When John Ringling moved his Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus winter headquarters to Sarasota in 1927, little did he know that his famous slogan, “The Greatest Show on Earth,” could one day be equally applied to his adopted community. Although not a small town by any means – the Bradenton/Sarasota/Venice metropolitan area is Florida’s fifth largest – Sarasota has more cultural amenities than probably any other city of its size in the United States.
It was the Ringlings who set the cultural ball in motion. By the 1920s John Ringling was one of the richest men on earth. He and his wife Mable had become enamored with the Baroque art and Gothic architecture of Europe, and brought fine art pieces home from their frequent travels. In 1925, when the collection became too large to be housed in the 56-room mansion being built as their residence, construction began on what was to become the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. In subsequent decades city leaders expanded on the theme, transforming what had been a cluster of fishing shacks on the bay into a cosmopolitan center for the visual and performing arts.
But the area’s natural endowments are what brought people like the Ringlings to Sarasota in the first place. And these are still in obvious abundance. The non-smoking, glass-container-free beaches are consistently rated among the best in the country. Fishing and golfing opportunities are boundless. And within full view of beachfront condo towers you can find a quiet, cypress-lined cove to stow your kayak. The seamless blending of the human aesthetic with the natural is in evidence everywhere, from the tropical landscaping of its affluent residential enclaves to its grid of streets named after succulent fruits.
From its beaches to its boulevards, Sarasota is a destination that will stay with you long after you return to the circus that is “real world.” But like the Ringlings, once bitten you are bound to return.
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Where to stay
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With more than 20 miles of accessible coastline, it’s not easy to choose a bad place to stay in Sarasota. Most centrally located is Lido Key, just two miles from downtown across the John Ringling Causeway (whose original timbers were dragged into place by circus elephants), and within walking distance of the shops and restaurants of St. Armands Circle. Most accommodations are on the south half of the island, nestled between the wide beach and South Lido County Park, a haven for kayakers.
Beyond Lido to the north, and stretching for 10 miles to Bradenton Beach, is Longboat Key. The beaches here are reserved for resort guests and are blissfully devoid of crowds. Longboat Key was ranked the number 2 island in all of North America by Conde Nast Traveler in 2010.
South of Lido, Siesta Key stretches another 8 miles or so to the private homes of Casey Key. The beaches on Siesta are as wide as two football fields, and the pure-quartz sand has been described as the whitest in the world. Popular Siesta Beach, on the northern part of the island, was ranked as the number one beach in America in 2011 by Dr. Stephen Leatherman, a.k.a. “Dr. Beach.” The waves are gentle and sandbars extend far offshore, making Siesta a great place to bring the kids.
A little further south on Siesta Key is Crescent Beach. Public access here is very limited so resort guests have a lot more privacy. At the south end of Crescent Beach is the Point of Rocks, a perfect spot for snorkelers to interact with colorful sea creatures. Narrower Turtle Beach, at the southern end of Siesta Key, has picnic areas, a playground and volleyball nets, and is popular with families. The dunes are higher here, and the beach a little steeper. This is an ideal spot for seashell and shark teeth collectors.
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restaurants
The dining scene in Sarasota is truly exceptional. The locals take their food seriously, and the city has attracted a large number of Zagat-rated restaurants and top chefs, including some James Beard Foundation Award nominees. But that doesn’t mean you have to spend all your vacation dollars on foie gras. In keeping with Sarasotans’ penchant for celebration, culinary events throughout the year showcase local talent while making haute cuisine accessible to the masses. If eating well is a must, come to Sarasota for two weeks in June during Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week, when many of the best eateries in town offer deeply discounted five-course meals.
Succulent, black-tipped stone crab claws are a local delicacy if you happen to be in the area during Oct-May harvest season. With such an abundance of fish species in this part of the Gulf It is not surprising that seafood connoisseurs will find Sarasota almost without equal. But there are restaurants here from all the world’s traditions, from Vegan to Vietnamese, and some local specialties seem surprisingly out of place. The residential enclave of Pinecraft, for example, is a seasonal retreat for overwintering Amish from the Midwest. Their famous fried chicken and homemade pies are a fall tradition among Sarasota snowbirds, but tourists are catching on.
Great restaurants can be found throughout Sarasota, but if you’re in the mood for menu-gazing, the downtown area along Main Street, between Palm and Orange avenues, is a good place to start. Other noteworthy dining districts include the Gulf Gate neighborhood, the Towles Court art district, and St. Armands Key. On Siesta Key, Ocean Boulevard near Siesta Beach and Midnight Pass Road near Crescent Beach are lined with food and drink venues. Fine-dining establishments are in abundance on Longboat Key.
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golf
Sarasota is known as Florida’s “Cradle of Golf” for good reason. In 1886, a full two years before the founding of America’s oldest surviving golf club, St. Andrew’s, in Yonkers, New York, Scottish immigrant John Hamilton Gillespie was sinking puts in Sarasota. Gillespie built Sarasota’s first hotel and would eventually become its first mayor. But his first order of business was bringing the Royal and Ancient sport to his adopted home. Within six months of his arrival he laid out Florida’s first fairway, built a green at each end, and introduced his neighbors to the game, using the hickory clubs he had packed with him from Edinburgh.
The number of Florida courses has since grown to over 1,250, more than 80 of them within twenty miles of where Gillespie’s two-hole practice course now lies under the pavement of Sarasota’s Main Street. Wherever you choose to stay on your visit to the Sarasota area there is guaranteed to be a course nearby.
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fishing
Long before the first American settlers arrived, Sarasota Bay was lined with small fish camps known as ranchos. The fishermen, mostly Cuban, who lived and worked out of them were taking advantage of the region’s natural bounty. Florida was a sparsely inhabited, lawless outpost of the Spanish Empire at the time, and the abundance of sea turtles, dried fish and fish roe coming out of her waters found an eager market in Havana.
Obviously, a lot has changed since the 18th century. Sea turtles, for instance, are now a protected species and are making a comeback. And far from being lawless, the government has decreed that sport fishing now requires the purchase of a fishing license (inexpensive and easily obtained, thankfully). What hasn’t changed is that the fish are still here. And they’re here in a big way. Last year’s Gulf Coast Open fishing Tournament, held in April, attracted nearly 400 anglers and more than 500 spectators. August’s Sarasota Slam Billfish Tournament is about to celebrate its eleventh year.
If you’d like to catch your own there are a lot of choices. There are at least half a dozen public fishing piers in the area, boat rentals are available for the bay and intercoastal waterway, and there are plenty of locations for surf fishing from the beach. But to truly test your mettle, get up early and head for the Gulf on a deep sea charter boat.
From mid-May to August is tarpon season in Sarasota. These silvery monsters, some reaching upwards of 175 lbs, move in schools of 50 to 100 individuals off the beaches of Lido, Longboat and Siesta keys.
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shopping
Whether you’re a shopper or not, a visit to St. Armands Key is a must. Lined with coconut palms, quaint sidewalk cafes, and statues of Greek and Roman gods, St. Armands has been compared to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. With more than 130 shops, boutiques, galleries and restaurants radiating like spokes from a lush central park, this pedestrian mecca is Florida chic meets mega-mall. The circular layout of the shopping district was designed by John Ringling himself in 1917. The statuary is from his personal collection. The restaurants and entertainment venues of St. Armands are within walking distance of many of the resorts on Lido Key.
Downtown Sarasota is also very walkable, with several shopping and people-watching enclaves designed with the pedestrian in mind. Described as a “bona-fide artists’ colony,” the Towles Court art district is shoulder-to-shoulder wooden houses painted in bright colors and housing art galleries, shops and restaurants.
Main Street is best known for its theaters and restaurants, but it is also a great place to shop before the show. There is ample parking nearby, so make an afternoon of it. Other notable shopping districts include the Herald Square historic district between Pineapple and Orange avenues, the Fruitville antique district along Fruitville Road, and the high-end art and antiques galleries on Palm Avenue.
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Entertainment
The centerpiece of cultural Sarasota is the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, twenty acres of exquisitely manicured gardens, footpaths, duck ponds and carved fountains flanked by massive buildings seemingly materialized here from Renaissance Italy. The architecture of the museum proper is inspired by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, and includes in its courtyard a bronze caste of Michelangelo’s David. The building contains 21 galleries housing the private 10,000-piece collection of the Ringlings, including a celebrated 17th-century collection of paintings by the Flemish Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens. The Ringlings bequeathed the Museum and its collections to the people of Florida in 1927, and today it is the official State Art Museum of Florida.
Not to be missed is Ca’ d’Zan – “House of John” in the Venetian dialect -- the Ringlings’ residential bayside mansion. Described as “a masterpiece of Venetian Gothic architecture,” the five-story structure has 56 rooms, including 15 bathrooms, and is capped by an 81-foot tower with an open-air overlook. Also on the grounds are the Ringling Museum of the American Circus, which contains the Wisconsin, the private rail car of Mable and John Ringling; Mable Ringling’s 27,000 square-foot rose garden; and the historic Asolo Theater, the only 18th-century European theater in the United States. Built in 1798 in Asolo, a small village near Venice, the entire structure was disassembled and shipped in crates to the Ringling Estate in the 1940s. It was reconstructed a few years later and began hosting performances in 1958.
For 60 years Sarasota has been the home of the Sarasota Orchestra, the oldest continuing symphony orchestra in the state. The orchestra often performs in the 1,736 Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on the downtown waterfront, a venue that also draws A-list performers from other musical traditions, including rock and jazz. Sarasota also has a professional opera group and the Gulf coast’s first and only professional ballet.
Main Street is Sarasota’s premier place for live entertainment. Here you will find bars and nightclubs catering to every taste, and convenient parking. If driving is not in your plans, there are plenty of places to party near the beaches and on St. Armands Key.
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Other things to do
If you need to give the beach a break, and if rose gardens, Greek statues and Rubens paintings are not really your thing, there are plenty of alternative distractions in this fair city. Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium on Lido Key is a working marine research laboratory that allows visitors to interact with the sea life. But this is not SeaWorld. The focus is on advancing the understanding of sea science, not entertaining visitors. Despite that, the touch pools and high-tech interactive exhibits are a lot of fun. They also offer sea life encounter cruises and guided kayak tours in the bay, with professional marine biologists as guides.
The Gulfcoast Wonder & Imagination Zone Science Museum (“G.WIZ” for short) on Sarasota’s downtown bayfront is another fascinating experience for families. Their stated objective is to “ignite imaginations” through interactive exhibits in their “critter habitat” and “Fab Lab.”
For outdoor adventure Myakka River State Park offers bike, canoe and kayak rentals, hiking trails, guided train rides, and tours on the world’s largest airboats. Myakka is the largest state park in Florida and is home to the elusive, cotton-candy-colored Roseate Spoonbill. Other natural wonders here include “epiphytes,” plants that live on other plants, such as various ferns, air plants, and orchids. Though not necessarily rare, epiphytes are all but invisible from ground level. The Myakka Canopy Walkway, a suspension bridge between treetops, allows visitors to view these plants at eye level. Suspended high above the ground, the walkway ends at a 74-foot observation tower, offering panoramic views of wetland and forest.
The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, on the bayfront just south of downtown, has eight greenhouses containing more than 20,000 plants, plus thousands more outside on its 14 acres. A former mansion on the property houses a botanical museum, an orchid research center, and a botanical laboratory. Sarasota Jungle Gardens is ten acres of lush tropical vegetation, winding jungle trails, and exotic bird and reptile shows.
Historic Spanish Point, located just south of Sarasota in the town of Osprey, features one of Florida’s largest butterfly gardens, and their archaeological museum provides a unique “Windows to the Past” exhibit which is in essence a trench cut through an ancient shell midden. Visitors are surrounded on three sides by walls of glass holding back centuries of layered time.
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Special events
The Sarasota Film Festival, regarded by Variety magazine as one of the top independent film festivals in North America, is held for ten days each April. The event has attracted an increasing number of filmmakers and film stars in recent years. Also held in April is the Florida Winefest and Auction. Annual musical events include the Sarasota Jazz Festival in March, the three-week Sarasota Music Festival in June, and the Sarasota Blues Festival in November.
Back-to-back events occur each year in the fall, starting with Festival sARTee in October, which runs concurrently with the Ringling International Arts Festival. The combined celebrations showcase everything artsy, from dance, fine art and theater, to photography, food and fashion. Autumn is also the season for the annual Hungarian Festival and the Downtown Sarasota Art & Craft Festival in October, as well as the Siesta Key Sandsculpting Competition and the Sarasota Medieval Fair in November.
The 4th Annual Chalk Festival will be held Nov 4-6, 2011 in downtown Sarasota’s historic Burns Square. Last year 100,000 spectators turned out to watch 250 street artists use the pavement as their canvas.
Sportsfans should know that the Baltimore Orioles train in Sarasota in the spring. You can catch the action at Ed Smith Stadium. Nathan Benderson Park’s world-class rowing facilities hosted Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish rowing team for a week of training in January 2011, and they plan to return. Siesta Beach attracts the top professional volleyball players in the country, and several USA Volleyball tournaments are held there each year.
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