53 Ways to Love Your City

Guide to Giving 2019 Our 2019 Guide to Giving.

In this issue:

Arts & Entertainment

Stranger Than Fiction

The Haunting True Story of Grey Gardens Comes to the Manatee Players Stage

Given its subject matter, Grey Gardens seems natural for the Manatee Players’ “Action Through Acting” series, which partners with nonprofits to raise awareness about community issues.

09/05/2019 By Kay Kipling

Mr. Chatterbox

Mr. Chatterbox Does Doping Duty at the Under 23 World Rowing Championships

The very integrity of the entire sport was in Mr. C's hands.

09/01/2019 By Robert Plunket

Best of Sarasota

Guide to Giving

Guide to Giving 2019

Fifty-three ways to love our community, from good causes to extraordinary volunteers to getting through galas and what your gift will buy.

09/02/2019

Down a Lazy River

Your Guide to Tubing on Four of Florida's Coolest Spring-Fed Rivers

Take a day off, head north and float down a lazy river in a low-tech inner tube.

09/01/2019 By Isaac Eger

Eat & Drink

Still Life

Drum Circle Distilling's Coffee-Flavored Rum Is a Big Hit

To make it, the company runs its silver Siesta Key Rum through Colombian beans roasted by Latitude 23.5 Coffee and Tea.

09/04/2019 By Cooper Levey-Baker

Restaurant Review

Even After a Major Overhaul, Mar Vista Retains Its Old Florida Bona Fides

Mar Vista's updates include a state-of-the-art kitchen, an outdoor fireplace and a revamped dining room and bar. What hasn’t changed? The magic.

09/03/2019 By Cooper Levey-Baker

How Cool

Eskimo Bros.'s Clean Ice Makes Cocktails Taste Better

A Sarasota company is helping bartenders improve an often-overlooked ingredient: ice.

09/02/2019 By Cooper Levey-Baker

Fashion & Shopping

Tailgate Time

September Is for College Football. Here Are Four Game Day Essentials

Everything you need for tailgating and beyond.

09/01/2019 By Heather Saba

Home & Real Estate

What Your Money Can Buy

What $280,000 Will Buy in Lakewood Ranch

Plus, a $7.5 million mansion on Lido Key.

09/01/2019 By Ilene Denton

Home View

Trend Report: What Today's Home Buyers Want

When it comes to what home buyers are requesting from the area’s upscale builders, there are a few surprises.

09/01/2019 By Ilene Denton

Design Matters

Longtime City Manager Ken Thompson’s Midcentury Modern Home Comes on the Market

John Ringling may have invented Sarasota, but it was Ken Thompson who made it work.

09/01/2019 By Robert Plunket

News & City Life

Health Report

Addicted at Birth: Newborns Struggle With the Legacy of Opioids

As the number of overdoses has increased, so has the number of babies born suffering from withdrawal, the pain of addiction cascading from one generation to the next.

09/02/2019 By Cooper Levey-Baker

Small Talk

10 Tips for Surviving Gala Season

How to take a great photo, avoid those endless paddle raises and have great dinner-table conversation.

09/02/2019 By Staff

Guide to Giving

John Murphy Puts His Organizational and People Skills to Work at All Faiths Food Bank

In just the first half of 2019, Murphy had volunteered 725 hours.

09/02/2019 By Olivia Letts

Guide to Giving

Terry Davis Finds Fulfillment Tutoring and Mentoring Newtown Students

“As long as I’m kicking, I’m going to be working with students.”

09/02/2019 By Giulia Heyward

Guide to Giving

Jay Traverso Found a Passion For Habitat for Humanity

“You get so lucky, there comes a time where you need to give back,” he says.

09/02/2019 By Hanna Powers

Guide to Giving

What Your Money Can Buy for Sarasota-Manatee Nonprofits

From $10 to $1 million, here's how your dollars can make a difference.

09/02/2019 By Giulia Heyward, Olivia Letts, and Hanna Powers

Guide to Giving

Nonprofit Expert Bob Carter Shares His Tips For Choosing a Charity

Sarasota County is overflowing with nonprofits—2,154 of them, to be exact.

09/02/2019 By Ilene Denton

Guide to Giving

Team Tony Provides Cancer Support Through Friendship

"I want everyone to know that a diagnosis is not an ending.”

09/02/2019 By Megan McDonald

Guide to Giving

The Academy at Glengary Provides Hope, Job Skills and Community to Those With Mental Health Conditions

Work is the main focus, and the Academy trains its clients—called members—in fields from the culinary arts to technology to customer service.

09/02/2019 By Susan Burns

Guide to Giving

The Lost Pet Services 941 Facebook Page Reunites Lost Pets With Their Owners

“That’s the goal: to be the one place people can go to, so that no pets fall through the cracks.”

09/02/2019 By Ilene Denton

A Garden of Delight

The Children's Garden is Full of Delight

Joan Marie Condon founded The Children’s Garden because she worried that development was limiting green space for children—and that technology was taking over the focus in their lives.

09/02/2019 By Kay Kipling

What I've Learned

Tennis Pro Jimmy Arias on Young Stardom, Starting Over and Coaching

"Playing to your strengths is crucial.”

09/01/2019 By David Hackett

Perfect Party

September's Perfect Party: Flesh-Eating Bacteria Edition

This month's fantasy guest list.

09/01/2019 By Pam Daniel

Books & Beyond

New Public Libraries Chief Renee DiPilato Says Libraries Are “The Great Connectors”

“The library was always a stable presence in my life,” she says.

09/01/2019 By Ilene Denton

Flashback

Flashback: Westgate Publix, 1956

When it opened on April 3, 1956, it was the very first Publix in either Manatee or Sarasota counties—and the 34th in all of Florida.

09/01/2019 By Ilene Denton

Paper Cuts

With Layoffs and Fewer Readers, What’s the Future of Our Hometown Newspaper?

As newspaper giants merge, a look at the changing landscape for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

08/05/2019 By David Hackett

Travel & Outdoors

Guide to Giving

Francis Folkers Doesn't Mind Getting Dirty at Oscar Scherer State Park

Folkers agonizes over the loss of Florida’s habitat to development.

09/02/2019 By Olivia Letts

Down a Lazy River

At Ginnie Springs, Commune With Friends—Not Just Nature

It’s a little like Deliverance, but instead of hearing dueling banjos you’ll hear "Old Town Road" blasting from someone’s Bluetooth speakers.

09/01/2019 By Isaac Eger

Down a Lazy River

How a Spring Is Born—and Endangered

Florida’s ancient geology of cracks, caves and tunnels eventually fills to the brim when we get enough rain and the surplus spills onto the surface, creating our system of freshwater springs.

09/01/2019 By Isaac Eger