ANNA MARIA – On Sunday, the city of Anna Maria celebrated its 100th anniversary for the second time this year.
Taking place again at City Pier Park, Sunday’s celebration served as a follow-up to the initial centennial celebration the city hosted on Memorial Day.
City volunteers and volunteers from the Anna Maria Island Garden Club, the Anna Maria Island Historical Society and Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring sold beer and wine, with the proceeds to be shared by the three organizations that also set up informational tents on the City Pier Park grounds. The Island Players and The Center of Anna Maria Island also had information tents, and the garden club provided shared space for the To Inform Families First (TIFF) organization that encourages motorists to provide additional emergency contact information that can be used to inform family members in the event of a serious traffic accident.
The celebration featured food sales by The Anna Maria General Store and Deli, Harry’s Grill and Poppo’s Taqueria.
With conductor Leornard Murphy on saxophone, a jazz sextet comprised of musicians from the Anna Maria Island Concert Chorus and Orchestra kicked off the afternoon’s musical performances, followed by The Stockton Brothers performing acoustically.
During the sextet’s performance, Mayor Dan Murphy welcomed attendees.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here today and celebrating our 100th anniversary. We only do this every 100 years, so we’ll try to do it right,” Murphy said.
After encouraging the attendees to enjoy the beer, wine and food offerings, Mayor Murphy introduced Leonard Murphy and thanked him and his bandmates for being there, as they were at the first centennial celebration earlier this year.
After leaving the stage, Murphy shared some additional thoughts on the celebration.
“I chose today to do it because it’s after Labor Day. I really wanted to make this an event that focuses on our local citizens and celebrates our locals in this nice venue we have here at City Pier Park,” he said.
“We’ve got a pretty good crowd considering it’s the opening day of football season. It’s important to have events in this park with this beautiful shade sail and I’m glad to see people enjoying it and using it. Events like this help foster a sense of community and we appreciate the participation from the local businesses and the not-for-profit organizations that are here today. They’re doing a great job. Fran Berrios and the rest of the city staff did a great job organizing this event and once again they came through with flying colors. I couldn’t be any happier with the layout and the setup,” Murphy said.
During the celebration, city staff members handed out small replicas of the full-sized centennial flags that hung from the light poles along Pine Avenue in honor of Anna Maria becoming a chartered Florida city in 1923.
Anna Maria Commissioner Jon Crane said, “I love small-town activities like this. They’re heartwarming.”
Standing next to Crane, full-time Holmes Beach resident George Fuller said he appreciates the city-hosted events that take place at City Pier Park.
“I love coming up here for these celebrations and the events they do for the veterans. Dan does a great job with this stuff,” Fuller said.
