building with six more units and just more than 3,000 square feet CASL will preserve for

community use such as after-school care and other youth education programming for its residents.

The rental apartments will be priced in three tiers: 30% or below, 60% or below and 80% or below area median income. Affordability is defined as no more than 30% of the household’s income to be spent on

housing, including utilities.

“About 20% of our apartments will be occupied by people whose income is Social Security, V.A. disability, etc.,” said Blue Sky Communities President Shawn Wilson. “The other 80% of the adults here will be in the workforce and contributing and paying taxes in this community. They deserve the best, and that’s what they’re going to get here.

“We’re going to contribute not only to providing affordable housing but to the redevelopment of the North Trail because we are complying with all of the North Trail Overlay District requirements.”

Or exceeding them. The overlay district requires a minimum of 57 parking spaces. New Trail Plaza will have 104 spaces in a parking lot surrounding a natural area beneath two massive live oaks.

The goal for the rental tiers is to attract workers in health care, public safety, food service and hospitality and others who work in the city but cannot afford to live here, similar to affordable housing developments the company has built in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

“Most of the people we’re serving are going to be workers who are in the community, and they’re making about $15 or $20 an hour,” Wilson said. “Sometimes there are two incomes in a household, sometimes there’s one, sometimes there’s one with child support and sometimes there’s just a household on fixed income. We do serve quite a few households that are no longer in the workforce.”

CASL CEO Scott Eller said New

Trail Plaza will contribute to the renaissance of the North Trail as one of multiple new developments planned for the northern end of Tamiami Trail. Bookended by the airport and two colleges to the north and downtown to the south — with Ringling College of Art and Design in between — the diverse demographics of the project will contribute to the fabric of the area while benefiting the new residents.

“This brings the reality of what we’re facing today,” Eller said. “Sixteen thousand-plus households in Sarasota County are spending 50% or more on their rent. Anytime you’re over 30%, you’re running the risk of losing your home. This also translates to what we’re seeing with a shortage in law enforcement, our hospitals, our schools and our service industry professionals who are all suffering because of this.”

To help pay for the project, Sarasota County has pledged $4.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the project and together Blue Sky and CASL secured $30 million from the Florida Housing Finance Corp., a division of the state’s Department of Community Affairs.

“This is a great example of a public-private partnership to bring about what we want in our community, which is more affordable housing,” said Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert. “We need people to work in our hospitals, our schools, our restaurants, first responders, police officers — so many people who are vital to our community, but they can’t afford to live here.”

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Andrew Warfield

City officials and leaders of CASL and Blue Sky Communities flip ceremonial dirt at the groundbreaking of New Trail Plaza on North Tamiami Trail.

Courtesy image

An overhead rendering of affordable housing community New Trail Plaza.

More need, less funding

Visioning for the region’s 2050 Long Range Transportation Plan includes the most mobility plan for the least dollars.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

From the time a major transportation project is conceived to the start of construction takes about 14 years.

That’s why regional long-range transportation plans are necessary, Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization officials told a few dozen attendees of a May 29 visioning workshop at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus.

Titled “Invest Today, Transform Tomorrow,” work on the 2050 LRTP is in the early community survey phase, seeking in-person and online comments from residents of the twocounty area regarding transportation priorities ranging from bicycle paths to transit to highway interchanges.

Key takeaways include:

■ Every five years, the LRTP is updated to reflect changes in demographics, economics and community needs, ensuring it remains relevant and effective in guiding transportation planning.

■ The 2050 LRTP builds on the 2045 plan, which identified nearly $2 billion worth of regional transportation projects with a focus on projects that encourage safety, reduce congestion and address the most dangerous roads and intersections in the area.

■ The Phase 1 Visioning Survey will be used to better understand the community’s needs, values and aspirations for a better transportation system.

With about 18 months to complete the work, the Phase 1 Visioning Survey sets the tone for completion of the update due in late 2025.

WHAT IS THE MPO?

The Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization coordinates regional transportation planning in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Governed by a 17-member board of elected officials and other representatives, the MPO collaborates with state and federal agencies in the transportation planning process.

The current plan envelops three transportation network scenarios of creating economic opportunity, environmental health and sustainability, and creating vibrant places.

For the 2050 update, a fourth scenario, creating a resilient community, was added. Survey participants are asked to rate priorities from all four scenarios. The input throughout the current and future survey opportunities will be ranked and considered when developing project priorities.

“This is going to be used by the MPO to help set priorities in terms of what projects are going to be identified for funding,” said Project Manager William Roll, a consultant with land use planner Kimley-Horn.

That’s particularly important in the current environment of escalating costs and shrinking transportation revenue dollars.

“We don’t have specific numbers, but I can tell you the forecast for available monies for transportation improvement projects is not great,”

the Phase 1 Visioning workshop.

Roll said. “The forecast is actually less than what it was for the 2045 plan. The second thing is everything’s more expensive. In the last two years, cost of pavement has gone up 55%, so our revenues are down and our cost to build infrastructure has gone up considerably.”

THE SCENARIOS

In promotion of the high-value economic growth scenario, the 2045 LRTP prioritizes attracting hightech businesses, a focus on port centers as economic engines, a plan for a higher education/cultural corridor and new technology for transportation infrastructure.

Potential projects under this scenario include an economic development center west of SarasotaBradenton International Airport, multimodal connections between the new center and downtown Sarasota and Bradenton, and new development along I-75 and U.S. 41.

In the creating vibrant places scenario, the current plan prioritizes economic diversification to support urban centers, providing more multimodal options, increasing housing and transportation options, and preserving corridors for future premium transit to connect urban centers. Potential projects include development in existing downtown walkable centers, investment in premium transit and redevelopment of existing strip commercial centers into transit-oriented mixed-use developments.

In the preserving environmental health scenario, the 2045 LRTP

TAKE THE SURVEY

prioritizes safeguarding environmental assets, reducing carbon emissions, enforcing the urban growth boundary and infill development, and increased density and enhanced transit to reduce auto dependency. Potential projects include development in urban growth boundaries primarily west of I-75; and funding transit, bike and pedestrian improvements.

In the newly created resilient communities scenario, the updated plan priorities include disaster response and recovery, upgrading and building new transportation facilities to reduce impact of natural disasters and adapt to changing conditions, and recovering quickly. Potential projects include increased development in resilient areas inland along existing corridors, and upgrading and building new transportation facilities.

All of that requires funding, which Roll pointed out is shrinking in the face of rising costs, hence The MPO’s campaign to solicit the public’s list of priorities and how they can be applied practically with already planned and existing conditions on the ground.

“Our objective is to identify things that could be different,” Roll said. “If we decided as a community to go a different direction, that doesn’t mean that there’s going to be dramatic change. It can’t happen because there’s already the processes of approvals in place. Somebody’s already built a subdivision someplace, and people are going to move there. So even with us having the different scenarios, ultimately, the outcome is to produce something that’s based on the trend that also grabs the best pieces of the different scenarios that were identified.”

Additional survey and public engagement opportunities will be available as the MPO further develops the 2050 LRTP.

Residents of Sarasota and Manatee counties are encouraged to take the Phase 1 Visioning Survey at SurveyMonkey.com/R/SMMPO. For more details about the current 2045 LRTP and progress on the 2050 update, visit Transform-Tomorrow.com.

Andrew Warfield

Long Range Transportation Plan Project Manager William Roll speaks to attendees at

Strategic planning

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

The school board unanimously passed a new strategic plan on June 4 titled “Every Opportunity 2030.”

The vote follows the suspension of the district’s strategic plan in August 2023, to give Superintendent Terry Connor, who had been sworn in the previous month, an opportunity to bring it in line with his goals.

“This is a well-defined strategic plan that will guide our efforts for the next six years,” Connor said. “It ensures that we are aligned, and we’re working collaboratively towards our common objective, which is ensuring that we are continually advancing and we have the accountability and transparency measures and expectations outlined within this plan.”

THE ROAD AHEAD

The plan features five pillars, the first of which is “Every Student Achieves” and includes the plan’s foundational elements.

Components of that pillar include improvements and expansions to

preschool programs, comprehensive literacy initiatives through changes like the addition of literacy coaches and interventionists, new strategies and support systems for instructors and ways to equip students for the future like expanded career and technical education and dual enrollment opportunities.

The second pillar, “Every Student Supported,” includes facets such as improving staff-to-student ratios, a multitiered system of support for students, enhancements to student activities, an increase in districtoperated mental health service providers, new specialized learning events and attendance rewards.

The third pillar, “Every Employee Valued” focuses on hiring and retaining staff and creating a strong workplace culture. This includes initiatives like “equitable and transparent” compensation structures, specialized professional learning and mentorship for new teachers and new forms of employee engagement. It also discusses what it says are innovative staffing practices, including creative approaches to recruitment like leveraging employee narratives and testimonials.

The fourth pillar, “Every School Equipped,” includes maintaining sustainable financial practices via

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Light it up!

Suncoast Charities for Children seeks community support to continue the annual bayfront Fourth of July Fireworks display. It’s time to rocket up the fundraising.

Fireworks are essential to the Fourth of July. It’s a tradition that was started nearly 250 years ago at the first celebration of Independence Day in 1777 in Philadelphia. They represent what we sing about in our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” It’s when all Americans gather together to marvel at the glittering spectacle of rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air that culminate a day of American pride where we don our best red, white and blue regalia, march in parades and eat hamburgers and hot dogs at barbecues. Come on, even Katy Perry wrote a song about them.

Rising costs and an evolution of events may now put Sarasota’s bayfront fireworks display that attracts 15,000 spectators to downtown Sarasota every year in jeopardy.

For the past 14 years, Suncoast Charities for Children has organized the annual Fourth of July fireworks display in partnership with Marina Jack. The light show is staged and launched from the southernmost end of Bayfront Park. It starts after the sun sets around 9 p.m. and lasts for nearly 20 minutes.

Suncoast Charities for Children’s mission is providing support to children, teens and adults with special needs and their families. The organization raises funds for other nonprofits such as Children First and the Florida Center for Early Childhood through various events and festivals such as the Thunder by the Bay Music and Motorcycle Festival and the Holiday Boat Parade of Lights (see box).

Two years ago, Suncoast Charities for Children stepped away from organizing the Sarasota Grand Prix P1 powerboat races. While the fireworks display was always its own independent event, when it came to marketing, the fireworks were lumped into the series of events surrounding the races, said Lucy Nicandri, Suncoast Charities’ executive director.

Without the marketing visibility of the races, finding sponsors for the annual fireworks display has

With only 119,000 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II still alive, the vast majority of today’s 340 million Americans have no inkling of what occurred 80 years ago today on the shores of France — D-Day, June 6, 1944.

From Winston Churchill’s “Triump and Tragedy”:

“Our long months of preparation and planning for the greatest amphibious operation in history ended on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

… Heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force attacked enemy coastdefence guns in their eoncrete emplacements, dropping 5,200 tons of bombs … In the 24 hours of June 6, the Allies flew over 14,600 sorties. So great was our superiority in the air that all the enemy could put up during daylight over the invasion beaches was a mere 100 sorties.”

At noon on June 6, 1944, Churchill reported to the House of Commons: “… An immense armada of upwards of 4,000 ships, together several thousand smaller

SUNCOAST CHARITIES EVENTS AND FESTIVALS

■ Suncoast Summer Fest

■ Eighth annual Bob Rizzi Memorial Golf Classic

Friday, June 21, at the Meadows Golf and Country Club

■ ‘Friendliest Catch’ Fishing Fun Day

Wednesday, June 26

■ Waves & Wheels ‘Disco & Dice’ Party

Friday, June 28, at the Sarasota Event Center, 600 N. Beneva Road, Sarasota

■ Fun Run

Saturday, June 29, at Marina

Jack

■ July 4 Bayfront Fireworks Spectacular

Thursday, July 4, at Bayfront Park

■ Holiday Boat Parade of Lights

Saturday, Dec. 14, at Bayfront Park and Marina Jack

■ New Year’s Eve Bayfront Fireworks Spectacular

Sunday, Dec. 31, at Bayfront Park

■ Thunder by the Bay Music & Motorcycle Festival Feb. 14 to 16, 2025

proved challenging.

“Thunder by the Bay is three days that includes print and TV advertising spots,” said Nicandri. “There’s not a lot of brand awareness with the fireworks other than banner and website promotion and the opportunity to be there for the VIP viewing experience.” This year, Thunder by the Bay netted Suncoast Charities $204,000, and that was even with a day-and-a-half rained out.

While Thunder by the Bay has proved to be lucrative for the Suncoast Charities, the annual Fourth of July fireworks display has been the opposite. In 2023, total expenses to produce the event came to $37,367. The largest expense is the pyrotechnics themselves. “Fireworks cost $1,500 a minute now,” said Nicandri.

In a press release, Marina Jack’s General Manager Lana Jackson said prior to the 2023 event, only $14,000 in sponsorships were secured, which would have resulted in a loss to the charity. Thankfully, an anonymous donor came in at the last minute to cover the expenses and provided the charity with a $7,000 net gain.

When you look at the fireworks

Fireworks light up Sarasota Bay at Suncoast Charities for Children’s 2023 Fourth of July celebration.

By the Numbers

craft, crossed the Channel … The Anglo-American Allies are sustained by about 11,000 first-line aircraft …

“So far, the commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place.”

Indeed it was. And it was intended to do what Sun Tzu advised in the 300s B.C. in the “Art of War”: “In war, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.”

Among the objectives of D-Day: overwhelming force and surprise.

The scope of American resources dedicated to victory consisted of manufacturing 98,000 warplanes in 1944 alone. The U.S. had 18 shipyards (compared to four today), producing three ships every two days.

On D-Day, 73,000 American soldiers participated in the assault. Allied commanders expected to lose 10,000 soldiers.

from a business perspective, unless the community provides the financial support, organizing the timeintensive event with only two staff members, the return on investment is not worth it. “You can only slice it and dice it so many ways,” said Nicandri.

This year, costs are estimated to go up to $39,875, which doesn’t include Suncoast Charities’ two largest partners that donate in-kind services — Marina Jack and the city of Sarasota. For the fireworks display in 2023, the city donated $41,047 of in-kind personnel cost for police and public works services.

According to the city of Sarasota’s communications general manager, Jan Thornburg, the breakdown of those costs include $1,200 for the special events team working the event, $5,700 for public works to provide things like setting up security fencing and picking up recycling and solid waste, with the bulk of the expense for the Sarasota Police Department coming in at just over $34,000.

“We’re on the ground, in the air and on the water making sure any issues are addressed as they come up,” says Cynthia McLaughlin, public information officer with the Sarasota Police Department.

Thornburg adds that the Fourth of July Fireworks display is one of more than a dozen events that the city of Sarasota co-sponsors each year like the recent Memorial Day parade and the upcoming Juneteenth Celebration. “The city really values these events that they’re family friendly, bring residents together in a celebratory manner

and enhance the sense of community and quality of life,” she says.

“That is why the City Commission continues to support the events and in-kind services.”

This year, the charity has a $50,000 fundraising goal. “We want to continue to host the fireworks, but we don’t want to compromise the quality of event,” said Nicandri.

“We want to provide the community a free event that they can enjoy, but at the same time walk away with a little revenue to support our mission of providing support to children, teens and adults with special needs and their families.”

Suncoast Charities has organized a July Fourth bayfront fireworks donation campaign on its website at SuncoastCharitiesForChildren. org. Sponsorship opportunities range from $10,000 to $1,500 and include reserved seating at Marina Jack with complimentary food and beverage and various marketing opportunities.

If you think about it, investing in this year’s fireworks display is a win for the community in two ways — continuing our community’s annual patriotic celebration and benefiting worthwhile children’s organizations. Observer Media Group is committed. But we’re suckers for a good Fourth of July celebration. Blame it on my mother, Lisa Walsh, who was the co-founder of Longboat Key’s Freedom Fest. And we’re happy to carry on the tradition.

You can too, “’cause baby you’re a firework! Come on, show ’em what you’re worth!”

The U.S. reported 2,500 dead; Britain, 1,450. Now contrast that will for victory with what Joe Biden and the European Union are doing with Ukraine, and Biden’s meddling with the Israelis and their war with Hamas.

When Churchill reported to the House of Commons on D-Day, he told its members: “I shall not attempt to speculate upon its course. This I may say however. Complete unity prevails throughout the Allied Armies.

“There is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends of the United States. There is complete confidence in the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower, and his lieutenants, and also in the

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commander of the Expeditionary Force, General Montgomery … (T) he whole process of opening this great front will be pursued with the utmost resolution both by the commanders and by the United States and British Governments whom they serve.”

On this 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Western World should express once again its gratitude for the courage, leadership and will that prevailed then and ultimately led to victory. Sun Tzu foretold one of the many lessons of D-Day that can be learned today: “He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.”

EMILY WALSH

Courtesy of the National Archives

Omaha Beach on

In November 2022, I made a formal motion to lead this school district on a different path.

As a former teacher, principal and executive director in our schools, this community gave me enormous opportunities to learn and grow. Throughout those years, I held myself accountable for providing excellence in student performance results and academic programs, and that required making tough decisions and leading change.   None of those challenges was as difficult as the one in November of 2022.  When you have years of practice understanding local school district operations and are entrusted with your community’s most precious resource, do you look the other way when faced with a clear decision and an organized force of resistance?

Getting to the silver lining of success requires driving through the storm.

Even with 27 years of serving this community and gaining a deep understanding of systems for success, I was taken by surprise with a new force to be reckoned with in 2017. That variable quickly permeated our school system and com-

munity with sound bites, rhetoric, new priority ideologies and poison pen articles.

It didn’t operate from objective data, trends in performance or research-based best practices. It posed the greatest threat to student achievement to date — politics in our schools, board room and in organized public comment.

Grade three reading performance is the greatest predictor of academic success through grade 12 for every individual child. It paves the way for comprehending science, history and math. If you cannot read at grade level as a third grader, catching up and academic success are near impossible.

That is so important that the Florida Department of Education now has Grade Three English Language Arts performance results as a stand-alone measure in the formula for calculating school grades.

To that end, I am incredibly proud of our “A” School District Grade since the inception of grades in 2004. That “A” Grade, however, camouflaged the fact that more than 30% of our grade three students could not read at grade level.

In 2020, when I started my tenure on the board, I immediately focused on student performance data and trends in achievement, particularly grade three reading. Data was difficult to access, and that made no sense. Reading for grade three students was in decline, and COVID was the fall guy. But why was our school district’s relative ranking in state achievement results in decline when every school district faced the challenges of COVID? Why were other school districts able to maintain student performance achievement results and in some cases even

improve their performance?

One of our elementary schools went from a “C” School Performance Grade to an “A.” With Tim Enos, Bridget Ziegler and Robyn Marinelli supporting a change in November 2022, we embarked on a different path, holding ourselves accountable for a laser focus on academic achievement.

Results are coming in 10 months after new CEO, Superintendent Terry Connor, took the lead role in our school district.

Immediately after beginning his position in August 2023, Superintendent Connor began a 100-day review of all district operations. Several executive level staff were required to reapply and interview for their positions.

The review was extensive and thorough: Reading programs were evaluated using data to assess their impact on student achievement. Systems of accountability were put in place and hardwired. Every school was placed on a schedule to meet with

district staff to progress monitor student achievement using data and a continuous improvement model. Research-based science of reading programs were implemented.

New legislation regarding school choice stopped being viewed as a threat to public education. Instead, it became competition in the drive to make Sarasota County Schools the top pick for our families.

Exceptional Student Education services were analyzed, and results were embedded in the new strategic plan.

Intervention strategies and discipline needs have been revamped to support a data driven model for improvement. The social issues emphasized in the previous strategic plan that were difficult to measure were removed as priorities.

The testing results under Superintendent Conner are now in, and they have exceeded expectations.

Our third grade reading scores have increased by an unheard of 7% in one year. What’s more, if you exclude charter schools, the district

increase is 14%.

Our new Strategic Plan prioritizes academic achievement using data and a continuous improvement model. Plans for Student Training will increase customer service with measurable results for our schools, staff and community. Innovative programs like the new Agriculture Academy will be a state and national model for the importance of “Farm to Table.”

Career training programs for students have multiplied and are designed to meet local workforce needs.

Change is difficult, and leading it is a huge challenge. But I could not be prouder of our students, staff and schools. I am most thankful for the leadership of Superintendent Connor.     Drive through the political agendas and focus on the silver lining!   Karen Rose is the chair of the Sarasota County School Board. She is running for reelection in 2024 to her District 2 seat.

KAREN ROSE

Data showing rising third grade reading scores are proof Superintendent Terry Connor’s changes are producing positive results. File image

School board members Tim Enos and Robyn Marinelli, Board Chair Karen Rose, Superintendent Scholarship Award winner Aline Martin, Superintendent of Schools Terry Connor, Superintendent Scholarship Award winner Riley Lukachyk and board members Tom Edwards and Bridget Ziegler.

Quay living, lower price

Developer reveals plans for One Park West with condos starting in the low $1 million range.

ANDREW WARFIELD STAFF WRITER

All of The Quay lifestyle without all of the price.

That’s how Property Markets Group Managing Partner Dan Kaplan described One Park West, which represents the final block to be developed in the 14-acre cluster of high-end, multifamily residences west of U.S. 41 between

Boulevard of the Arts and Fruitville Road.

With its plans for One Park cleared by the city staff and a pending date with the Planning Commission for final approval, Miami-based PMG and MoneyShow of Sarasota last week formally announced its 18-story, 69-unit sister tower.

One Park will be built on Block 1 and One Park West on Block 9.

The original plan to build One Park on both blocks crossing over Quay Commons with an amenity-filled breezeway was abandoned after succumbing to legal hurdles.

The solution was two towers offering a greater variety for Quay condo buyers.

“Despite the fact we had to wait a little bit longer than we otherwise

wanted to, we ended up at the same place, if not a little bit better,” Kaplan said.

Compared to the balance of condominiums in The Quay, One Park West will be value priced, starting in the low $1 million range. Meanwhile, at about 60% pre-sold, One Park pricing starts at $3 million to $3.5 million and tops out at the most expensive penthouse at $12.5 million.

The One Park towers will join the already-occupied Ritz-Carlton Residences on Block 6 and Bayso on blocks 4 and 5, the approved RitzCarlton South tower on Block 8, and the under-construction Cordelia luxury rental apartments on Blocks 2 and 3. Also under construction is the high-end seafood restaurant Ocean

on

“We identified One Park West as a building for people who want to live The Quay lifestyle and want to do so at a lesser price,” Kaplan said.

“So with that we priced every unit under $3 million, and really important starting in the $1 millions. One Park West will have a similar amenity package to One Park. It will have similar finishes. It will just be smaller units at a lower price and it won’t quite have the views One Park has.”

Designed by Sarasota-based firm Hoyt Architects, One Park West will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom residences, as well as a penthouse collection with sizes ranging from 1,033 to 2,250 square feet. Each unit will have 10-foot ceilings; floor-to-ceiling windows with views of downtown, The Quay’s central park, the entertainment district, and Sarasota Bay; fully built-out closets; contemporary lighting packages; and porcelain slab or wood flooring throughout.

They also will include outdoor terraces with glass railings, imported and custom high-end Italian kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, and smart home technology. Select residences will also have an

oversized soaking tub.

Residents will have access to amenities such as a rooftop sky lounge, fitness studio, a pickleball court, hot and cold plunge pools, an infinity-edge pool with lounge areas and grilling stations, private lockers, saunas and steam rooms, owner’s lounge, theater room, executive work space and a dog run. A dedicated concierge staff will offer valet parking and a mailroom with package storage space.

With full sign-off by the city’s Development Review Committee, One Park is scheduled to go before the Planning Board on June 12 and, if approved, begin construction in September or October. One Park West is currently progressing through the DRC gauntlet, and Kaplan said he hopes the project will receive at least partial sign-off in June or July, and then go before the Planning Board in September.

The Planning Board has final approval authority for all developments within The Quay.

One Park West residences will be offered exclusively by Chelsa Vahtomin and Robert Robinson of Coldwell Banker Realty. Reservations are now being accepted.

The stage is set

Sights + Sounds is an outdoor showcase of the best instrumental, visual and performing arts the Sarasota region has to offer. Come out for dinner at the town center and stay to enjoy the show! Ring Sarasota

Friday, June 14th @ 6 pm

Manatee Community Concert Band

Tuesday, August 27th @ 7 pm

Check out all of the events happening around The Ranch!

Prime

Block 10.

Your Luxury Lifestyle Awaits

School board

FROM PAGE 7A

an Enterprise Resource Planning system, creating high-quality infrastructure through activities such as capital budget discussions with principals, enhancing school security through measures like collaboration with law enforcement, new reporting and compliance systems and new technological resources.

The fifth pillar, “Every Community Engaged,” seeks to involve students, families and local organizations. It includes enhanced online and media presences, “Coffee with Connor” forums and annual State of Schools presentations, enhanced collaboration with marketing, enhanced community partnerships and expanded volunteer opportunities.

WEIGHING IN Commenter Carol Lerner called the plan “a thoughtful roadmap for our district.”

“It should be supported tonight, although I would have liked to have seen community schools for all Title I schools and district-based dual language immersion programs in it,” she said.

Like other commenters, she highlighted that families would be required to pay out of pocket for Voluntary Pre-K programs under the plan’s funding model.

“I was curious about the district’s exploration of new funding sources to keep the preschool programs sustainable,” she said. “With further research, I was dismayed to learn that one of the braided funding sources, however, came from some parents paying for the extended day.”

Connor explained that federal COVID-19 funding formerly covered the cost, but with those funds set to expire in September, leaving a gap of about $4 million, the district had to explore new options.

He said while additional state funding was able to cover a half-day of the program, for the remainder of the day, the district combined other sources, which meant some out-ofpocket costs.

“It is a burden for parents to have to come out of pocket, but we did a

deep dive and we analyzed this very deeply,” he said. “We looked at the private providers here in Sarasota County, and we looked at similar sized school districts across Florida to determine what would be the appropriate charge per week, per month, per year, where we believe that we could close that funding gap that we have, provide a full day of service and meet the needs of our community.”

Families eligible for free meals won’t be charged for the programs. For families eligible for reduced meals, the programs would cost $1,354.50, and for those not eligible for neither free nor reduced meals, they would cost $3,870.

This translates to what Connor said is about a $107 average weekly cost to parents for full-day services, which he said made the district “very competitive” with other districts and private providers.

He also said charging too low a fee for the programs could put private providers, which serve students the district does not have the capacity to handle, out of business.

“That’s a balance that we strike with the (Early Learning Coalition), and we look and have those conversations,” he said.

Following up on Connor’s comments, board member Tom Edwards said the affordability of certain priorities in Sarasota was decreasing, which he attributed to the voucher program, district expenses and unfunded mandates.

Board member Tim Enos suggested having charitable organizations offset some of the gaps in funding in the plan.

Some commenters criticized the plan for an alleged lack of dual language programming, but Chair Karen Rose noted it’s mentioned twice in the document, with Edwards calling it “alive and well.”

All board members expressed support for the plan.

“I’m very, very happy about a lot of the public comments of a lot of those who are very interested in early childhood education,” Connor said. “For me, it’s the first priority of the strategic plan. An early, strong, solid foundation is really critical for us, so the fact that we’re having the conversation and it is the priority, really excites me.”

New College’s tree removal from Uplands stuns neighbors

The city of Sarasota can’t enforce tree ordinance on state property, officials say.

JIM DELA

DIGITAL CONTENT PRODUCER

Despite objections from neighbors and a stop order issued — and then rescinded — by the city of Sarasota, New College of Florida is continuing to clear 100-year-old pine trees from a portion of an area known as the Uplands Preserve to make way for new athletic facilities.

The college maintains the land is state property and not subject to city jurisdiction, according to college spokesman Nathan March.

After a flurry of emails throughout the Memorial Day weekend, the city determined it can’t stop New College from clearing the land, City Attorney Robert Fournier said.

“Unfortunately, it would be difficult at best to enforce our tree ordinance,” he said.

The Observer obtained a copy of a May 28 email from Bill Galvano, a lawyer representing New College, to Mike Connelly, legal counsel to the city of Sarasota Planning Board and the Board of Adjustment, that asserted the city does not have the authority to stop the work.

“The current land clearing on the NCF campus is being conducted to accommodate uses that are consistent with the Campus Master Plan and Campus Development Agreement,” the email states. “Accordingly, the city does not have the legal authority to issue a stop work order to NCF or to require NCF to obtain permits for land clearing or other development activities.”

On May 29, Deputy City Manager Patrick Robinson informed the college via email that the city was powerless to act.

“After a review by the City Attorney’s Office, the City’s Development

Services Department and the city of Sarasota’s Planning Department, it has been determined that the city of Sarasota does not have the authority to stop the removal of the trees on the New College of Florida campus in this circumstance.”

A stop-work order issued by the city was posted on the property on May 25 after residents complained.

“We wanted to be sure” the college had the authority to remove the trees, Fournier said. After a review by city staff, the stop order was lifted May 28 according to the city’s planning office, and work resumed the next morning.

‘ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER’

The Uplands Preserve is a strip of land along Sarasota Bay, running from the northern edge of the campus to the southern edge of the Powel Crosley Estate. The portion currently being cleared is about 40% of that area, according to Jono Miller, the former chair of the NCF Master Plan Committee.

Miller, who is opposed to developing the Uplands Preserve, cites an agreement signed when New College split from the University of South Florida years ago, in which both schools pledged to preserve the land for “passive recreational purposes” that would not require development.

Building athletic fields on that land “is a clear violation of that agreement,” Miller said.

“It is an environmental disaster,” said Andrea Zucker, who owns a home nearby. “We have osprey living here; we have eagles that were in a nest in these trees, all kinds of woodpeckers — so much natural habitat they are destroying right now.”

Zucker’s neighbor, Peter Schelhouse, said the work on the Uplands Preserve happened with little warning.

“We contacted the city of Sarasota Thursday afternoon … And I contacted the state and I called two or three or four different organizations trying to find out what was going on,” he said. “They were all denying

any ability to control what happens.”

The college posted a short news release on its website May 25 hinting that work was underway.

“New College is currently establishing a new grass field and sand volleyball courts on the Bayfront Campus that will benefit our students and the greater community,” it said.

It also noted removed cabbage palms would be replanted elsewhere and several invasive species had already been removed to preserve mangroves on the shoreline.

NEIGHBORS FEEL BLINDSIDED

March said New College President Richard Corcoran has taken a “proactive approach” to informing residents of the changes. “The president has been active and visible in the community” and has kept neighborhood homeowners associations apprised of the college’s plans. However, several homeowners who gathered at the entrance of the fenced-off area disputed that as they

watched a backhoe take a large tree apart May 29.

“There was no notice for this,” Schelhouse said. “When something that’s going to happen that’s going to impact a neighborhood, generally you get a notice and there’s a meeting.”

Zucker, a New College alumna, said she and her husband bought their home in 1979, in large part, because of the Uplands Preserve.

“The students loved this area too,” she said. “It was their nature area.”

She said the neighborhood would gather among the trees to enjoy the bayfront.

“It was what made the Uplands special. This is no ordinary neighborhood.”

Miller, who is also president of a group called NCF Freedom, opposed to the recent takeover of New College by political appointees of Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the city may be able to intervene if it can determine New College’s plans for the land are not in line with the college’s current master plan.

“The city may still have grounds to get involved,” he said.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has signed off on the project, saying the total project area involves less than 10 acres, will not affect wetlands or other surface waters; and will not “cause adverse water quantity or flooding impacts to receiving water and adjacent lands.”

But for residents of the neighborhood, “They’re not taking into account the impact of what they’re doing here on the bay, into the quality of our lives,” Zucker said.

“We’d like to see them stop doing this until we see at least a full plan that we as a community are able to participate in,” she said. “Make us reasonable partners in this to preserve as much as possible.”

Another neighbor, Karen Stack, said the college’s attitude toward the area has changed. “Historically New College had wanted to be a good neighbor to the Uplands.”

The college said it wants that to continue.

Courtesy image

LET US DESIGN A POOL THAT FITS YOUR LIFESTYLE

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22

BIKE BATTLE 7:09 p.m., First Street and Pineapple Avenue intersection

Disturbance: A man flagged down an officer, identified himself and said his wife stole his bicycle, locked it to a nearby bike rack and refused to give it back. The couple is reportedly well known to law enforcement for continuously arguing. The officer determined that because the couple was married, the two-wheeler was jointly owned. There was no injunction for protection in place preventing them from speaking with each other, and both parties were advised to stay away from the other and went their separate ways.

BIKE BATTLE, THE SEQUEL 10:39 p.m., Fourth Street near North Lemon Avenue

Disturbance: Just more than three hours after their first encounter with law enforcement, the couple arguing over possession of a bicycle moved a few blocks away, where officers responded to the wife yelling for someone to call the police.

The woman reported that after the initial police contact, she left the area and intended to separate herself from her husband for the night. She said he found her and tried to take the bicycle from her, which is when she began yelling for help. The husband countered that he had not been looking for her, but did happen upon her and tried to apologize for the earlier incident. That’s when she started “freaking out,” according to the man, and started yelling for police.

Neither party said a physical altercation had occurred, only that the argument had, once again, been about the bicycle. The couple was advised, once again, that as a married couple, ownership of property is a civil matter, which both acknowledged they understood. Both were advised to give each other space. No further action was taken.

THEY DON’T LOVE BEACH MUSIC 11:25 a.m., 2200 block of Benjamin Franklin Drive

Noise complaint: Ongoing noise at Ted Sperling Park at South Lido Beach prompted city and county law enforcement response for a

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22

PILE OF PALLETS

2:59 p.m., 3300 block of Central Avenue

Illegal dumping: A property manager reported several incidents of dumping on the property by unknown subjects. While inspecting the debris, an officer noted a home improvement store’s pickup label that included a man’s name and phone number.

The officer called the number and made contact with the subject, who advised he recalls getting a construction job off Craigslist two weeks prior, and that wooden pallets left at that site were planned to be removed by his client and sold. Because those pallets were removed, he was unaware of their disposal.

The contractor said he would send the officer a text message with his client’s information when he has an opportunity to search his records. No further ac tion was taken at the time the incident report was filed.

complaint over loud noise emanating from several boats just north of Big Pass. All the beachgoers, it was noted, were respectful, and turned the music down upon sight of law enforcement.

A short time later, a second complainant reported the same issue. The woman said she was a resident of Orchid Beach Club who, like the previous complainant, was assured that her concerns were valid. Enforcement, however, remains a challenge. The officer said he and his county counterpart continued educating beachgoers and boaters about safety and respect for the rights of others to enjoy the beach in peace.

A noise meter reading wasn’t conducted because the amount of noise from people and passing watercraft wouldn’t render accurate data.

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

SUMMER CITY

Five arts events you won’t want to miss this summer.

MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Once upon a time in Sarasota, the calendar was divided into “season” (October through April) and “off season” (May through September). But in recent years, the line has blurred.  Yes, the snowbirds begin heading home after Easter and Black Tie events go on hiatus, but each year the area attracts new full-time residents. Cultural institutions like Asolo Repertory Theatre, Urbanite Theatre and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe have responded with seasons that now last into June.

For 60 years, the Sarasota Music Festival has been held each summer, bringing in faculty and fellows from around the world and delighting classical music lovers with three weeks of performances.

A Sarasota summer arts mainstay is Florida Studio Theatre, with a sizzling cabaret season as well as mainstage and improv performances. FST also hosts the Sarasota Improv Festival, which came back with a vengeance last year after being on hold in real life for years.

Another longtime participant in the summer arts scene is the Circus Arts Conservatory. It will be taking up residency in The Ringling Museum’s Historic Asolo Theater once again this summer. The CAC will also be heading to Massachusetts with a show called Summersaults in the Berkshires from July 19-28 at the Duffin Theater in Lenox.

We’ve scoured the summer calendar for five events that you absolutely won’t want to miss. All are surprisingly affordable and some are even free.

The meteorologists say it’s going to be a hot summer, but these mustsee events provide respite from rising temperatures with air-conditioned performances and screenings. All of our picks sell out quickly, so don’t wait to buy your tickets.

JACK DOWD’S ‘LAST CALL’

June 7 through Aug. 18 at the Stulberg Gallery, Ringling College of Art & Design, 1188 Dr. Martin Luther King Way. Tuesday through Saturday 12-6 p.m. Visit Ringling College. gallery.

Nearly everyone has their version of “Cheers,” the TV bar “where everybody knows your name.” Such a mythical tavern, where business types in suits mix with artists, musicians, socialites and a neighborhood character or two, will be inside the Stulberg Gallery at Ringling College of Art & Design this summer.

Sarasota artist Jack Dowd’s installation “Last Call” will open June 7 with a reception featuring free food for the first 250 visitors and a cash bar on the patio outside the gallery from 5 to 8 p.m.

The installation featuring a 22-foot-long mahogany bar and 13 life-size characters, including the late John F. Kennedy Jr. wearing roller blades, was first created in 2001 by the artist and his son, Jon Dowd. It was displayed at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art the same year.

In “Last Call,” the clock on the wall reads 3:55. That’s just minutes before 4 a.m. closing time in New York City, where the tavern is set. There’s just enough time for one more round, hence the title “Last Call.”

The diversity of the bar’s patrons and their realization that the long

IN THE

night is drawing to a close echoes the grittiness of the 1930s Ash Can School, according to Ringling College Chief Curator Tim Jaeger.  Dowd, who is in his eighties, will attend the opening reception, which promises to draw an eclectic mix of Sarasota artists and arts aficionados. There may never be another party quite like this one. You won’t want to miss it.

CLASSIC MOVIES AT THE OPERA HOUSE

Select Fridays through Oct. 18, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. $12. Visit SarasotaOperaHouse.com.

If you’ve got Turner Classic Movies on cable or the Criterion Channel streaming on your laptop, you can watch a great selection of films from Hollywood’s Golden Age. But as the events company Fathom has discovered with its screenings in AMC, Regal and Cinemark cinemas, there are plenty of people who still like movies on the big screen.

What about watching classic films in a premier venue like the Sarasota Opera House? Yes, please!

You’ve already been warned about the hazy definition of the off season in Sarasota, so don’t be surprised to see that one of our must-see events of the summer runs through October.

In fact, in a lineup that includes such fan favorites as “On the Waterfront,” “American Graffiti” and “A Fistful of Dollars,” the classic film on the top of our list is “The Greatest Show on Earth,” about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The highest-grossing film of 1952, Cecile B. DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth” was filmed in Sarasota, the winter home of the Ringling

Bros. circus. It made its world premiere at the Sarasota Opera House, then known as the Florida Theater.  Given the cosplay that reigned at the screenings of Taylor Swift’s “Eras” concert tour movie last summer and the fun-loving spirit of Sarasota residents, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a few clowns, leotard-clad ladies and other bigtop denizens at the GSOE screening at the opera house.

URBANITE THEATRE’S

‘OAK’

Through June 30 at Urbanite Theatre, 1487 Second St. $7-$44. Visit Urbanite Theatre.com.

If you grew up telling ghost stories around the campfire or at slumber parties, “Oak” is the summer play you won’t want to miss. Written by Chicago’s Terry Guest, the Southern Gothic horror is making its world premiere at Sarasota’s black-box Urbanite Theatre.

In a 10th-anniversary season that had many edgy entries, Urbanite Artistic Director Summer Dawn Wallace thinks “Oak” is the best play of the season. And she is not even directing this one; Mikael Burke is. Oak is the name of a sleepy town in Georgia where nothing much happens except the periodic disappearance of African American children. The snatchings are attributed to a creek monster, Odella, who is reportedly the spirit of a runaway slave who drowned and who is Oak’s answer to the Bogeyman. The play “Oak” follows three restless Black cousins —16-year-old Pickle, her little brother Big Man and their cousin Suga — during one of the town’s “child snatching seasons.”  There are lots of twists and turns

Courtesy images

Jack Dowd’s “Last Call,” a life-sized installation of a mythical New York City tavern and 13 patrons, opens June 7 at Ringling College’s Stulberg Gallery.

Trezure B. Coles, William Rose II and Jaeda LaVonne star as three cousins in “Oak,” Urbanite Theatre’s final production of its 10th season.

Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine

that

At the heart of the Faustian play lies the question: What deal are you willing to make with the Devil — or in this case, Odella — to escape a humdrum existence in a dead-end Georgia town? If you’re living in Oak, be afraid, not of Odella, but of the lengths you’ll go to escape.

The play could provoke some soulsearching among audience members, who may be less interested in escape than in things remaining the same in their town. Who are you willing to throw under the bus to maintain the status quo? Spooky stuff, indeed.

SUMMER CIRCUS

SPECTACULAR

June 14 through Aug. 17 at the Historic Asolo Theater, The Ringling Museum, 5401 Bay Shore Road. $20 adults/$15 youth 15 and under. Visit Ringling.org.

If you’re not a circus fan, why not? You don’t like animals, scary clowns or bleachers? No worries. You won’t find any of those things at the Circus Arts Conservatory’s annual Summer Circus Spectacular.

Instead you’ll get a one-hour show filled with sophisticated, familyfriendly entertainment in the beautiful Historic Asolo Theater.

Did I mention the ticket prices? They are just $20 for adults and $15 for youth under 15.

This year’s summer lineup is different from what the CAC, under the direction of husband-and-wife team Pedro Reis and Dolly Jacobs, presented under their new bigtop at Nathan Benderson Park during season.

Presided over by Ringmaster Jared Walker, the summer circus includes contortionist Uranbileg Angarag, acrobatic hand balancers The Bello Sisters, hair hang artist Camille Langlois, slack wire performer Antino Pansa and clown Renaldo, a veteran of the Big Apple Circus.

If you’ve never seen a show in the Historic Asolo Theater, or The HAT

for short, this is your chance. First built in 1798 inside a palace in Asolo, Italy, the jewel-box theater’s elaborate proscenium, decorative panels, gilded stage boxes and other components were purchased by The Ringling in 1949.

The historic theater, which opened for Sarasota performances in 1952, has only 286 seats. It’s a theater fit for a king, or at least a duke.

Why not make a circus day of it at The Ringling? Before or after watching the Summer Circus Spectacular (shows are 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday), why not visit the Circus Museum? For just $5, audience members can gain access to the museum on the day they attend the show.

This is a timely offer because the Circus Museum recently added a new installation on the second floor of the Tibbals Learning Center called the Greatest Show on Earth. The multimedia exhibit is dedicated to the modern Ringling Bros. circus as it evolved under the ownership of Feld Entertainment, which acquired it in 1967.

Also, the Circus Museum isn’t part of The Ringling’s free Mondays admission.

SARASOTA IMPROV FESTIVAL

July 12-13 at Florida Studio Theatre’s downtown campus, 1241 N. Palm Ave. $10 each show. Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

When Florida Studio Theatre announced the Sarasota Improv Festival’s return to real life in 2023 after a four-year hiatus (there was a virtual fest in 2020), it was hard to know what the reaction might be. Would fans have forgotten about the once-popular summer event, which began in 2009?

Not a chance. Last year’s festival, which was headlined by London hiphop comedian MC Hammersmith, sold out almost immediately. FST draws a faithful improv following with its Saturday night shows featuring its own FST Improv Troupe. These fans turned out in droves for the improv festival, featuring talent from around the world. When it comes to improv, Sarasota

is definitely on the map, along with places like Los Angeles, New York and Austin.

With $10 tickets, it’s hard to find a better live entertainment bargain in town than the Sarasota Improv Festival, which will be held July 12-13. Festival passes are available for $75 for two days, $59 for Saturday and $49 for Friday.

Headlining this year’s festival is Impro Theatre, a Los Angeles-based group that creates full-length plays inspired by the world’s greatest playwrights, but on the fly. This will be Impro Theatre’s second appearance at the Sarasota Improv Festival.

Also returning to the festival are fan favorites Available Cupholders (Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles), Big Bang Improv (Boston, Sarasota

and New York City), Dad’s Garage (Atlanta), Parallelogramophonograph (Austin), North Coast (New York City) and FST Improv.

Repping Chile at this year’s festival is the troupe Lospleimovil, which is making its debut.

Even if you don’t attend this year, be sure to add the improv festival’s traditional closing performance to your bucket list.

In the “All Play” finale, more than 80 festival artists jam themselves onto FST’s Gompertz Theatre stage for an unscripted show full of fun. Summer fun, that is.

The hand-balancing acrobats The Bello Sisters are among the featured acts at the 2024 Summer Circus Spectacular.

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

‘TWO, THREE, FOUR’

4:30 p.m. at Holley Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail

$30-$42

Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

The Sarasota Music Festival presents works for two, three and four musicians. The program includes Jean Francaix’s Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano, Erwin Schulhoff’s 1925 Duo for Violin and Cello, and Maurice Ravel’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano. The Borromeo String Quartet performs String Quartet No. 6 by Grazyna Bacewicz.

‘RHINESTONE COWGIRLS’

7:30 p.m. at FST’s Goldstein Cabaret, 1239 N. Palm Ave.

$18-$42

Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Created by Nancy Allen Productions, this musical tribute features such country classics as Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and Carrie Underwood’s “Last Name.” Runs through July 28.

‘THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND’

8 p.m. at FST’s Gompertz Theatre, 1265 First St. $39-$59 Visit FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Florida Studio Theatre kicks off its Summer Mainstage Series with “The World Goes ‘Round,” a musical

revue celebrating the works of John Kander and Fred Ebb. The show features memorable songs from hit Broadway shows such as “Chicago,” “Cabaret” and more. Runs through June 30.

‘TEA AND ARMAGEDDON’

7 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail

$6.50 plus fees Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org.

Prepare to go down the rabbit hole with Scott Keys and Company in this show inspired by the writings of Lewis Carroll. Continues June 9.

FRIDAY

‘BACH AND BEYOND’

7:30 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.

$29-$50

Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

Sarasota Music Festival faculty, fellows and the Borromeo String Quartet come together for a program featuring Bach and works inspired by the great composer.

THE RINGLING WONDERGROUND

8 p.m. at The Ringling Museum of Art Courtyard, 5401 Bay Shore Road Free with registration Visit Ringling.org.

A twist on the Ringling Underground, the Wonderground is part of the three-day Wonder Symposium

OUR PICK

‘COCONUT CAKE’

In Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe’s last show of its 2023-24 season, “Coconut Cake,” the daily routine of four chess-playing and coffeedrinking retirees is disrupted when a mysterious woman moves to town, bringing her recipe for a mouthwatering coconut cake. Runs through June 23.

IF YOU GO

When: 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12

Where: at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, 1012 N. Orange Ave.

Tickets: $5-$50

Info: Visit WestcoastBlackTheatre.org.

DON’T MISS

ADAM EZRA GROUP

Named 2023 Americana Act of the Year by the New England Music

Awards, Adam Ezra Group’s fusion of folk intimacy and rock energy has attracted a devoted fan base that travels with them from show to show.

IF YOU GO

When: 8 p.m. on Friday, June 7

Where: Fogartyville, 525 Kumquat Court

Tickets: $14-$28

Info: Visit WSLR.org.

at The Ringling. Wonderground features local, regional and national musical acts, including Sarah Santiago, Florida favorite NoFilter and the Brooklyn United Music and Arts Program. Local circus artist Cirque Vertigo also performs.

‘ARTHURIAN: THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE, AND OTHER FURNITURE. A BURLESQUE’

10 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail $15.50 plus fees Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org.

Amanda Heisey Finnerty brings her show combining medieval times and burlesque to the stage for the Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival. Think renaissance fair for adults only. Continues June 8.

SATURDAY

SCD IN-STUDIO SERIES:

JESSICA OBEIDZINSKI

7 p.m. at Sarasota Contemporary Dance, 1400 Boulevard of the Arts, Suite 300 $11.50-$21.50 Visit SarasotaContemporaryDance. org.

After a spinal injury left her exploring modes of healing beyond traditional medicine, Jessica Obeidzinski spent two weeks tapping into her subconscious at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. In this “sneak

peek” performance, she reveals her discoveries.

‘FESTIVAL FIRSTS’

7:30 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave.

$30-$70 Visit SarasotaOrchestra.org.

“Festival Firsts” marks the debut of conductor Stephanie Childress and the festival solo debut of Rachel Breen, who plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

SUNDAY

‘COMMON AIR’

1 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail $10 plus fees Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org.

Dancers from the former Soviet Union who met in the U.S. put aside any differences their former homelands may have to dance together.

SQUEAKY WHEEL FRINGE WINNER

5:30 p.m. at FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail Price TBA Visit SqueakyWheelTheatre.org.

Each of the nine acts featured in the Squeaky Wheel Fringe festival are allotted two slots on stage. After an audience vote, the winner of the festival gets to perform a third show. All proceeds go to the artists.

TIME TO SAVE AND SAVOR SARASOTA’S EATERIES

Dinner and a movie? How about a prix-fixe lunch and a museum? The Bistro restaurant in the Sarasota Art Museum is serving up a special lunch as part of Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week, which runs through June 14.

Diners at the Bistro will be able to enjoy a two-course meal of Stone Fruit Salad with toasted hazelnut, watercress and harissa vinaigrette followed by an Heirloom Tomato and Bacon Tartine with corn and basil for $25.

The lunch special, which will be offered for the entire month, is just one example of the many dining deals to be found during Savor Sarasota. When the event was launched 19 years ago by Visit Sarasota County, “three-course dinners were $25; now they are $40,” notes Visit Sarasota President/CEO Erin Duggan.

But $40 for an appetizer, entrée and dessert is still a great deal in these inflationary times. Both lunch and dinner prices are unchanged from last year.

As much as locals enjoy Savor Sarasota, the two-week event is designed to attract visitors to town and “put heads in beds,” Duggan says.

Nearly 70 Sarasota area restaurants are participating this year, with newcomers like Boo’s Ice House & Dog Bar, Cafe Barbosso, Kolucan and the Original Wolfie’s and Rascal House joining veterans like Bavaro’s, Mattison’s Forty-One and Michael’s On East.

In the Lakewood Ranch/UTC area, there are at least seven eateries taking part in Savor Sarasota. Grove, which opened in 2018, is a first-timer, says Jennifer Bradtmueller, Grove general manager.

“Being part of Savor Sarasota raises our profile and invites new diners to enjoy our scratch kitchen, fresh fish program and our bakery. We make all our desserts in-house,” Bradtmueller says.

On St. Armands and Longboat Key, new arrivals to Restaurant Week include Chart House, Speaks Clam Bar St. Armands Circle and Tommy Bahama Restaurant.

For a complete list of participating Savor Sarasota restaurants, including eateries in the Nokomis/Venice area, go to VisitSarasota.com/savorsarasota-restaurants-menus.

Courtesy images

The Bistro in Sarasota Art Museum is offering an Heirloom Tomato and Bacon Tartine with corn and basil as part of its $25 two-course lunch.

Image courtesy of Sorcha Augustine

Shrimply the Best

Where to find the best shrimp dishes around town.

EMMA BURKE JOLLY

CONTRIBUTOR

y family was inundated with celebrations in the summer. It started with Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, then my mom’s birthday, Father’s Day, my sister’s birthday, Fourth of July, my husband and my sister’s boyfriend’s birthday (yep, same day), my birthday, followed by my father’s, then Labor Day — all in 14 weeks.

My Mimi (grandma) would bring shrimp cocktail with homemade cocktail sauce as an appetizer to every gathering that took place on the porch of the house that I was brought home to and still fly home to for these special days. Leave it to a girl from Connecticut to get nostalgic about a seafood dish, but it’s shrimply the best. Here are the best shrimp samplings that remind me of simpler summers in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

BAKER AND WIFE

2157 Siesta Drive, Siesta Key; 941960-1765; BakerWife.com.

Don’t Be Shellfish: My love for Baker and Wife stems from not just from some the best food in the area; it was also the last place we went out to dinner as a family of five and laughed loud enough for all of Sarasota to hear. The jumbo black tiger shrimp and peanut noodles ($32) with broccoli slaw, spinach,

crispy shallots, thai mint and basil is a all-star dish that you must get your mouth on ... now.

One in a Krill-ion: If you like a small heaping of heat, order the crispy spicy shrimp ($14) made with siracha-yuzu mayo, mixed greens and furikake. The crunchy and bold flavors are shrimply special and perfect for two to share or for everyone at the table to get a taste before the main course makes its way to your table. Drinking? Order my ultimate favorite summer cocktail in Sarasota, the basil-cucumber martini ($14).

ANNA MARIA OYSTER BAR

6906 14th St. W., Bradenton, 941758-7880; 200 Bridge St., Bradenton Beach, 941-778-2662; 6696 Cortez Road, Bradenton, 941-792-0077; 5405 University Parkway, Unit 110, Bradenton, 941-491-2662; OysterBar.net.

Don’t Be Shellfish: Don’t miss the AMOB coconut shrimp dinner ($23.99) served with apricot-horseradish sauce and your choice of two sides. The shrimp are the star, but just imagining the sauce is making me seriously salivate. Sides offered are coleslaw, french fries, red bliss potatoes, cilantro rice, season veggies, cheese grits or a house or Caesar salad.

the “girl dinner” trend. It’s an easy yet satisfying way to make dinner after a tiring day. My go-to girl dinner is a Caesar salad with fries and a Diet Coke. So when I’m feeling like changing out of my sweats and putting on a pair of shorts, I head right to AMOB for its Caesar salad ($11.99) with shrimp (+$7.99).

OWEN’S LAKEWOOD RANCH

are three reasons to venture to this Owen’s outpost. This grit dish is the best rendition of the southern staple that I have ever had the pleasure of shoving down my seasoned foodie mouth. I would wait longer than the average “two-hour wait” during season to just get a smell of this shrimp plate.

with my tablemates, but when it comes to Libby’s dynamite shrimp ($14.50) and its rock shrimp and blue crab lollipops ($17.50) — all bets are off. This starter plate is all for eating by Emma. The first is made with a crispy tempurabattered local Gulf shrimp, and the latter are luxurious lollipops of blue crab. Both are paired with a sambal aioli that has me saying, “Ay yo! Best aioli alert.”

One in a Krill-ion: The shrimp parade is plentiful at Libby’s between the Krabby Patty sandwich ($19) and the shrimp scampi ($24.50). But my entree adventure leans toward the scallops and shrimp ($39.50) offering. It features blackened scallops (Is there any other way to have seafood?) with Gulf shrimp, creamed corn and perfectly pickled onions.

WHITNEY’S

6990 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Longboat Key; 941-383-4606; WhitneyLBK.com

One in a Krill-ion: If you watch TikTok videos and are between 18 and 40, I’m sure you’ve heard of

6516 University Parkway, Lakewood Ranch; 941-951-5052; OwensFishCamp.com.

Don’t Be Shellfish: Yes, the downtown location of this Sarasota eatery will forever put a smile on my face. But when Beaver, a manager at Owen’s Fish Camp, told us about the plans for Lakewood Ranch — my husband and I had to speed over to see, eat, drink and believe it. The massive canoes levitating above the incredibly designed eatery, the stacked-to-the-ceiling grand bar and the shrimp and grits ($26.99)

One in a Krill-ion: Despite the surplus of shrimply delicious options, including cocktail and shrimp tacos, don’t forget to check out the cioppino ($32.99) plate packed with mussels, clams, shrimp, red snapper, tomato fennel broth and spaghetti.

LIBBY’S NEIGHBORHOOD BRASSERIE

1917 S. Osprey Ave., Sarasota, 941-236-5826; 8445 Lorraine Road, Sarasota, 941-357-1570; LibbysNeighborhoodBrasserie.com.

Don’t Be Shellfish: I try and share the wealth when starting a meal

Don’t Be Shellfish: The Gulf-side drive down to this retro restaurant is half of the fun. Pull up, order a frozé — that’s right, a frozen rosé ($14) and pretend you’ve taken a time machine back to the ’70s in the chicest of ways. Ask for the LBK Bowl ($13) and feel like a healthy goddess. The bowl features wild rice, quinoa, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted carrots, corn relish, queso fresco, and salsa verde. Add shrimp (+$11) to get all the nourishment your body needs before hitting Beer Can Island.

The Theater Latté Da World

One in a Krill-ion: The shrimp Louie ($19) salad is balanced and bountiful. It’s made with poached shrimp, lettuce, avocado, marinated tomatoes, hard-cooked egg and luscious Louie dressing (a mayoand-heavy-cream-based, chili sauce and herb-packed accoutrement).

Courtesy image

Baker and Wife’s crispy spice shrimp ($14).

YOUR NEIGHBORS

SARASOTA IS ABOUT TO GET VERTICAL

Project 24 expects to break ground this August and open in spring 2025 as the area’s only climbing gym.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

Thanks to a group of local entrepreneurs, by early 2025, a vacant lot off Fruitville Road east of I-75 will take Sarasota’s sports community to new heights.

The property is the future site of Project 24 Climbing — set to open as Sarasota’s only climbing gym between February and April 2025. The 19,000-square-foot facility, estimated to cost over $6 million, will feature an inclusive approach to climbing with a top rope area, bouldering walls and features including yoga rooms and an infrared sauna. Because climbing might sound daunting to some Sarasota residents, founders of the gym said they have taken the experience of the local community into consideration.

When the gym opens, the layout of its interchangeable walls will skew a little easier than average, giving it the chance to evolve with the public’s skills. It’s part of the facility’s goal of

inclusivity.

“If you can climb a ladder, there’s going to be a route that you can climb there, and however good you are, there’s going to be something challenging,” said Aaron Rutsky, one of the gym’s co-founders.

STRONG FOOTHOLD

For a decade climbing has been a passion of Sarasota’s Austin Venhaus, a 2019 graduate of New College of Florida who started the project.

Venhaus hails from Seattle, where the first climbing gym in America, Vertical World, opened in 1987. He described climbing as something that was “always around” during his childhood, whether at birthday parties or other occasions.

When he started attending a climbing gym as a college student, while spending time at home for winter break, he ended up returning each day to climb and socialize with the other climbers.

“Climbing is definitely one of those things that you can do regardless of your fitness level or any sort of impairments,” Venhaus said. “As you improve your fitness, or even as you work on your technique, you can see that improvement at the climbing gym. And it really is a full-body workout. If you’re doing a prolonged route, like on one of our taller rope walls, your heart will be racing, so

you get a little bit of cardio in there too.”

It was in 2019 that he arrived at the decision to found Project 24 Climbing. While training for a triathlon with a group of friends, the group had to travel twice a week to Vertical Ventures in St. Pete, so he proposed the idea of a gym over dinner.

But he wasn’t the only one drawn to the idea.

Aaron Rutsky and his wife, Andrea Rutsky, of Lakewood Ranch, had only been pursuing indoor climbing for a short time when they found out about Venhaus’ project online and became interested.

Andrea had been climbing for about two months, while Aaron had been climbing for a few weeks.

“It’s good mentally; it’s good physically. And it’s good socially. It’s everything in one,” Aaron said. They now serve as co-founders and the project’s primary investors. Drawing from his experience starting several companies, Aaron analyzed Venhaus’ plans.

At that point, those plans involved a lower-budget gym focused entirely on bouldering, an activity where climbers forego ropes to scale a shorter wall. Bouldering is typically more youth-oriented.

Aaron decided that the demographics of Sarasota demanded an all-encompassing facility, complete

with rope features.

When they couldn’t find a building tall enough, the project’s developer, Sarasota’s Jeff Manning, of Manquero Group LLC, steered them to an empty lot.

HANDS-ON RESEARCH

Aaron and Andrea visited about 50 climbing gyms to scale their walls and speak with management.

“We learned a lot in a hurry about what to do, what not to do,” Aaron said. “Definitely, probably more what not to do. We’ve really focused, and we’re spending a lot of money on making this gym as safe as possible, because climbing is inherently dangerous.”

He said some mistakes at other facilities included lights that shine directly into climbers’ eyes, gaps between safety mats and walls, and bouldering setups that require maneuvers that are too complicated at too great a height.

They wanted to go the extra distance with safety.

As a result, the auto belay area, which allows climbers to ascend a route with a rope but without a human partner, will feature a new flooring by Climbmat Flooring, safety tested for falls at 50 feet.

If a climber falls into the flooring from a height of 12 feet or more, it collapses into a crumple zone.

The design for the project is being finalized, with groundbreaking estimated for August.

“I want it to become the social hub of Sarasota, the demographic that doesn’t want to be in Sarasota, but feel like ‘Oh, it’s an older person’s community,” Aaron Rutsky said. “I want this to be one thing to help draw that age group back in there.”

FULL-SPECTRUM SPORT

The 6,200 square feet of top rope will feature auto belays, a top rope that allows climbers to clip in and another that allows a conventional tie-in, as well as lead climbing for two individuals.

The 7,600 square feet of bouldering walls, which will feature between 150 to 180 problems at one time, will

also include a cave, an arch and a training area.

“From an activity standpoint, (climbing) is very engaging both physically and mentally, because the problems for boulderers are called problems, so you get to solve them,” Venhaus said.

Climbing routes will rotate every six to eight weeks.

Serving as the route setter and coach will be Cole Seaton, whom Aaron Rutsky describes as “a big outdoor climber” who has “done everything in the industry.”

The gym plans to offer programs including instruction, teams for high school youth, adaptive climbing programs, camps and birthday parties. There will be annual and weekly memberships and day passes.

Of particular importance to its mission is the adaptive climbing, which matches the climbing experience to the requirements of an individual with physical limitations or with special needs, whether the solution is a climbing assistant or a different type of harness.

Rutsky said the gym will be the first in the country with a podcasting room. It will also offer a co-working space with cubicles for visitors working remotely, as well as a wheelchair lift to the second floor.

“They could take a yoga class, take a shower, go work for a few hours, take a climb, go back to work,” Rutsky said. “Just spend your whole day here.”

PROJECT 24 CLIMBING

Total square footage: 19,000 Square feet of top rope: 6,200 Square feet of bouldering walls: 7,600

Developer: Manquero Group

LLC

Builder: Holiday Group Location: 1401 Sarasota Center Blvd.

Visit: Project24Climbing.com

We’re committed to delivering exceptional service that exceeds your expectations With our deep understanding of the Sarasota market and an Award-Winning track record of successes, we’re passionate about turning your real estate dreams into reality ” - Georgia and Steve Salaverri Windsor Group

Photos by Ian Swaby

Aaron and Andrea Rutsky, Jeff Manning and Austin Venhaus

Courtesy image

A rendering shows the interior layout of Project 24 Climbing. Designs are currently being finalized.

All the right moves

A community of players takes shape at Manasota Chess Center.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

Chess just might be easier than you think, if you take the word of Nicholas Lewis.

“The great thing about chess is it’s a big myth that it just is this hard game where you have to see 30 moves ahead or whatever,” he said. “It can actually be a very simple game to learn. Sure, becoming good at it is hard, but that’s true of anything.”

If you are hoping to hone your abilities, he’s founder and executive director of a place where you can do just that.

Tucked away in the Crossings at Siesta Key mall is Manasota Chess Center.

Since its opening in 2021, the club, which also offers a location in the Bradenton subdivision of GreyHawk Landing, has grown significantly, with an expansion to more than 200 cumulative members.

Members come from unexpected places, Lewis said — from as far away as Naples, Miami and Gainesville.

Said to be one of the only brickand-mortar chess clubs in Florida, the center is different from most such clubs, which are nomadic, meeting at locations like libraries, cafes and bookstores.

“Our mantra is learn, compete and connect, and we’ve really developed and fleshed out programs in all three of those areas,” Lewis said.

ACROSS GENERATIONS

At the forefront of the club’s focus is education — for all ages.

It offers classes for different levels on-site, but it’s also branching out further.

One way it is doing so is by developing partnerships with retirement

IF YOU GO

Sarasota Location: Suite 96, Crossings at Siesta Key, 3501

S. Tamiami Trail

Bradenton Location: GreyHawk Landing, 1400 GreyHawk Blvd.

Visit: ManasotaChess.org

and senior living communities as a way to improve the mental dexterity of residents. These programs involve a coach tailoring the experience to the clientele, whether it be supervised casual play or instruction.

“Statistically, chess and strategic games show the biggest impact on cognitive decline, compared to anything else, including social activities and music or whatever else they offer,” Lewis said.

For younger players, they are launching a program of summer camps, and in the fall, they plan to reach out to many elementary schools.

“Everybody’s looking to do something now that they don’t have at school, so we started to introduce the summer camps,” said Bob Bernstein, the director of marketing and business operations. “And, of course, the competition there is not just other people offering summer camps for chess. It’s summer camps for tennis, sailing and arts and crafts, but a lot of kids still like to play chess, so it’s a good program to have for the summer.”

Another facet of the club that has grown is the competition programs, which are mainly tournaments designed for more serious players.

“Back at the time (the club opened), we only had a couple of tournaments, and they were very small,” Lewis said. “And now we’ve reached tournaments of 30 people.”

Since the center’s opening, its reputation has grown as well, with it having been runner-up for the Chess

Club of the Year award from the U.S. Chess Federation in 2023.

Lewis said it currently ranks in the Top 12 clubs in terms of bringing new participants into tournament chess.

Although the mall, which is planned for redevelopment by Benderson Development, does not see the activity it once did, the club does receive some foot traffic. However, Bernstein said, the majority of visitors are seeking out a place to play chess.

Part of the growth of the club has been generated by a boom in online chess during the pandemic, he said, with players hoping to continue their journey in chess through in-person, social experiences.

The location hosts nights that are open to all, both members and nonmembers, as well as Just for Kids and Just for Seniors nights for members.

The two executive staff members say the game is filled with social experiences.

“You just meet people that are really interesting,” Bernstein said.

“Chess players are not just boring intellectual people. There’s talent that goes well beyond chess in the background, and that’s always interesting.”

“There’s 32 pieces, 64 squares, infinite possibilities. People connect over those possibilities,” Lewis said. “I’ve seen people analyze for hours, just going through. ‘Yeah, I could have played this move; you could have played this move; I could have done this.’”

Nine-year-old Evan Santiago is one individual who has found a use for the location.

“I like that there’s a lot of people that are on a very high level, because for me, the way that I learn chess is from another chess player,” he said.

“We could play games with each other and see how we do on our chess tactics, and train. Even a grandmaster can learn from someone that’s above a master, but that’s very rare.”

As participants discover the game, they may find that the key to success isn’t thinking 30 moves ahead at all, but is much simpler.

“Most grandmasters look about three moves ahead, the same as anyone else, but they always pick the right move,” Lewis said.

Photos by Ian Swaby

Nicholas Lewis, David Pratt, Mark Hamel and Evan Santiago, 9, play chess.

Bob Bernstein and Nicholas Lewis showcase a 2022 award from the U.S. Chess Federation because of the club’s growth.

Market day

Although the heat has been stifling lately, there was a slight respite on June 1, with cool breezes just in time for the weekly Sarasota Farmers Market.

John Olson, of Stamper Cheese, said the weather brought about a change in mood at the market held on Lemon Avenue from First Street to State Street.

“Today has been a wonderful day,” he said. “People are in such a good mood. They’re not cranky and they’re all happy.” Vendors at the market, established in 1979, offered a wide range of items, which included food, drinks, crafts and jewelry.

“It’s a really good market,” said Terri Cisero of Terri’s Treasures. “It’s probably the biggest market in the area. I think it’s perfect because it’s local and it’s got a good following because it’s been around for so long. There’s a great diversity here of vendors.”

Attendee Hannah Eckert, who had long been unable to visit the market due to being pregnant with her daughter, Dianna Eckert, said she was glad to attend once again.

“We love coming to the farmers market,” she said. “We’re excited to be able to bring her and see all of the vendors we have relationships with.”

Marina Dobraya dances with Arthur Varshavsky, 3.

Hana Tiskiewic, of Bouncies from Bohemia, sells marionettes made in the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Photos by Ian Swaby

Mike Forbes, Maddie Kissick and Kathy Holder, of Mazzone Extravergine

A New Era of Luxury Living Begins on Siesta Key’s Pristine Shores

Siesta Key, renowned for its pristine white sands and vibrant community, is set to welcome a new landmark of luxury living. Tidewater Builders, Architura, Melissa DeMore Designs, and Molly Higdon of Keller Williams on the Water Sarasota gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony of Azure Siesta Key, a boutique condominium project that promises to redefine upscale coastal living.

Conceptualized nearly a decade ago by Ed Eible of Architura, Azure residences will feature three exclusive units, each designed with meticulous attention to detail for a seamless blend of modern elegance and coastal charm. The sleek and contemporary design merges with the natural surroundings creating an effortless transition of indoor-outdoor living.

Units will range in size from 4-bedroom 4-bathroom to 5-bedroom 6.5-bathroom and crafted with the highest quality of materials and designer finishes throughout. Each unit is equipped with a private pool, two car garages, and multiple balconies. Azure is nestled along Windsong Lane, a private road with deeded beach access allowing residents to be just steps away from the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The project is slated for completion mid to late 2025 and has already garnered significant interest locally and nationally. While there are many new condominium projects coming to Sarasota, it is rare to find new construction condominiums on Siesta Key. Azure offers an incredible opportunity for those looking for the convenience and luxury that new construction provides, while reaping the benefits of location in proximity to the beach. Whether you seek a serene retreat or an active coastal lifestyle, Azure Siesta Key is your gateway. Visit azuresiestakey.com for more information about the project. For sales inquiries email Molly.Higdon@kw.com.

Pride finds home

Project Pride SRQ recently set up a new headquarters and hired its first executive director.

IAN SWABY STAFF WRITER

roject Pride SRQ’s headquarters opened in the Rosemary District in January, but it already feels lived-in.

An extensive collection of memorabilia, books and plush toys adorns the wall facing the entrance, and that feeling of a home is exactly the impression the nonprofit hopes to create for the LGBTQ+ community, as well as for all who visit.

“They feel love and comfort, because everyone’s welcome here,” said Jason Champion, president of Project Pride. “You don’t have to be gay, straight, Black, white, green, purple, yellow, whatever. Anybody that comes in that door is going to feel all of our energy that we’ve put into making this a comfortable

space.”

That space also represents a community milestone, as the first physical LGBTQ+ Pride center in Sarasota County. It was Project Pride’s foray into initiatives that increasingly encompassed more of the community, that made the headquarters a welcome addition, as it did the hiring of the organization’s first executive director and first paid staff member, Paul Lotierzo.

With a background in development and fundraising, Lotierzo has spent his career with organizations that advance LGBTQ+ rights and equality, a cause he calls “near and dear to my heart as a queer person,” as well as other social justice issues.

“I’m excited. I was immediately drawn to the community here,” Lotierzo said. “Not because, ‘Oh, the weather’s beautiful.’ Sure, but it’s so much more than that. The people really is what drew me in, and the way Project Pride leads with such joy, which really spoke to me as a person.”

Lotierzo’s experience includes

Groundbreaking Photo by Rana Tierney - Roohi Photography

Photos by Ian Swaby

Paul Lotierzo and Jason Champion

executive roles with organizations like Immigration Equality, Civic Influencers and Athlete Ally in New York. He is now celebrating one full month with Project Pride.

He said his work has helped to raise organizations’ operational budgets into the multimillion-dollar range.

“LGBTQ nonprofits, nationally, receive a very small slice of the philanthropic pie, if you will, but also have to do so much with such limited resources,” Lotierzo said. “Being able to grow those organizations’ budgets, so they can serve more clients or people in the community, for me has just been the way that I’ve felt that I can have the greatest impact for the community.”

However, he began to find himself drawn to places where the issues were most prevalent.

“Coming from the northeast, we’re having different conversations up there than what’s happening down here in Florida and other states across the south,” he said. “It’s really where we need to be organizing and showing up for each other. That’s needed everywhere, but I wanted to be somewhere here where we can really have the greatest impact, and where I could help in any way that I can.”

With Project Pride, Lotierzo has been helping operationalize goals, implement new systems and processes and also serving as another facilitator and face for the community, including the one that will greet visitors to the new headquarters.

Visiting hours for the space are soon to be announced.

“We are a working board, and Paul is helping grow the board and our organization even stronger and bet-

ter when us as a working board of volunteers can’t be there,” Champion said. “He is the one that will be the light of what carries it on.”

Incorporated in 2019, Project Pride works with local organizations, businesses, and governments to promote understanding of, and to provide social opportunities for, the LGBTQ+ community.

Its major programs include LGBTQ+ grief counseling, support counseling for parents of transgender children, sober social events and Sarasota Pride, the latter of which includes a wide array of community events.

The new headquarters is also key in facilitating those community interactions. Currently, it’s being used by local LGBTQ+ organizations like SRQ Kickball, a group of transgender individuals and even a local

Toastmasters International club.

“I think that having a physical space, a safe place where people can come, use it safely, feel included, is important, because although Sarasota Pride has been around for decades, this is the first physical space for the community to come and to utilize and feel safe doing so,” Lotierzo said.

MONTH OF CELEBRATIONS

With Pride Month now underway, one of the organization’s initiatives is its series of events continuing throughout the month of June.

The celebrations kicked off with the Grand Carnival 2024 on June 1.

This weekend, in partnership with Senior Friendship Centers and Golden Girls Solutions, Project Pride will be hosting the second annual Silver Pride event. A celebration for

LGBTQ+ seniors ages 50 and up — although all ages are invited — the event doubles as a way to connect older adults with important resources in the community.

“We all know what our demographic is,” Champion said. “And especially in our elder LGBTQ community, it’s scary, because not necessarily do LGBTQ community members feel safe going to assisted living or know how they’re going to be treated and what there is, and there are a lot of great organizations in town. And our partnership with the Senior Friendship Centers is really what makes this lovely, because while it is a Pride festival, it’s also an informational resource bank for the elder groups.”

June 29 will see Project Pride hosting the Grand Flag March across the Ringling Bridge, with participants carrying what Champion said is one of the country’s largest progressive LGBTQ+ flags.

“Because of the divisive politics and things that we have going on right now, and now that we have a Freedom Summer happening with not being able to have the visibility of lighting the Ringling Bridge, we’re marching our Grand Flag all 700 feet over the bridge on June 29,” Champion said.

As Project Pride moves forward, Lotierzo and Champion are looking ahead with optimism.

“I do feel the tide of politics is turning … and I think we’re back on that precipice of getting back to a normality within society of being nice to people and loving one another,” Champion said. “And when you have that conversation, you understand that everybody just wants a

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Condominium in Epoch tops sales at $11.35M

ADAM HUGHES RESEARCH EDITOR

Acondominium in Epoch tops all transactions in this week’s real estate. R. Curtis Jordan, trustee, and Paige Peterson sold the Unit 17 condominium at 605 S. Gulfstream Ave. to Samuel and Dona Scott, of Sarasota, for $11.35 million. Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, four-anda-half baths and 5,328 square feet of living area. It sold for $7,194,100 in 2021.

SARASOTA

SAN

Tangier Properties LLC sold the home at 1479 Tangier Way to Lance and Marina McGrath, of Sarasota, for $8.25 million. Built in 2023, it has five bedrooms, five-and-a-half baths and 5,786 square feet of living area.

HARBOR ACRES

1515 Hillview Drive LLC sold the home at 1515 Hillview Drive to Alan Jay Perkins and Sondra Perkins, of Dallas, for $7.25 million. Built in 2023, it has four bedrooms, fourand-two-half baths, a pool and 5,220 square feet of living area.

TDI Coastal Homes LLC sold the home at 1630 S. Orange Ave. to David Hagelstein and Stephen Heffron, of Sarasota, for $5 million. Built in 2023, it has four bedrooms, four-and-two-half baths, a pool and 4,809 square feet of living area.

SARASOTA BAY CLUB

Sarasota Bay Club LLC sold the Unit 1027 condominium at 1299 Tamiami Trail to Randi Brodsky, Gary Kauffman and Mindy Kauffman, trustees, of Sarasota, for $2.6 million. Built in 2003, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 2,343 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.1 million in 2013.

BAY HAVEN

Malouf and Therese Abraham, of Canadian, Texas, sold their home at 2704 Bay Shore Road to Kim Ogilvie, of Sarasota, for $2,481,500. Built in 1925, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 4,020 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.5 million in 2014.

Ann and Andrew Rzonca, of Bradenton, sold their home at 815 Patterson Drive to Jeffrey and Barbara Rosenberg, of Sarasota, for $850,000. Built in 1952, it has three bedrooms, one bath and 1,584 square feet of living area. It sold for $110,000 in 1994.

Gladys Rose Stoll, trustee, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, sold the home at 3114 Bay Shore Road to Madison Iris Rosenberg, of Sarasota, for $765,000. Built in 1956, it has three

condominium in Epoch tops all transactions in this week’s real estate at

Built in 2021, it has four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths and 5,328 square feet of living area.

bedrooms, two baths and 1,445 square feet of living area. It sold for $182,500 in 2012.

AQUALANE ESTATES

Michael and Julie Dooley, of Sarasota, sold their home at 1509 Ridgewood Lane to Mark and Elizabeth Baldwin, of Sarasota, for $2.05 million. Built in 1990, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,554 square feet of living area. It sold for $942,500 in 2007.

1350 MAIN RESIDENTIAL

Kim Ogilvie, of Sarasota, sold her Unit 1601 condominium at 1350 Main St. to Kenneth and Linda Moore, of Franklin, Tennessee, for $1,813,500. Built in 2007, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,216 square feet of living area. It sold for $1.04 million in 2021.

Robert Gale, of New York City, sold his Unit 1102 condominium at 1350 Main St. to Maja Milosevic and Helena Milosevic, of Sarasota, for $970,000. Built in 2007, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,336 square feet of living area. It sold for $544,800 in 2007.

Jaideep Hingorani and Debrani Chaudhuri, of Punta Gorda, sold their Unit 700 condominium at 1350 Main St. to William Levine and Maryl Levine, trustees, of Longboat Key, for $899,000. Built in 2007, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,268 square feet of living area. It sold for $565,000 in 2020.

PRIME Sharon Feeney, of Lewiston, Michigan, sold her home at 953 Pomelo Place to Karin Draddy-Lopp, of Sarasota, for $1.6 million. Built in 1954, it has three bedrooms, two baths, a pool and 1,496 square feet of living area. It sold for $328,000 in 2001.

ENCLAVE AT LAUREL PARK

Brian Mariash, of Sarasota, sold his home at 520 Lafayette Court to Richard and Felicia Poes, of Interlaken, New York, for $1.2 million. Built in 2019, it has three bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths and 2,263

square feet of living area. It sold for $1.2 million in 2023.

THE 101 101 Tower LLC sold the Unit 8-F condominium at 101 S. Gulfstream Ave. to Gurkan Feyzullah Taviloglu and Stacy Taviloglu, of Sarasota, for $1.05 million. Built in 1974, it has two bedrooms, two baths and 1,390 square feet of living area. It sold for $900,000 in 2022.

ONLINE

See more transactions at YourObserver.com

Other top sales by area

SIESTA KEY: $1.6 MILLION

Siesta’s Bayside Dennis Matthew Hampton, of Buena Park, California, sold his home at 599 Commonwealth Lane to Dawn Marie Rundle and Keith Anders Rundle, of Anthem, Arizona, for $1.6 million. Built in 1972, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,156 square feet of living area. It sold for $950,000 in 2016.

PALMER RANCH: $1.36

MILLION

Arbor Lakes on Palmer Ranch

William and Cheryl McCue sold their home at 5828 Palmer Ranch Parkway to Jacqueline Gividen and Chris Brabandt, of Sarasota, for $1.36 million. Built in 2015, it has four bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 4,087 square feet of living area. It sold for $525,000 in 2015.

OSPREY: $1.15 MILLION

Bayside

Albert and Cathy Horn, trustees, of North Venice, sold the home at 3961 Waypoint Ave. to Jeffrey and Linda Anthony, of Osprey, for $1.15 million. Built in 2018, it has three bedrooms, three baths, a pool and 2,346 square feet of living area. It sold for $544,500 in 2018.

NOKOMIS: $5 MILLION

Casey Key Ellen Redmond, of Excelsior, Minnesota, sold her home at 506 S. Casey Key Road to Gerald Cavanaugh, of Nokomis, for $5 million. Built in 1988, it has three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and 3,906 square feet of living area. It sold for $2.8 million in 2019.

Courtesy of Realtor Lisa Rooks Morris

$11.35 million.

YOUR CALENDAR

FRIDAY, JUNE 7 ROCK PAINTING

2-4 p.m. at Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Library. Free. All ages are invited to create their own pieces of art on rocks. All supplies will be provided. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.

EBB & FLOW ON PALM

7-10 p.m. at Palm Avenue, next to Art O Vation Hotel, 1255 N. Palm Ave. Free. Fresh Fridays offers its final event of the season, a yacht rock experience with a live performance by We are Yacht Rock. Also enjoy offerings from local restaurants. Visit DowntownSarasotaDID.com.

SATURDAY, JUNE 8

WORLD OCEAN DAY

8-11 a.m. (Beach cleanup at 8 a.m., Educational Village at 9:30 a.m.) at Sea Turtle Pavilion, Siesta Beach, 941 Beach Road. Free. Join Sarasota County for World Ocean Day and a morning of volunteering and environmental education. A beach cleanup will be held, followed by an interactive educational village. Service hours are available to earn. Visit Facebook.com.

SATURDAY, JUNE 8 TO SUNDAY, JUNE 9

FOURTH ANNUAL DOWNTOWN

SARASOTA SPRING CRAFT FAIR

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Central Avenue and First Street. Free. Explore handmade jewelry, pottery, ceramics, photography, painting, clothing and more at a variety of prices. Also enjoy an expansive green market with plants, orchids, exotic flora, handmade soaps, gourmet spices and freshly popped kettle corn. Visit ArtFestival. com.

SUNDAY, JUNE 9

MUSIC IN THE GARDENS

6:30-8:30 p.m. at Sarasota Garden Club, 1131 Boulevard of the Arts. Free. The Sarasota Garden Club opens its historic building and botanical gardens to members and guests for its “Music In the Gardens” event, held each summer. Enjoy the surroundings with hors d’oeuvres, Champagne and wine by the Garden Club and live music by Elijah the Violinist. Visit SarasotaGardenClub.org.

BEST BET

SATURDAY, JUNE 8

SRQCON

11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Selby Library, 1331 First St. Free. This all-ages event celebrates pop culture with panels, demonstrations, cosplay, gaming, VR, an escape room, crafts and more. Come dressed in your best costume and join the cosplay contest. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.

Tom

and

characters

TUESDAY, JUNE 11

KIDS’ SUMMER BEACH RUNS

David Shapiro

Registration begins at 5:30 p.m.; runs start at 6:30 p.m. near the playground at Siesta Beach, 948 Beach Road. Free. These one-mile fun runs are offered by Sarasota County to encourage kids and families to participate in healthy activities during the summer. Visit SCGov.net.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12

VR FOR ALL AGES

10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Betty J. Johnson North Sarasota Library, 2801 Newtown Blvd. Free. All ages are invited to transport themselves to the depths of the sea and other locations through virtual reality. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.

THURSDAY, JUNE 13 MINI DIY CRYPTID CONTAINER

GARDEN

10:30-11:30 a.m. at 2801 Newtown Blvd. Free. Recommended for ages 5-18. Design and assemble your own miniature container garden for your own creepy crawly cryptid. All supplies are provided. One garden is permitted per family. Visit SCGovLibrary.LibraryMarket.com.

Hagin

Devin Eickelmann as “Star Wars”

with the 501st Legion

$12,000,000

$2,750,000

SPORTS

Fast Break

at Florida State.

Former Sarasota High baseball stars Conner Whittaker, David Barrett and Lance Trippel are in the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship tournament with Florida State University. The Seminoles will host the University of Connecticut in a super regional three-game series June 7-9, with the winner advancing to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Game one of the series is at noon June 7 on ESPN. Game two is at 11 a.m. June 8 on ESPN. If necessary, game three will be at noon June 9 on ESPN2.

… Former Sarasota High baseball catcher Ben McCabe, now with the A-level Fresno Grizzlies (Colorado Rockies), hit his first professional home run May 31 in the Grizzlies’ 11-4 win over the San Jose Giants. McCabe is hitting .205 with three RBIs in 88 at-bats in 2024.

… Sarasota tennis player Jagger Leach is ranked No. 5 in the national Class of 2025 by the Tennis Recruiting Network as of June 4. Leach is the son of former Women’s Tennis Association No. 1 player and International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Lindsay Davenport He is committed to Texas Christian University.

… The Sarasota FC U17 girls soccer team has received a bid to play in the U.S. Club Soccer National Cup on July 21-25 in Denver. … Sarasota Tsunami swimmers Bradshaw Shoemaker (25:57.28) and Cooper Messal (26:47.50) finished second and fifth in the age 11-12 two kilometer division of the 2024 Southern Zone Open Water Championships on May 31-June 2 on Barren River Lake in Lucas, Kentucky.

PAYDAY FOR PREPS? PAGE 11B

“It’s

fun to play, and it is a peaceful game for me. I can forget about everything else when I play.”

CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER

RYAN KOHN SPORTS EDITOR

When Allan Knight arrives in Sarasota to become the indoor volleyball coach at Cardinal Mooney High, he will have some adjustments to make.

Not because he’ll be in a new city, but because he’ll be in a city where he used to live, one that has changed a lot in his absence.

Knight will bring heaps of experience to the Cougars program starting this fall. He will take over the program from Chad Davis, who stepped down from both the indoor and beach volleyball programs in March.

Knight has been a volleyball coach for more than 25 years and has had plenty of success, winning state titles with Bishop Moore Catholic (2015) and Timber Creek High (2008).

Knight most recently coached at Lake Brantley High, which finished 20-9 and reached the Class 7A regional finals in 2023.

Before all of that, however, Knight was a volleyball player himself. After college, Knight moved to Sarasota for five years in the 1990s.

“I spent every day (playing volleyball) on Siesta Key,” Knight said.

“I come from Utah and Colorado, where you have to deal with snow for half the year. The idea of playing volleyball year-round, that was the vibe for me. What a great area. It’s such a unique town, too. You have a good combination of people.”

While Knight will have to adjust to how much the area has grown since his ’90s days on Siesta Key, there will be little adjustment in the gym. Knight said he is well aware of Mooney’s recent success in indoor volleyball, which includes a Class 3A state title win in 2019 and perennial trips to at least the regional round of the postseason.

While there is a bit of pressure to continue that success, Knight said, it’s a positive pressure.

“I think that is the sport in general,” Knight said.

“You are handling pressure, whether it is a big game or a big point, a big swing. It’s the nature of the sport. I enjoy the pressure, and I love the competition.”

Knight said that the biggest key to success as a coach, regardless of sport, is understanding athletes as individuals. One player might need a pat on the back when another needs words of encouragement, Knight said.

Another might need to see some intensity from their coach to get properly hyped. Understanding these personal needs and goals allows a coach to get the most out of everyone, Knight said.  Volleyball is not just a job to Knight. It is something that unites his family. His wife, Stephanie Feulner Knight, played volleyball in college and coaches youth volleyball; their

New coach Allan Knight brings state title experience to Cardinal Mooney High volleyball’s winning culture.

COACHING MOVES

daughter, Austin Knight, played for Lake Brantley before graduating this spring; and their son, Sawyer Knight, also plays on a boys club team.

“We are dialed in as a family, and we are going to bring that same passion to the Sarasota community,” Allan Knight said.  Cardinal Mooney finished 21-8 and reached the Class 3A regional semifinals in 2023. Barring transfers, the Cougars could return all but two players from the 2023 team in 2024 — graduated seniors Helena Hebda, a setter, and Sam Kotasek, a middle hitter. Junior Riley Greene, a Long

Cardinal Mooney is not the only school to make an impact coaching hire in recent days. Sarasota High has made a pair of them, first announcing Barry Cheeseman as the boys golf coach on May 30, then announcing Sara Nuxol as girls basketball coach on June 3. Cheeseman comes to the Sailors after a professional golf career that includes 220 events played on the PGA Tour from 1988 to 2003. His best finish was a solo third-place finish (272, 12 under par) at the 1998 Michelob Championship, held at Kingsmill Golf Club outside of Williamsburg, Virginia. Cheeseman has also worked as a golf instructor at The Longboat Key Club. Nuxol brings experience from several levels of basketball. She was most recently the girls head coach at Timber Creek High, but she also served as an assistant coach at the University of South CarolinaAiken for three seasons. Nuxol played collegiately at Samford University.

graduate Helena Hebda is one of two players the Cougars will be without in 2024, the other being graduate Sam Kotasek. Everyone else is scheduled to return, barring any transfers.

Island University commit, led the team with 284 kills, 77 blocks and 55 serving aces. Junior Katie Powers led the team with 397 digs. Sophomore Layla Larrick was second to Hebda (439) in assists with 384.

Courtesy photo

Former Sailors pitcher Conner Whittaker is a junior

— Chris McCorkle, senior, Cardinal Mooney football. SEE PAGE 12B

File image Cardinal Mooney volleyball

Courtesy image

Allan Knight will take over the Cardinal Mooney High indoor volleyball program. Knight has won two FHSAA state titles in his coaching career, which has spanned more than 25 years.

NIL arrives for Florida HS athletes

Florida becomes 36th state to allow preps to profit from their names, images and likenesses.

t was an inevitable result.

IAs soon as the NCAA approved rules letting athletes profit from their name, image and likeness in July 2021, it was only a matter of time before those rules trickled down to the high school level. In fact, it started just a few months later, with the governing bodies of high school athletics in New York, New Jersey and Nebraska all approving high school NIL in their states in 2021.

For a while, the Florida High School Athletic Association was a holdout on such laws. But over the past year, as more states approved such bylaws, talk began to increase.  Now, the day is here.

On Tuesday, the FHSAA board of directors officially approved bylaws allowing high school athletes in Florida to profit from NIL via a unanimous vote. In doing so, Florida became the 36th state, plus Washington, D.C., to approve such bylaws. Though the FHSAA has approved them, the bylaws are still pending State Board of Education ratification on July 24.

Here’s the basics. Starting with the 2024-25 school year, athletes from all high school sports can profit from the use of their name, image and likeness in any way that does not violate FHSAA bylaws. This means that athletes can promote products and services provided by local (or national) businesses, with some exceptions. These exceptions are largely common sense: things from the adult entertainment world, for example, plus weapons, alcohol and tobacco products. Athletes are also barred from promoting gambling and sports betting services, as well as political and social activist organizations.

Athletes are also barred from promoting their schools and the FHSAA in any NIL content they may create.

The FHSAA has also included language in the bylaws meant to curtail the use of NIL as a recruiting tool, something that concerned many in the high school sports community. The bylaws ban athletes from participating in activities involving NIL collectives, defined as “groups, organizations, or cooperative enterprises that exist to collect funds from donors and help facilitate NIL deals for student-athletes, and/or create ways for athletes to monetize from their NIL.”

At the college level, NIL collectives in practice have become a way to pay players to go to specific schools, something that becomes apparent when you look at things like football quarterback Jaden Rashada’s lawsuit against the University of Florida.

Rashada claims he was promised $13.85 million over four years to play for the Gators — a deal negotiated by the school’s NIL collective — and signed a national letter of intent with the school as a result; when the Gators tried to go back on the deal, Rashada asked out of his letter of intent. Rashada played the 2023 season at Arizona State University before transferring to the University of Georgia.

In addition to the ban on collectives, there is specific language in the bylaws that bans using NIL money as a recruiting tool, and athletes will not be allowed to enter an NIL agreement if they have already transferred to a new school after starting a sports season, unless they get an exemption from the county.

If you want to read the new NIL

rules in full, they are section 9.9 of the FHSAA handbook.

Though the bylaws have now been passed, questions remain, the biggest being how these laws will be enforced? That was the concern of Riverview High football head coach Josh Smithers when he heard of the bylaws passing.

“How do you know when the lines are blurred?” Smithers said. “Think about private schools. There are probably a lot of people who own their own businesses (who have kids) at private schools. If someone sponsors someone who came over to the football team, how do you prove that was not recruiting, that it was just an opportunity for their business?”

It is something that the FHSAA will have to figure out as issues arrive. In general, Smithers said, he’s in favor of his athletes profiting from their NIL if a local business wants to feature them in some way — granted that opportunity does not distract them from working hard on the field and in the weight room. And there’s a chance the

whole thing turns out to be a lot of noise with no real consequence.

Smithers said he talked to three coaching friends in Georgia, which passed high school NIL laws in October 2023, about their experiences.

The three coaches all worked for different schools, and all three said none of their players have received NIL deals yet.

It is possible that these laws only end up affecting the top 1% of high school athletes in Florida going forward. Those athletes may not be in the more “popular” sports like football and basketball, either; athletes like swimmers and golfers who routinely compete in regional and national events may have more name recognition in their specific communities. Jacksonville golfer Miles Russell, a high school freshman, is the perfect example; at 15, he’s going to be the youngest golfer to play a PGA Tour event at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit later this month.  It is also possible that, in a sports-hungry area like Sara-

sota, the top few athletes at each school get small payments for their appearance in local ads. Maybe a record-setting running back gets in a car dealership ad or an NCAA Division I-bound girls basketball player gets sponsored by a company looking to capitalize on the booming popularity of the WNBA and women’s basketball more generally.  It is also possible that everything descends into chaos from here.

Where the NIL roller coaster will stop, no one knows — even the FHSAA board.

“This is something new,” Board President Monica Colucci said during the FHSAA’s Tuesday meeting. “We are going into new territory for the state of Florida.”

Ryan Kohn is the sports editor for the Sarasota/Siesta Key Observer. Contact him at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.

Chris McCorkle ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Chris McCorkle is a rising senior defensive back at Cardinal Mooney High. McCorkle is rated as a threestar player in the On3 Industry Ranking and the No. 48 defensive back in the class of 2025. McCorkle committed to Indiana University on April 26. He had 24 tackles, eight interceptions and 18 passes defended in 2023.

When did you start playing football?

I started when I was 4 years old. I just loved the game, so my family put me into it.

What is the appeal to you?

It’s fun to play, and it is a peaceful game for me. I can forget about everything else when I play.

Why did you want to commit to Indiana?

It’s all about the way they (the coaches) handled themselves and the culture that they are building there. They are making a lot of changes in a short amount of time with a new head coach (Curt Cignetti) and it has impressed me a lot.

What was the recruiting process like for you?

It was a little overwhelming. You know, schools want you and they make you a priority. I had a lot of coaches texting me, and I had to tell them “no.” But you just have to get through it.

Do you pay attention to national rankings like Rivals and On3?

I see that stuff. You feel it a little bit, when you know that you’re better than some of the players rated above you. But you have to

If you would like to make a recommendation for the Sarasota Observer’s Athlete of the Week feature, send it to Ryan Kohn at RKohn@ YourObserver.com.

put your head down and grind. On the field, it doesn’t matter who is rated better.

What have you been working to improve this spring? Everything. I’m always working on my craft. Even though I know I’m good, I can be better.

What is the feeling around Cardinal Mooney football right now? I feel like we have developed a lot over the spring. We lost a lot of kids after last year (to graduation), but with the kids that we have coming in, I think we can be even better than we were last year.

What are your goals for the fall season?

I’d love to get more interceptions than last year, but I know some teams are going to look at my film and then not throw my way, so I might not (get the chances). But if it happens, I’d love it.

What is your favorite food? I love Chipotle. I get white rice, chicken al pastor, steak, regular chicken, cheese and queso.

Finish this sentence:

“Chris McCorkle is …” … Outgoing.

NATURE’S BEAUTY WITH

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EMERGING PRIDE by Owen Bergstein and Jeff Chen, edited by Jeff Chen

By Luis Campos