Crowds love Island Wedding Fest

HOLMES BEACH – The volunteers taking money to register brides, grooms and their families for the Third Annual Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce Wedding Festival last Sunday knew they were on a roll. Some 550 registrations had been made in advance, more than all of last year’s event, and they knew that they were breaking the record.

When the applications were counted, 332 more people had signed up making the total 832, a record for this young event. Not bad considering the cold and wet weather the day before. More...

Pine Ave. site plan squeaks by

ANNA MARIA — Plans for a two-building, two-story mixed-use project at 216 Pine Avenue were approved by a 4-3 vote at the Planning and Zoning Board last week.

This was the second time the members of the city’s P&Z heard the site plan application. The project is being constructed on two lots. Last month, the plans showed the two buildings joined across the middle property line. Under city code, when a building straddles the line between two properties, the side setbacks have to be adjusted. More...

Haley’s owners in foreclosure

HOLMES BEACH – Citing his wife’s status as a missing person and a fire that claimed part of Haley’s Motel shortly after her disappearance, motel owner Thomas Buehler has requested relief from foreclosure in Manatee County Circuit Court.

BankUnited sued Buehler, his missing wife, Sabine Musil-Buehler, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, nominee for Countrywide Home Loans, and two unknown tenants for foreclosure, claiming the Buehlers owe $574,293 on non-motel property at 512 72nd St. in Holmes Beach. More...

City passes on land purchase

BRADENTON BEACH – City commissioners passed last week on a chance to purchase prime beachfront property at a low price with easy terms for one reason – it is unbuildable.

The offer, which originally came from Island, Inc. and Beach Development, was to sell the land to the city for $600,000, giving the city up to 10 years to pay for it. When the city balked, the developers offered it at the same price, but giving the city 20 years to pay for it with interest. More...

Island Heritage Day celebrates history

The Anna Maria Island Historical Society is holding it’s annual Island Heritage Day Festival on Saturday, March 6, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Island Historical Museum complex, 402 Pine Ave., Anna Maria. Admission is free.

Stroll the museum gardens and browse for antiques and arts and crafts, purchase Early Settler’s Bread, watch palm frond and pine needle basket weaving demonstrations by Betsy Smith and delight in clowns Snowbird and Sparky as they make colorful balloon animals. More...

Rotary Casino Night raises the odds

The Rotary Club of Anna Maria Island holds its eighth annual Casino Night and Benefit at the St. Bernard Church and Activity Center, 248 S. Harbor Drive, Holmes Beach, on Friday, March 12, starting at 6 p.m.

This year's theme is Casino Royale. Each year, the Rotary Club returns tens of thousands of dollars to a variety of community organizations and other projects that provide basic human needs both locally and internationally. Funds raised at Casino Night also go to Anna Maria Elementary School to encourage literacy and character building. More...

‘Click it or ticket’ under way

Law enforcement agencies on Anna Maria Island are joining hundreds of other law enforcement agencies across Florida in observing the annual “Click it or Ticket” campaign to emphasize the safety aspects of using your seat belt when you drive.

The campaign, which began March 1, runs through March 15 and police will make a concerted effort to enforce the Florida seat belt law. If you are not using one, you could get a ticket. More...

City panel addresses Sunshine Law snafu

Agents from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) are looking at the killing of a young heron chick who was in a nest in an Australian pine that was cut down as part of a county seawall project at Kingfish Boat Ramp.

The incident happened on Sunday, Feb. 14, according to Manatee County Communications Officer Nick Azzara. More...

Indiana artist comes to Innervisions Gallery

Be ready to see the light when the Sweet Baby Jesus Southern Tour comes rolling into town.

Indiana artist John C. Calhoun brings his paintings, drawings, mixed media works and collaborations with Anna Maria cabinetmaker Doug Copeland to Innervisions Gallery in Bradenton’s Village of the Arts March 5. The pieces, with names such as “The Temptation of the Snake,” “The Miracle of the Baptism” and “The Department of Justice” will intrigue, provoke and delight you. More...

Winter soon to be not-so-fond memory

It’s the third week in February and my three decades of experience angling area waters would normally tell me to start looking for snook in shallow waters on area flats. Fishers who study the trends and pay close attention to the seasonal shifts get the jump on most anglers who started targeting linesiders in late March and April. While I won’t be looking for the same scenario this year, I feel spring closing in and know that sooner than later the winter of 2009 and 2010 will be a (not so fond) memory for the record books. There has been colder winter days in this part of Florida in the past few decades, but the stretches of days where the temperatures never made it out of the 40s is historic. The unprecedented cold took its toll on snook and a host of other species that swim local waters. During the worst days in December and January I even saw dead pilchard shiners and mullet. More...

More money for Fannie and Freddie

If you’re like me and most other people, you weren’t paying too much attention to what the United States Treasury Department was doing on Christmas Eve. After all, we had eggnog to drink, gifts to open and fattening foods to consume. But instead of being home with their loved ones on Christmas Eve and partaking of all the goodies, the Treasury Department was giving away goodies of a different kind. More...

Correction creates nervousness

The most significant correction for the financial markets since the new bull market began last March has taken place over the last few weeks. Investor sentiment studies have revealed a significant shift from optimism to pessimism during the short period of time, indicating the large declines of 2008 and early 2009 are still fresh in their minds. More...

Teams ready for playoff run as regular season ends

As the regular season comes to a close last week, all that is left now is the culmination of everything players have worked for thus far, the playoffs. The top seeds in each division will take on the team that finished in fourth place, with the second and third place teams being matched up as well. The winners of each game will advance to the Championship game in this single-elimination playoff schedule. The 8-9 division featured the Tortilla Bay Dolphins finishing in first place, the Ross Built Raiders topped the 10-12 division, the Tapes Tennis Titans captured first place in the 13-16 age group and the Raiders were also in first place of the Adult Division as the regular season ended. Playoff games will be held at the Community Center starting Wednesday, March 6 and running through Saturday. The Championship and All-Star Games for each division will be held throughout the day on Saturday. For final standings, statistics and schedules you can visit www.islandcommunitycenter.com. More...