ANNA MARIA – Residents and visitors gathered under the City Pier Park shade sail on Sunday afternoon and evening to celebrate Thanks-Living.
Graced by perfect weather, approximately 50 people attended the annual Thanks-Living celebration that provides an opportunity to share a potluck dinner while mingling with friends and fellow community members.
This year’s bountiful food offerings included appetizers, salads, Pizza Social pizzas, sandwiches, turkey sliders, a wide array of desserts and more.
With assistance from the city of Anna Maria and other volunteers, Anna Maria resident Liz Hager helped organize this year’s Thanks-Living community gathering.
“We’re really glad that so many people came and it’s such a beautiful evening. This is a great place to live,” Hager said. “The city was very supportive and put up wonderful Thanks-Living signs for us in several places.”
Anna Maria City Commission Chair Mark Short welcomed the attendees.
“We believe this is the fifth Thanks- Living hosted here and we appreciate everybody coming. I was in charge of the weather today. I think I did OK,” he joked.
“This is a great event for everybody to get together and enjoy each other’s company – and for a lot of us, to catch up with people we haven’t seen in quite a while. I want to thank everybody for being here and I want to thank the people who helped put this event on. The Roser Food Pantry is here and I encourage everybody to make a donation. Enjoy yourself,” he said.
While gathered around a table with his wife, Dusty, and a group of friends, City Commissioner Jon Crane said, “I love small-town community events. It’s heartwarming. I’m very thankful for everybody who’s donated to the Roser Food Pantry and gave of their time to put this together. It’s a nice event.”
The Thanks-Living attendees include a group of friends from Germany who frequently visit Anna Maria.
Visitor Regina Ruh said, “We’ve come many times to Anna Maria to vacation and this is my third Thanks-Living here.”
Her friend, Ute Iffland, said, “We visited the Island 10 years ago for the first time and we fell in love. On Tuesday, we were at the farmers market (also held at City Pier Park).”
Roser Food Pantry Co-Chair Jack Brennan manned the food pantry donation table and later said, “It’s been a heck of a last couple weeks of raising money for the food pantry. Thanks-Living raised over $300 and we also collected some non-perishable food items. In October, the “Witch Sisters” raised over $1,200 during the Halloween celebrations. We appreciate the Island organizations and being part of this incredibly community-minded city.”
The first Thanks-Living was held in 2019 and was organized by the “For the Love of Anna Maria Island” community task force that consisted of Carol Carter, Janet Kingan,
