That all began to change seven years ago when Dolly Jacobs and her fiance, Pedro Reis, created Circus Sarasota, a spectacular blend of local and international acts that wows the community during its winter season. And Dolly is the perfect Sarasotan to carry the circus banner. She's the daughter of famed clown Lou Jacobs-he invented the gag where all the clowns pile out of the tiny car-and has been performing since she was four, when she appeared as part of a dachshund. "I tripped and fell and the tail went off running in the other direction," she recalls. It didn't sour her on the Big Top, however, and she went on to become a world-famous aerialist known as "Queen of the Air" and spend 14 years traveling with Ringling Bros.

Today Dolly still performs, in addition to lecturing and teaching a new generation at Sailor Circus. And she is passionate about her hometown's unique heritage. "Without the circus, Sarasota would be just another West Palm Beach," she says.

When Paula Benshoff was a little girl, "the nearest woods were just down the street and the way to Myakka was a dirt road," as she wrote in her book, Myakka, in 2002. Growing up, she roamed the wild outdoors; and though she briefly worked as a dispatcher for the Sarasota police department, 25 years ago she followed her heart to become a ranger at Myakka River State Park. She and her husband, Richard, built a home in Old Miakka three miles from the park's north gate in 1978, and raised one son who also went on to be a park ranger.

Today the quiet 53-year-old does everything from training volunteers and creating interpretive exhibits to conducting controlled burns and monitoring feral hogs. "I learn new things every day," she says; and she still thrills at "seeing how everything in nature works together the way it's supposed to."

A quarter million people visit Myakka, the state's largest park, each year. As Sarasota develops, Myakka has become more precious, Benshoff says: "It's one of the few places in Sarasota or Manatee counties destined to be a natural area for all times."

Twenty-five years ago, 34-year-old Dave Pierce moved to Gainesville from Cedar Falls, Iowa, for a job in radio. Four years later, he came here as station manager of WAMR-AM and WCTQ-FM. "I was immediately smitten by the Gulf of Mexico and the beauty of small-town Venice," he remembers. He soon found himself extolling the virtues of the then-sleepy little town and promoting its businesses on his stations. In 1988, when Main Street Venice formed, he joined the board; two years later he left broadcasting for good to become its executive director.

Main Street Venice has helped create a popular series of concerts in the park, a Saturday morning farmers' market, fall arts festival and an aggressive marketing program that lures visitors downtown with its "Cross the Bridge to Yesteryear" slogan.

These days, as business development director of the chamber, Pierce continues to boost the town known as the Shark's Tooth Capital of the World. He beams with pride at his town's ever-increasing growth and prosperity, but he promises it won't lose its quiet, friendly charm. "There's a commitment by everybody to work together to preserve the well-being of Venice," says Pierce. "This is a close-knit community that really cares about its heritage and environmental quality."

Twenty-five years ago, Anne Folsom Smith was working at the old Saba's furniture store on U.S. 41, helping retired Midwesterners furnish their new Sarasota homes. There were more and more of those people arriving, and Smith proved so adept at working with them that she opened her own design firm in 1983, when she married architect Frank Folsom Smith, who had just renovated the U.S. Garage building where they shared an office. The hyper-efficient young designer with an eye for bold, handcrafted art and accessories was soon busy decorating new residences, especially condos on Longboat Key-"I counted them up recently and they came to nearly 300"- where she's probably done more to define the modern Sarasota vacation-home look than anyone else in town.

But she says her most rewarding achievement has been building relationships with her clients, who range from celebrities to retired snowbirds. Smith sang at one client's 80th birthday party and served as bridal registrar for another who wanted to be sure his wedding gifts would complement his new home. She's designed wedding cakes, dog beds, fountains, gardens and once helped a client find a car to match the color of his house. "When people trust you for so much of their lives," she says, "they think you can do everything."