Opening night at the Sarasota Film Festival brought filmmakers, actors and festival sponsors out for the movie Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times. The red carpet event at the Sarasota Opera House was the place to be for movie lovers on Friday night.
Author Archives: Sarasota Local
Sarasota Film Festival Student Competition – and the winner is…
Students in the Motion Graphics department at Ringling College in Sarasota Florida competed to create an opening trailer for the films at this year’s Sarasota Film Festival. The winners were announced on opening night, and their trailer played before the opening night movie. The winning students were Natasha Bangert and Minna Choung for Paparazzi. Congratulations to all the students for their work. All of the finalists’ trailers will be seen during the festival.
Sarasota Vinyl Music Festival
Sarasota young VIPs partied at the Vinyl Music Festival opening event at the Ivory Lounge last night. This was the kick off for the 4 day Vinyl Music Festival. According to Rich Swier, VMF cofounder, “we created and will continue to build Vinyl in order to bring more current world-class musical entertainment to a world class city.” In our view, this first night was a success and generated great buzz about the festival leading up to the main event on Saturday night.
Sarasota Film Festival – Ringling College Student Trailer Competition
Movie lovers eagerly await the annual Sarasota Film Festival. This year, it runs from April 7-17. Since the first festival in 1999, the event has grown exponentially. Attendance this year will be over 45,000! SFF has expanded to an eleven day event that offers over 200 movie screenings, family activities, educational sessions and panel discussions, student competitions, parties and many other events. This is the largest event of it’s kind in the Southeast.
This year, there was also a new online competition for Ringling College of Art and Design to select the best trailer for the festival. Students in the Motion Graphics department created trailers and the public voted online to select the winner. When I spoke with Tom Hall – Artistic Director at SFF – he said the response was great for this first time competition.
The winning trailer will be announced and played before the opening night film – Page One. During the festival, each film will open with one of the finalist’s trailers. A great opportunity for Ringling students to show their stuff! Here’s an example:
Siesta Key Spring Break
Siesta Key is a great place to be for Spring Break! And it’s not just a beach destination. During March and April, the island demographics change radically – from mostly snow birds to lots of students on spring break!
During the peak of the season the main beach will have up to 20,000 spring breakers on it, with another 10,000 on the remaining miles of white sand beach. The village changes from quiet and leisurely to party central as more and more students visit during their spring vacation.
And it’s not just the beach you’ll enjoy. Siesta Key village has shopping, restaurants and clubs just off the beach; so you’ll find plenty to do after a day on the sand. Walk around the village, and you’ll hear live bands and DJs playing music in several different night spots. This year 2 bikini contests are on going at two of the clubs in the village. There’s a variety of good food and drinks available within easy walking distance.
Come on out to the island. You’ll find that Siesta Key is a friendly and welcoming, and safe place to spend your spring break vacation. By the way if your not convinced yet, Siesta Key beach was voted the best beach in America.
Siesta Key Crystal Classic Sand Sculpting
A new annual event took Sarasota by storm in it’s inaugural year. The amazingly successful event was inspired and directed by 2 master sand sculptors – Bill Knight and Brian Wigglesworth. As experienced sand master sculptors,- unlike any other event directors could – they hit a home run first time up!
The Siesta Key Crystal Classic Master Sand Sculpting Competition brought 11 teams of master sand sculptors together to compete for cash prizes. The proceeds from the first annual event benefited Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program. In addition to the competition, the event included sand sculpting lessons, an amateur competition, live music, a vendor village and other fun family activities. We were so happy to be there to videotape the entire event.
If you weren’t there for the first year…make sure you don’t miss this year’s event. And if you don’t live here, plan a trip!
Sarasota Bayfront Island Park
Drive through Sarasota, and you can’t miss our beautiful Bayfront Island Park. Right on Sarasota Bay, this lively park is surrounded with water. The winding sidewalks run all along the perimeter of the park and invite you to walk, jog, roller blade, or walk your dog. In fact, this park is a favorite with local dog owners who often congregate on weekends for some doggy socialization.
With huge grass play areas, picnic tables in the shade, trees made for climbing and plenty of benches and swings, Island Park appeals to all ages. Children love splashing in the water fountains and birthday parties are frequent in playground area. It’s located right across 41 from downtown, so this park is convenient. There’s plenty of parking, so whether you walk, drive, bike or boat to the park, you’re sure to enjoy you time here.
And stop in at the tiki bar at O’Leary’s for a drink or a meal. It’s a great place where you can listen to music, enjoy the tropical breeze and watch the boats go by. Your four legged friends are welcome, too.
Make sure you add Bayfront Island Park to your list of great things to do when you vacation in Sarasota.
Sarasota Florida Fun Family Activities
Sarasota is a splendid destination for your family vacation. Yes, Sarasota does have some of the most amazing beaches in the US, but it’s not just a beach destination. When you’re looking for other diversions, you’ll find a variety of family friendly things to do.
Check out Mote Marine Aquarium for a close up look at marine life and current research and conservation programs. The entire family will enjoy seeing over 100 species of marine life, including sharks, dolphins, manatees, seahorses and sea turtles.
Mote is open every day of the year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mote is located at 1600 Ken Thompson Pkwy. on City Island, 1 mile north of St. Armand’s Circle.
For the animal lovers, the Big Cat Habitat is a sanctuary for animals right here in Sarasota. Not just tigers and lions and bears…you can also see coatimundis, a camel, birds, lemurs, tortoises and more. And don’t miss the Mia the Liger. Yes, a liger – her mother is a Bengal tiger and father is a lion!
The sanctuary is located at 7101 Palmer Blvd. The habitat opens at 12:30 five days per week, but the schedule may be changed based on the weather. So check their event calendar for current activities and prices or call them at (941) 371-6377 for all the details.
Your children will also appreciate some non-structured, imaginative play time. Make sure you plan to visit the unique Sarasota Children’s Garden and let the kids be kids. You can’t beat this whimsical spot for family fun.
These are just a few of the family friendly amusements you’ll find when you vacation in Sarasota.
Sarasota Florida International Street Painting Festival
The Avenida de Colores Burns Square Chalk Festival started in 2007 with just 22 adult and student artists. By 2010, the Sarasota International Street Painting Festival had over 250 street painters attending from all over the world. And as if the magnificent performance art isn’t enough, the event includes so many family friendly activities: pumpkin carving, the childrens’ chalk area, almost non-stop bands, great food, magic, street performers. Add a fashion show and a film festival. Where else can you have so much fun in Sarasota?
The excitement goes on all day and into the night during the annual 3 day festival. This is a great event to schedule your Sarasota vacation around. And unlike most activities that provide this much entertainment, there’s no admission fee!
See the video of Tracy Lee Stum from California who created a 60’X30′ 3-d piece entitled Mousetrap.
There’s sure to be a full roster of exciting events this year. One addition will be sponsored graffiti artists who will transform dozens of walls in downtown Sarasota into magnificent works of art and compete for prizes. The 2011 theme is the “Pavement Art through the Ages”. You can keep track of all of the plans at the Sarasota Chalk Festival website.
So mark your calendar! Invite your out of town friends. The 2011 Sarasota Chalk Festival is set for November 4th – 6th. Hope to see you there!
Sarasota Florida Beaches Best Rated in The US
Plunge your bare feet into the pure white sand of Siesta Key beach, and you’ll understand how beach sand can be trademarked: Worlds Finest, Whitest Sand™. In fact, in the Great International White Sand Challenge, this sand was scientifically proven to be the world’s finest, whitest finest beach sand. First time visitors are amazed by the temperature of this perfect barefoot beach. The sand is 99% pure quartz, so regardless of the temperature – this incredibly soft sand never heats up!
You just can’t beat this location for a vacation. This wide, flat, crystal white beach is truly kid friendly with its gentle gulf waves. There’s a large shaded pavilion with food, changing rooms and retail shops, a number of picnic areas, tennis courts and a playground.
Dr. Beach ranks beaches using 50 criteria from softness of sand, condition and temperature of the water, slope, currents and sand and water color. He also considers amenities, lifeguards, cleanliness and competition for resources. Siesta Key Beach repeatedly ranks in the top 10 and in 2010 was ranked the #2 beach in US by Dr. Beach.
The Travel Channel describes Siesta Key beach sand as “soft and white as sugar” and rates it 5 out of 5 in swimming, sand and child friendliness. See their article on Siesta Key beach here.
And Siesta Key isn’t the only great beach in Sarasota County you’ll want to visit. Go diving or look for shark teeth in Venice or enjoy the solitude at Caspersen Beach. And if you have your best friend along – visit Brohard Paw Park and Dog beach. You can let your four legged friend off leash to play in the surf. The park is on the island of Venice at 1600 Harbor Dr. S.
All in all, we locals know how lucky we are to live near these wonderful beaches. Come on down for a vacation, the water’s fine!