You'll see high quality original artwork in a variety of media. Enjoy talking about the work with the artists.
Great opportunity to find unique pieces for decorating your house or condo in Sarasota.
Showing posts with label downtown sarasota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label downtown sarasota. Show all posts
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Art Show this Weekend in Sarasota
Just a heads-up to check out the 28th Annual Downtown Sarasota Festival of the Arts this weekend, Feb. 13-14, 2016, 10AM-5PM, on Main Street, from Orange Avenue east to Links Avenue, in downtown Sarasota FL.
You'll see high quality original artwork in a variety of media. Enjoy talking about the work with the artists.
Great opportunity to find unique pieces for decorating your house or condo in Sarasota.
You'll see high quality original artwork in a variety of media. Enjoy talking about the work with the artists.
Great opportunity to find unique pieces for decorating your house or condo in Sarasota.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Walking Tour of Sarasota Districts
Sarasota FL, a lush and quirky small city on Florida's Gulf Coast, is trying to use principles of New Urbanism to weave its various charming "old urbanism" districts into a cohesive live-work-culture-nature experience.
Blessed with a gorgeous location, nestled alongside the mid-Gulf Coast, an hour south of Tampa, protected by even more gorgeous barrier islands--here called "keys"--including Longboat Key, Lido Key, St Armands Key, Bird Key and Siesta Key--Sarasota is also the arts and culture capital of Florida.
In its very walkable and compact downtown, you'll find theatres, a beautiful opera house, a soaring modern library, a purple-painted waterfront concert hall, a municipal auditorium, upscale shops and restaurants, Whole Foods Market, and many art galleries.
A few blocks away, across the only scenic section of Tamiami Trail (Hwy 41), is the magnificent Sarasota Bayfront Park, lined each winter season with modern sculptures, and featuring a lovely tree-shaded walking path and park, impressive yachts, and two restaurants, one upscale and one of the sea-shack variety.
Several blocks south of Main Street, separated by a non-descript, pedestrian-indifferent office-building-zone, there is a charming antiques district, called Burns Square, along Pineapple and Orange Avenues, with restaurants and boutiques, an art movie house, and a neighborhood of artist studios offering monthly Friday night studio/gallery strolls.
Crossing Tamiami Trail and south a few blocks more, is the tiny retail crossroads called Southside Village, surrounded on one side by a lush neighborhood of old residental streets and on the other by the expansive Sarasota Memorial Hospital Center. Southside Village has been undergoing "upscaling" in recent years, and it's a delightful mix of lux gift shops, gourmet markets, restaurants featuring international cuisines, as well as cozy neighborhood bar-restaurants, bakery-cafes, hair salons and boutiques.
A few winding miles down the road is Siesta Drive, which crosses Sarasota Bay and winds through Siesta Key, a tropical paradise enlivened by Ocean Boulevard with its funky shops and restaurants, leading to an exquisite wide beach composed of soft, powdery white sand that is 99% crystal. Perfect for walking, swimming, sunning, parasailing, and sunset-watching and applauding, which is a nightly tradition on Siesta.
Heading northwest from downtown Sarasota, over a couple of short bridges, you enter the world-famous St Armands Circle retail district. It's a "circle" of short blocks that wrap around a park on St Armands Key. There is every kind of store and restaurant, as well as Lido Beach, a long and deep expanse of not-so-soft sand with unbroken vistas across the blue-green waters of the Gulf.
Over another couple of bridges and you're driving alongside the perfect lawns and landscaping of Gulf of Mexico Drive on Longboat Key, a golf-course- and luxury-high-rise-lined gold coast community with its own long strip of wild beach towards the north end. Cross another bridge and you're on lovely Anna Maria, a key of old houses and cute shops just north of Longboat and west of Bradenton.
All these bridges and keys, taken along with downtown proper, make Sarasota a diverting place to live. Within a few miles of any one spot is another with different views and amenities.
Blessed with a gorgeous location, nestled alongside the mid-Gulf Coast, an hour south of Tampa, protected by even more gorgeous barrier islands--here called "keys"--including Longboat Key, Lido Key, St Armands Key, Bird Key and Siesta Key--Sarasota is also the arts and culture capital of Florida.
In its very walkable and compact downtown, you'll find theatres, a beautiful opera house, a soaring modern library, a purple-painted waterfront concert hall, a municipal auditorium, upscale shops and restaurants, Whole Foods Market, and many art galleries.
A few blocks away, across the only scenic section of Tamiami Trail (Hwy 41), is the magnificent Sarasota Bayfront Park, lined each winter season with modern sculptures, and featuring a lovely tree-shaded walking path and park, impressive yachts, and two restaurants, one upscale and one of the sea-shack variety.
Several blocks south of Main Street, separated by a non-descript, pedestrian-indifferent office-building-zone, there is a charming antiques district, called Burns Square, along Pineapple and Orange Avenues, with restaurants and boutiques, an art movie house, and a neighborhood of artist studios offering monthly Friday night studio/gallery strolls.
Crossing Tamiami Trail and south a few blocks more, is the tiny retail crossroads called Southside Village, surrounded on one side by a lush neighborhood of old residental streets and on the other by the expansive Sarasota Memorial Hospital Center. Southside Village has been undergoing "upscaling" in recent years, and it's a delightful mix of lux gift shops, gourmet markets, restaurants featuring international cuisines, as well as cozy neighborhood bar-restaurants, bakery-cafes, hair salons and boutiques.
A few winding miles down the road is Siesta Drive, which crosses Sarasota Bay and winds through Siesta Key, a tropical paradise enlivened by Ocean Boulevard with its funky shops and restaurants, leading to an exquisite wide beach composed of soft, powdery white sand that is 99% crystal. Perfect for walking, swimming, sunning, parasailing, and sunset-watching and applauding, which is a nightly tradition on Siesta.
Heading northwest from downtown Sarasota, over a couple of short bridges, you enter the world-famous St Armands Circle retail district. It's a "circle" of short blocks that wrap around a park on St Armands Key. There is every kind of store and restaurant, as well as Lido Beach, a long and deep expanse of not-so-soft sand with unbroken vistas across the blue-green waters of the Gulf.
Over another couple of bridges and you're driving alongside the perfect lawns and landscaping of Gulf of Mexico Drive on Longboat Key, a golf-course- and luxury-high-rise-lined gold coast community with its own long strip of wild beach towards the north end. Cross another bridge and you're on lovely Anna Maria, a key of old houses and cute shops just north of Longboat and west of Bradenton.
All these bridges and keys, taken along with downtown proper, make Sarasota a diverting place to live. Within a few miles of any one spot is another with different views and amenities.
Saturday, January 9, 2016
Thunder by the Bay and Downtown Sarasota Farmers Market
It's just another Saturday in downtown Sarasota. Simultaneous popular events somehow flowing one into the other. Today it's the regular Saturday Downtown Sarasota Farmers Market on Lemon Avenue and State Street, surrounded by zillions of motorcycles, with a bike-themed arts and crafts show on Gulfstream Avenue and at Five Points Park next to Selby Library.
Thunder by the Bay is an annual fundraiser that brings lots of riders and gawkers to our little city by the bay.
The Downtown Sarasota Farmers Market is in its 37th year, with more than 70 vendors offering 5000 square feet of plants, produce, ready-to-eat foods, live music, climbing wall, bungee bouncing booth, fine art, clothing, pottery, and other arts and crafts. And let's not forget the "dog show" featuring all manner of pooches strolling through the market with their owners in tow. Every Saturday from 7AM to 1PM, year-round.
Thunder by the Bay is an annual fundraiser that brings lots of riders and gawkers to our little city by the bay.
The Downtown Sarasota Farmers Market is in its 37th year, with more than 70 vendors offering 5000 square feet of plants, produce, ready-to-eat foods, live music, climbing wall, bungee bouncing booth, fine art, clothing, pottery, and other arts and crafts. And let's not forget the "dog show" featuring all manner of pooches strolling through the market with their owners in tow. Every Saturday from 7AM to 1PM, year-round.
Friday, January 8, 2016
Sarasota: A City of Walkable "Pods"
While you need a car, bus, or bicycle to get from district-to-district in Sarasota FL, each "pod"--as I like to think of them-- is easily walkable once you're there.
For instance:
Downtown Sarasota:
Park on Cross Street, at the north end of Pineapple Avenue in Burns Square. Walk across the roundabout towards downtown. At the purple fountain, continue on either Lemon Avenue or Pineapple Avenue. You can walk everywhere downtown from here. West on Main Street to Bayfront Park. Or east on Main Street all the way to Rte. 301 (Washington Blvd). Don't forget to explore Palm Avenue, 1st Street, State Street, etc.
Siesta Key Village:
Park in the Village (free parking lots behind Ocean Blvd). You can walk west down Ocean Blvd to Beach Access #5. Explore all the side streets, too, including Canal Road (which intersects with Ocean Blvd at the gazebo between the Lobster Pot and Beach Bazaar.
Gulf Gate and Sarasota Pavilion:
Gulf Gate Village consists of one-story shops and restaurants on Gulf Gate Drive, Gateway, and Superior Avenue. Next to the village is Sarasota Pavilion, which has lots of shops including Michaels Crafts, TJ Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross Store, Panera Bread, Books-a-Million, Marshall's, Chinese food, and many others. Park in the village or at the Pavilion, and you can walk anywhere within those two shopping/dining areas.
St Armands Circle and Lido Beach:
There's plenty of parking behind the shops and restaurants on St Armands Circle. If you want to walk the circle and have easy access to the beach, park in the Lido Beach parking area (2nd right off the Circle, if you're coming from Tamiami Trail). You can walk right onto Lido Beach from there, or walk around the Circle. There's a lovely walking path just off the beach entry there. As soon as you step onto the sand from the entry ramp, look to your right, and you'll see a tree-shaded path that parallels the beach for about a mile and then reconnects with the beach. So you can walk on the path in one direction, and return via the beach in the other direction.
Pinecraft:
This is the Amish/Mennonite neighborhood in Sarasota. Taking Bahia Vista St. east from Tamiami Trail, look for the small turquoise "Pinecraft Park" sign on your right, and turn right.You can park near the shuffleboard court at Pinecraft Park. Walk in the small park, or along the canal. Also, you can walk through the whole neighborhood of small, well-kept houses. On Bahia Vista Street, get fresh produce at the Amish Market. There's a popular Big Olaf ice cream shop, a pizzeria, restaurants, and other locally owned shops. At the corner of Bahia Vista and Beneva is a shopping center with Earth Origins market, Dollar store, CVS, etc.
For instance:
Downtown Sarasota:
Park on Cross Street, at the north end of Pineapple Avenue in Burns Square. Walk across the roundabout towards downtown. At the purple fountain, continue on either Lemon Avenue or Pineapple Avenue. You can walk everywhere downtown from here. West on Main Street to Bayfront Park. Or east on Main Street all the way to Rte. 301 (Washington Blvd). Don't forget to explore Palm Avenue, 1st Street, State Street, etc.
Siesta Key Village:
Park in the Village (free parking lots behind Ocean Blvd). You can walk west down Ocean Blvd to Beach Access #5. Explore all the side streets, too, including Canal Road (which intersects with Ocean Blvd at the gazebo between the Lobster Pot and Beach Bazaar.
Gulf Gate and Sarasota Pavilion:
Gulf Gate Village consists of one-story shops and restaurants on Gulf Gate Drive, Gateway, and Superior Avenue. Next to the village is Sarasota Pavilion, which has lots of shops including Michaels Crafts, TJ Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross Store, Panera Bread, Books-a-Million, Marshall's, Chinese food, and many others. Park in the village or at the Pavilion, and you can walk anywhere within those two shopping/dining areas.
St Armands Circle and Lido Beach:
There's plenty of parking behind the shops and restaurants on St Armands Circle. If you want to walk the circle and have easy access to the beach, park in the Lido Beach parking area (2nd right off the Circle, if you're coming from Tamiami Trail). You can walk right onto Lido Beach from there, or walk around the Circle. There's a lovely walking path just off the beach entry there. As soon as you step onto the sand from the entry ramp, look to your right, and you'll see a tree-shaded path that parallels the beach for about a mile and then reconnects with the beach. So you can walk on the path in one direction, and return via the beach in the other direction.
Pinecraft:
This is the Amish/Mennonite neighborhood in Sarasota. Taking Bahia Vista St. east from Tamiami Trail, look for the small turquoise "Pinecraft Park" sign on your right, and turn right.You can park near the shuffleboard court at Pinecraft Park. Walk in the small park, or along the canal. Also, you can walk through the whole neighborhood of small, well-kept houses. On Bahia Vista Street, get fresh produce at the Amish Market. There's a popular Big Olaf ice cream shop, a pizzeria, restaurants, and other locally owned shops. At the corner of Bahia Vista and Beneva is a shopping center with Earth Origins market, Dollar store, CVS, etc.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Selby Library, An Oasis Downtown
Sarasota has a habit of making things beautiful (well, with a few architectural exceptions downtown!). Selby Library looks like a graceful, gleaming mothership floating across from Five Points Park on First Street.
With columns that look like elephant legs, reminiscent of its circus heritage, the building offers shady relief from summer sun outside, and a 21st century research and reading facility inside.
On the first floor, you'll find the children's library, with a delightful entrance archway that's a real aquarium! On this floor are also new books, videos, books on tape, DVDs, and CDs. Also, a large magazine reading area and fiction collection.
Upstairs are numerous study pods with Internet computers. That's also where you'll find non-fiction, periodicals, quiet-rooms, and reference. There are meeting rooms on both floors. The facility has free wi-fi and work carrels, too. During Season, there are exhibits mounted on the mezzanine facade and in the center of the main floor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
