Something Old, Something New

Sarasota has changed in the last 20 years, right?

Yes—and not so much.

The Gulf Coast Community Foundation’s Scott Anderson recently made that point at Sarasota Ballet’s “Tu-Tu Terrific” party, where the ballet announced the line-up for next year’s 20th anniversary season. Much to my surprise, Anderson had unearthed a column of mine from our December 1990 issue, called “Hot Ticket,” which reported that Sarasota Ballet had raised enough money to launch its first season with a resident company, headed by—remember him?—Eddy Toussaint, who had been persuaded to move his dance troupe here from Montreal.

I’ve always joked that someday I’ll make a luckless audience sit through one of my columns—strangely enough, no one has ever taken me up on that offer—and Anderson made my wicked dream come true, at least for a minute or so, reading the lead from that 1990 column to the party-goers.

This fall, even people who never worried about money seemed nervous. At cocktail parties and in offices, Sarasotans fretted about the budget crisis, shrinking stock portfolios and whether banks were sliding down the abyss. Property taxes jumped up and home sales slowed down. And arts leaders uneasily wondered whether patrons and donors would start cutting back.

“Sound familiar?” Anderson asked, and the whole room ruefully laughed.

Many of us had forgotten that 20 years ago Sarasota was suffering through a financial crisis surprisingly similar to the one we face today—one, by the way, that the fledgling ballet company weathered just fine, going on to build a stellar reputation that today extends far beyond our city. Whether it means that those of us who were around then have entered the age of short-term memory loss or just that déjà vu all over again is an integral part of the human condition, I’m not sure; but in working on this annual “Best of Sarasota” issue, I realized that our city today shares some other—and happier—similarities to the place we were two decades ago.

Actually, it was 19 years ago this month that we did our first “Best of Sarasota” issue, publishing the results of a readers’ poll that included 39 different categories. That was back in the dim, desultory days before the Internet, so every ballot was hand-delivered and hand-counted, too. I can’t remember how many ballots we received, but I suspect it was just a few hundred or so; today, thanks in part to the power of the Web, we get many times that many nominations, and our ballot has grown to include 77 different categories. Many of the 240 winners and finalists we’re presenting in this year’s story didn’t even exist back in 1991, but a surprising number of our original winners are still around and thriving. Even more surprising, 22 of those first-time winners from 1991 were winners again this year. Sarasota has always attracted and rewarded excellence, and our poll underlines just how much staying power top-quality operations have in our market. I’d like to recognize those 22 outstanding companies and organizations.

Bath & Racquet Club

Columbia Restaurant

Crissy Galleries

First Watch

Foxy Lady

Patrick’s

Marina Jack

Michael’s On East

Myakka River State Park

The Oaks Open-Pit Barbeque

Persnickety Cat and Company

Ringling Museum of Art

St. Armands Circle

Sarasota Ballet

Sarasota Opera

Sarasota Family YMCA

Sarasota Jungle Gardens

Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix

UnGala Gala

Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

Woman’s Exchange

Yoder’s Restaurant

But we’re also a town that’s famous for coming up with fresh ideas; and so many cool new businesses, restaurants and events popped up this year that in addition to our readers’ poll, our “Best of Sarasota” story includes our editors’ picks of “The Best of the New.” We highlight 38 great new places and experiences, and the list is as eclectic as it is impressive. A 10,000-square-foot, eco-friendly cat shelter; an international arts festival; restaurants that range from Belgian to Moroccan; a lecture series featuring famous composers; a mall storefront showing free digital films from Ringling students; take-out Korean sushi—and that’s just for starters.