Premiere of Sarasota Seafood & Music Festival in Downtown Sarasota

This looks like an interesting and fun event to check out this weekend in downtown Sarasota. Five Points Park is in front of Selby Library at the corner of Pineapple Avenue and First Street. It might be easier to park in Burns Square and then walk north on Pineapple a few blocks to the park. Or use the Whole Foods parking garage upper levels, which you enter on 2nd Street.

The Sarasota Downtown Merchants Association announces the inaugural Sarasota Seafood & Music Festival. The event is in Selby Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota on January 23-24, 2016. Saturday 10-7 and Sunday 11-6, free admission and parking.

The mission is to celebrate the diverse nautical and cultural heritage of Sarasota while celebrating community thru camaraderie, great music and scrumptious foods. The event interweaves the freshest sustainable and indigenous seafood with outstanding live musical performances. Included will be seafood cooking demos, fishing workshops, arts and crafts, educational programs and exhibits.

Seafood lovers will enjoy fin-fish and shellfish prepared onsite by local restaurants and food purveyors. The ‘menu’ includes grouper, stone crabs, jambalaya, crab cakes, low country boil and more! 

Musical genres explore the gamut from Rock N’ Roll, R&B, Blues, Rumba Flamenco to Reggae and Jazz by such talented musicians and groups as Holey Miss Moley, Aland Music, Flat Land, Come Back Alice, R.J. Howson, Jah Movement, Kettle of Fish, Twinkle & Rock Soul Radio and the Sarasota Steel Pan Band. In addition, the event showcases original handmade artwork by a select group of local, regional and national artisans.

Sarasota Parks

From little neighborhood parks to beaches--which are actually really big parks--Sarasota County does a beautiful job with creating, maintaining and improving its parks. For a full list, go to: Parks Locations & Amenities

Here are some examples:

Neighborhood parks:

• Payne Park (downtown, east of Rte. 301)
• Arlington Park & Aquatic Center & dog park (east of Tamiami Trail, near Sarasota Memorial Hospital) 
• Urfer Family Park (on Bee Ridge, corner of Honore)
• Vest pocket park at Osprey Avenue & Mietaw, near Hyde Pk Street, in Southside Village)
• Ackerman Park (east of I-75, between Palmer Blvd and Fruitville Rd)

Scenic parks:

• Causeway Park (on the mainland side of the John Ringling Causeway bridge)
• Bird Key Park (at the Bird Key end of the John Ringling Causeway bridge, across from downtown Sarasota)
• Sarasota Bayfront Park (west end of Main Street, on the bayfront, downtown)

• 

  Sarasota Bayfront Park, looking towards John Ringling Causeway

• Centennial Park (10th Street, just north of downtown, includes boat launch)
• Bay Island Park (on both sides of the Siesta Key (north) Bridge)
• Phillippi Estate Park (Tamiami Trail & Constitution Avenue)
• The Celery Fields (Sarasota's only "mountain", a 100-ft high hill garnished with palm trees, great place for a hike, and lots of bicycle paths nearby; approx. 2 miles east of I-75, off Palmer Blvd)

Dog Parks:

• Arlington Park (east of Tamiami Trail, near Sarasota Memorial Hospital)
• Lakeview Paw Park (east of I-75, north of Proctor Ave)