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Two free outdoor concert series are scheduled in Bradenton this spring.
The inaugural season of the Manatee Music Series kicks off March 21, 6 to 8 p.m., at the G.T. Bray Amphitheater in Bradenton, according to a news release from the county.
Realize Bradenton also announced the lineup for its Music in the Park series, which runs on Fridays, 6 to 8 p.m., from March 22 to April 26 at the Riverwalk Pavilion at Rossi Park.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket. Leashed dogs are also welcome at the family-friendly concerts.
Like free live music? These Bradenton-area concert series are happening this spring
The Ringling, the Sarasota Art Museum and SPAACES gallery are vibrant museums showcasing some enthralling exhibits. Here’s what we saw, and how to plan your next trip to see it for yourself.
The Florida Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing for the Little Ringling Bridge Project Development and Environment (PD&E) Study on Thursday, March 21, at St. Armands Key Lutheran Church, 40 N. Adams Drive. The project area is between Bird Key Drive to Sarasota Harbour West.
The in-person open house will begin at 5 p.m. The virtual and in-person hearing and testimony portion will begin at 6 p.m.
Alternatives are being evaluated to address structural integrity because of the age and operational deficiencies of the existing bridges. The proposed improvements will enhance safety, improve traffic operations, add a transit lane, replace the existing sidewalks with shared use paths, harden infrastructure and increase the bridge’s resilience to storm events.
To view the hearing online, advance registration is required at:
From 5 to 6 p.m., in-person attendees can view project materials and speak with the team in an open house format. The virtual and in-person hearing and testimony portion will begin at 6 p.m. Both in-person and virtual attendees may view the project presentation and provide feedback on the proposed alternative.
All meeting materials, including the presentation, will be available online by March 14 at:
Comments can be provided through the project website. Project documents will also be available for public viewing through April 4 at Selby Public Library, 1331 First St. in Sarasota, and at FDOT District One Manatee Operations Center, 14000 East SR 64 in Bradenton.
Little Ringling Bridge alternatives come with at least $64M price tag
Options to rebuild a critical 0.75-mile bridge linking downtown Sarasota to the barrier islands of St. Armands, Lido and Longboat keys will be presented during a Florida Department of Transportation public hearing next Thursday.
The hearing, which will include a presentation of the FDOT’s preferred option, will be Thursday, March 21, at St. Armands Key Lutheran Church, 40 N. Adams Drive. The project area is between Bird Key Drive and Sarasota Harbour West. The in-person open house will begin at 5 p.m. The virtual and in-person hearing and testimony portion will begin at 6 p.m. The meeting will also be available online.
The project area is between Bird Key Drive and Sarasota Harbor West. In addition to addressing the structural integrity of the spans, the aging twin bridges lack facilities needed for modern transportation needs and do not match recent and future improvements to the John Ringling Bridge between the mainland and Bird Key.
Constructed in 1958, the bridges are spaced 100 feet apart from center to center. Each bridge is 1,008 feet long and 37.5 feet wide. It is supported by 21 spans each 48 feet long, all consisting of four lines of precast concrete beams on concrete piles.
The maximum vertical clearance under the bridges is approximately 12 feet above average high water. Several sections of the deck were replaced on the westbound bridge in 2016 along with other repair work throughout the years.
Project alternatives include replacing the twin bridges with a single bridge at $63.7 million or new twin bridges at $71.5 million.
The single bridge alternative would replace the two existing bridges with a single structure for all lanes of travel. The travel lanes on the new bridge will be the same 11-foot width as on the existing bridges. Ten-foot outside shoulders will accommodate bicyclists, and a 14-foot shared use path would be added to each side of the bridge.
Potential City Island investors want to leave a legacy
The many endeavors of entrepreneurs Jeffrey and David Koffman, who say capitalism begets altruism, include a plan to grow City Island's status as an attraction.
Near the conclusion of the Feb. 20 meeting of the City Commission, Mayor Liz Alpert took the commissioners’ comments period to admonish what she sees as hostility toward individuals and organizations who bring proposals to staff and commissioners.
Although not mentioning him by name, the comment was likely in reference to Sarasota resident Jeffrey Koffman, who during the Feb. 5 meeting pitched commissioners on a public-private partnership to activate Ken Thompson Park on City Island.
It wasn’t the first time Koffman brought a proposal to the city. His family has a history of creating attractions, building hotels, owning a country club, operating a water taxi service. Since relocating here three years ago, Koffman has pitched a permanent carousel at St. Armands’ Circle park and spearheaded the one and only Winter Spectacular event in the park in 2022.
The Koffman brothers’ most recent idea is to activate the largely passive Ken Thompson Park by investing millions of dollars to rehabilitate the 25-acre city property with a beach restoration, day docks, splash pad, topiary garden, walking trails and more. In exchange, they also want to use a portion of the park to make Sarasota the U.S. headquarters for park golf, a globally growing miniature version of the sport that is played with a single mallet-like, non-lofted club and a plastic ball.
The city would retain ownership and control of the park, Koffman told commissioners, and to help alleviate traffic congestion their company would operate a fee-based water taxi service across Sarasota Bay to City Island. They’d also like the option to include an observation deck-type tower attraction called Aerobar.
Although met with opposition from long-suffering barrier island residents concerned about traffic and others citing the use of public space for private enterprise, the commissioners voted 3-2 to send the matter to the Park, Recreation and Environmental Protection board for further evaluation.
Away from the bustling streets of downtown, you can still find the smoky scent of fresh barbecue.
In fact, some of Sarasota’s most popular barbecue locations include those without complex recipes or even walls of their own. But they still have classic offerings prepared with care.
Here are some food trucks and spots serving the classics.
A Virginia-based company now controls four golf courses in Lakewood Ranch, including a public course which will shift to operating as a private club starting next week.
Heritage Golf Group announced the acquisition of the three private Lakewood Ranch courses — Cypress Links, Kings Dunes and Royal Lakes — that form Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club in a news release, but only sent emails to the annual passholders at the public course, Legacy Golf Club, offering refunds for members who had annual passes.
"Effective immediately, we have made the decision to reposition Legacy Golf Club to a fully private club," the email provided to the Herald-Tribune said. "With this in mind, we plan on closing the club on Monday, March 18, to begin a comprehensive renovation to the Arnold Palmer Signature Golf Course."
The transition of Legacy Golf Club to a country club model leaves The River Club as the only public golf course in Lakewood Ranch, sparking some concerns from longtime residents in what has been one of the fastest selling master-planned communities in the country for several years.
Lakewood Ranch now has more than 66,000 residents living in the 33,000-acre development.
Heritage said in the email to Legacy passholders the "multi-million project will include rebuilding greens, tee boxes, fairways, bunkers and cart paths.
"We expect this restoration to be completed and the course to reopen in the fourth quarter of this year."
Heritage also offered refunds to the annual members impacted by the course becoming private.
Opinion - Golf continues to thrive in Lakewood Ranch area
When I moved to Lakewood Ranch a decade ago, I figured I would be playing a lot of golf.
I didn't think I would be writing about it so much.
That's because shortly after I arrived, I heard all the arguments why golf courses were a thing of the past.
First, and most notably, land is just too darned expensive. Every fairway could be a row of 32 townhomes. That's lost revenue.
Next, younger generations don't like strolling a golf course for five hours when they could be on social media.
People don't like to be forced into an expensive golf course membership if they want to move into a certain community. It's hard to write that $800 check every month when all your puttering is done in the garage.
Golf courses are so expensive to maintain, it's near impossible to turn a profit, or in the case of a private community, sustain financial viability without assessing the residents on a regular basis.
People want a multitude of amenities in their new communities, and a golf course can detract from the ability to provide those amenities, especially in terms of space.
So the last thing I expected when I moved to the area was to see more golf courses being built, or companies putting major revenue into existing courses.
Certainly, the market seemed to be slowing down at the time.
A 2018 story by USA Today said that municipal golf courses in Florida had lost $100 million over the previous five years. A 2018 story by Builder magazine asked "Are golf communities a thing of the past?"
The market, even in a vacation oasis like Florida, was saturated. Golf was dead.
Or so it seemed.
Flash forward to today. Golf is not just a topic in East County in 2024. It's "the" topic.
I am becoming more and more disgusted with what’s going on in Sarasota.
And I am becoming more and more disgusted with what's going on in Florida in general.
I moved here from New York state in 1996; my first job was working as a hostess in the Columbia at St. Armands.
Fast forward 28 years, and driving down Bee Ridge Road, Webber Street., U.S. 41, etc., is like racing in the Daytona 500.
Florida is developing more and more. There are more shootings in Florida due to people carrying concealed weapons. There are more traffic accidents. There are out-of-control insurance costs. And now the state of Florida is trying to ban every little thing.
Gov. Ron DeSantis needs to stop telling everyone to move here, and he needs to stop saying we are a “free state.” Recently, Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s chief financial officer, was on Fox Business telling New York businesses to come on down!
But we don’t need any more problems or bad behavior coming here.
I have the opportunity to go back and forth to New York and, yes, New Yorkers have their own set of problems – but that state is a more manageable place.
It’s just a matter of time before I will leave Florida altogether. It has completely lost both its charm and its way, mostly due to greed.
Shame on DeSantis and all who follow his nonsense. Good riddance, Sarasota.
Barbara Jean Indivino, Sarasota and Rochester, New York
“Legislature passes bill to raise age to strip”: An article about this bill March 11 surely caught my attention, not knowing whether I had to worry about disrobing in my own home.
I was relieved to learn that the bill, which awaits the governor’s signature, applied only to “adult entertainment” establishments, commonly known as strip clubs.
Now it seems to me that the Legislature does not much like strip clubs, and I'm sure many residents of Florida would agree they do not want these tawdry establishments in their neighborhoods.
So while our lawmakers were deciding what the right “stripping age” should be, I feel they missed an opportunity to take a much stronger stance against these decadent establishments by raising the age for strippers to 60.
While St. Patrick's Day may be the main attraction this week in March, there'll be plenty of other events taking place locally, including live music. Sarasota's annual jazz festival will return with another lineup of Grammy-winning and nominated musicians, while a variety of Grammy and Blues Music Award-winning or nominated blues musicians will also visit us this week, including at a free three-day music festival on Anna Maria Island.
Americana, rap, reggae, surf rock and the music of the Grateful Dead are also represented in this concert picks installment, with nearly half the shows taking place at one Sarasota venue. Here are this week's highlights. Event details are subject to change.
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