It has become a tradition each year to drop the pineapple in downtown Sarasota. New Years Eve is celebrated everywhere across the world, and Sarasota is no exception. This year we plan on taking the biggest New Years Party and making it better. We are bringing in a new lineup of great live music and electronic music and signature Pineapple Drop drinks as part of the biggest an best downtown NYE party Sarasota has ever seen!

December 31st 2 pm: Carnival Opens and stays open til 1:30am. Carnival includes adult and kids rides and a fun house.

December 31st 6 pm: We open Main Street to the public. Entertainment starts on all stages and runs throughout the night. Drinks are available from vendors on the street as well as in local restaurants and bars.

December 31st Midnight: We drop the Pinapple and celebrate the New Year.

Holiday Night of Lights on St Armands Circle Park is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, December 7th. Watch as the Circle magically comes to light and life with grace and elegance. “Holiday Night of Lights” is St. Armands offical “kick off” to the holiday season. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. with our annual Christmas Carol Sing-a-long, followed by the “Santa Parade” lead by the Wells Fargo Stage Coach, arrival of Santa in his spectacular sleigh and our tree lighting ceremony.

Enjoy holiday entertainment, special store promotions and gracious hospitality provided by our many shops and restaurants. We do recommend making your dinner Reservations, in advance, at our many fine Circle restaurants. A special evening for the young and the “young at heart”. Photos with Santa are available throughout the evening.

The Festival happens through Nov. 6 in Burns Square where international artists will converge side-by-side with kids to chalk up the neighborhood. Drop by anytime, and you’ll never know what or who you might see.

One of the biggest draws will be Kurt Wenner, a Baltimore-based 3-D street painting artist known worldwide for his work. More murals are on the way, too, as the “Going Vertical” campaign will take over walls from 18 buildings around the city.

For those looking to chill to the music, Chillounge will turn the streets of Burns Square into a comfortable area to sit on high-end patio furniture while enjoying a night out with friends listening to live music. That takes place on Laurel Street between South Pineapple Avenue and South Orange Avenue from 5 p.m. to midnight on Friday, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Now in its 6th year, the Sarasota Chalk Festival’s goal is to bring the community together in mutual appreciation of some of the world’s best street art. Each year the festival has inspired thousands with its fantastic chalk drawings and wonderful murals. Last year the festival drew 200,000 spectators who saw 250 world-renowned artists such as Kurt Wenner and Leon Keer create beautiful three-dimensional chalk drawings on the streets of Sarasota.

The inaugural Sarasota Sports Festival, a free family fun day to boost awareness of Payne Park in downtown Sarasota, will be held Saturday, June 16, 2012 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. The FREE event will feature a family fun run/walk, motivational exercise classes and a wide variety of sporting events and demonstrations from disc golf to Strider bicycling to Teddy Tennis.

The new circus themed playground at Payne Park also will be unveiled to the public and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey will perform a special one-time only act just for the Sarasota Sports Festival at 9:30 a.m. “I envisioned this family fun day over a year ago,” said Mayor Suzanne Atwell. “Thanks to a terrific hard working committee we’re putting together a fabulous event that will put our beautiful Payne Park on the map and give families a reason to get out and exercise while having fun on a Saturday,” said Mayor Atwell. Payne Park is located at 2050 Adams Lane.

Activities will kick off at 8:30 a.m. with a family fun run/walk around the half-mile Payne Park track. Then, while Gold’s Gym instructors lead invigorating exercise classes on the main stage, various other events will get underway simultaneously throughout the park. “I’m really excited about this festival,” said Joe Duffus, Sports Festival Chairman and CEO of FIT Group, a Gold’s Gym partner. “Sports festivals are becoming very popular around the country. Some cities have tens of thousands of people who show up to their events. Sarasota has never seen anything like this before and I think families are going to have a great day filled with free fun,” said Duffus. Festival goers are encouraged to stroll the grounds and test their aptitude with different sports throughout the day.

Sarasota County has launched a website to provide comprehensive financial and budgetary information to the public. The “Financial Transparency” site is a joint effort by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller, along with the county Office of Financial Planning.

The site provides comprehensive, unfiltered information to the public, giving a clear view of the fiscal and financial information supporting the operations.

The “Financial Transparency“ site can be reached by following this link www.scgov.net.

The transparency page contains information about expenditures, financial reports, financial policies and the Sarasota County Budget Guide. A section on budget amendments will be available Oct. 1.

The “Expenditures” section provides a searchable database for the current fiscal year. “Financial Reports” includes reports compiled by the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller. “Financial Policies” includes information on capital improvements, debt, service charges, financial reserves, investments, revenue, grants, fleet and Enterprise Information Technology (EIT). The “Budget Guide” contains information about county property taxes and the county budget, along with links to capital and operational budgets.

The website includes a list of “Frequently Asked Questions” about the website, information it contains and other financial and reporting information. A “Glossary” defines common financial and budgetary terms, and explains governmental operations.

There also are links to the websites of the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller and the Sarasota County Office of Financial Planning

by Charlotte Abrams | TWIS
I love food and I love it even more when I didn’t have to cook it. Unfortunately, taking kids out to eat can be stressful, if you care whatsoever about the enjoyment of those around you, that is. Sure, you could go to a chain restaurant that’s guaranteed to have carrots smashed into the carpet and Matchbox cars lodged between the seat cushions before your rug rats have even arrived, but do you really want to sacrifice a chance at culinary bliss for a kid’s menu? I don’t. So after countless spilled drinks, thrown Cheerios, and temper tantrums, I have compiled a list of restaurants where you can enjoy delicious food that doesn’t come from a microwave oven, while being kid-friendly, without being “kid-friendly” (if you know what I mean). Plus, these are all independent restaurants, so you’re supporting the local economy to boot!

• Hot Diggity Dog: This place is way more than hot dogs and it’s all cooked right in front of you. The steak sandwich is heart stoppingly delicious and the fried grouper sandwich is a crispy delight. Add on a chocolate malt and fries and you’ve got the perfect start to an I-need-a-nap day, which I’m pretty sure you could take on the floor of their dining area while your kids ran around in circles and no one would care.

• Nancy’s Bar-B-Q: Whoever designed this space must have been thinking about having out of control children aplenty. It’s wide open, there are no waiters to trip, and it’s noisy—perfect for kids. The barbecue is already famous around town and for good reason. Two words: ribs and banana pudding. Wait, that was four words.

• Marina Jack’s Portside Patio: This is the place to go when you want to pretend you’re on vacation. Perhaps your vacation dreams don’t include your kids, that’s totally cool, mine don’t either, but when Grandma is screening her calls and you desperately need a mind-numbing tropical cocktail, Marina Jack is always there. It’s the full package—excellent water view, usually a band of sorts playing to drown out the sounds of your crying baby, full bar, and plastic chairs. Also, there’s plenty of room to roll around a stroller. Just steer clear of the bar since they do allow smoking at it. Or light one up and blow it in your kid’s face, no judgment here.

• Simon’s Coffee House: Strollers easily fit in this café serving up a daily changing menu of eclectic, casual, California-style cuisine. Plus, it has the whole noisy diner thing going for it, so nobody will notice that your kids are banging the silverware on the table.

• Il Panificio (Gulf Gate): This is a new and very welcome addition to the Gulf Gate dining scene. Fabulous, expansive outdoor seating in a busy business district gives your kids plenty of space to run amok and scream to their heart’s content. And who doesn’t love their crispy, oily, awesome pizza.

• Pho Cali: They turn tables so fast in this place that your kids won’t even get the chance to truly ruin anyone’s meal. The servers are so gracious, they’re bound to make you, and your little demons, feel welcome. Plus, the food is sooo good that you won’t even care what horrid manners they’re displaying, you’ll be in a tongue tingling trance. Order anything that has pork in the description, you won’t be disappointed. If your kids are particularly wound up and showing no signs of sleep in the near or distant future, then make sure you end the meal with a red tea with tapioca pearls, you’ll thank me later, it’s like jet fuel.

• Hob Nob: If burgers and beer are what you want, then look no further. Considering I can’t stop thinking about their patty melt and it’s been well over a week since I last ate it, it might possibly be the best I’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure your kids could have a paintball battle in this place, in their underwear, and no one would bat an eye. Unless, of course, they’re teenage girls, then you might get some looks.

• Station 400: I have never even been to this place without there being at least two wild and crazy children in there that weren’t mine. And thank heavens, because the food is so delicious, I would hate to have to miss out on it just because I can’t control my child. The chef uses the best ingredients he can find and highlights them in inventive spins on breakfast and lunch classics. Truffle eggs Benedict with arugula and roasted mushrooms? Hell yeah.

I can’t guarantee highchairs, changing stations, or complimentary crayons at these joints, but I can guarantee rave-worthy food without feeling like you should make your kids wait in the car. With these locally owned and kid-indifferent options, you can say goodbye to dry chicken fingers, dusty tchatchke, and top 40 hits, and say hello to some damn good dining.

County officials and community representatives and organizations, including the Sarasota Audubon Society, will celebrate the completion of the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Facility and a related project – replacement of the Raymond Road Bridge and other improvements – at a grand opening ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 3. The ceremony at the gazebo just north of Palmer Boulevard will be followed by a 5k Fun Run starting at 6 p.m.

The Fun Run will last until 8 p.m., and Raymond Road will be closed from 5:30-7:30 p.m. For motorists, detour signs will be posted along Niobe Road and Porter Road.

Also, members of the Sarasota Audubon Society will be on hand to showcase bird-watching opportunities at the approximately 450-acre site, which formerly was used to grow celery. A total of 210 species of birds have been identified at the Celery Fields.

The Celery Fields site is south of Fruitville Road, east of Coburn and Apex roads, west of Center and Raymond roads and just north of a drainage canal that runs underneath the Raymond Road Bridge.

The approximately 75-foot-tall Observation Mound is the highest point of the regional stormwater facility, which is designed to provide stormwater runoff and detention, flood reduction and water quality improvements. read more…