Bayfest Party Time

ANNA MARIA – They started showing up on Friday evening and kept jamming into Pine Avenue by the thousands all day Saturday, making this year’s Bayfest one for the record books.

That’s the reaction from Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce President Mary Ann Brockman, who said preliminary figures from the 10th annual celebration look great. More...

View Photos of Bayfest

Real estate sales on rise

More real estate agents are using their sold signs than a year ago, according to a study of sales by Island Real Estate agent Alan Galletto, using figures from the Multiple Listing Service in Manatee County, which keeps track of sales listed through Realtor offices.

Sales on the Island continue to be very strong, with September sales up 55 percent... More...

Tourism budget goes to county

PALMETTO – The Manatee County Tourist Development Council voted Monday to recommend $2.62 million in tourist tax funds for tourism marketing in 2011 – the same level as 2010 and an increase from 2009’s budget of $2.31 million.

The 2011 marketing campaign will include variations on the theme, “Find yourself in our island culture,” such as “Find your passion here,” targeted to couples, “Find your balance here,” aimed at outdoor sports and “Find your peace here.” More...

Anna Maria mayoral hopefuls respond

Anna Maria voters will be selecting a new mayor from among two candidates: Sandy Mattick and Mike Selby. More...

Two run for commission seat in Bradenton Beach

The former city commission seat of Mayor Bob Bartelt is a hot item this year. Two people are running for that seat including the person chosen to fill the seat when Bartelt, serving as vice mayor, took over for Mayor Michael Pierce who resigned this summer to tend to family.. More...

Pets being killed by coyotes, Cortez residents say

HOLMES BEACH – Commissioners approved a site plan for a stand-alone Walgreen’s Drug Store to be built at the south end of the Anna Maria Island Center on East Bay Drive.

The approval came with stipulations regarding the number of parking spaces and the installation of a sidewalk and a crosswalk on the Gulf Drive side and a buffer in the rear. More...

Neal/Robinson project OK'd

BRADENTON - Neighbors who went home from a Manatee County Commission meeting last week thinking it was “three strikes and you’re out” were surprised to learn that “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”

During their third appearance before the commission last Tuesday, Neal Communities' representatives asked commissioners to change the county’s comprehensive plan to allow triple density on its 49-acre property east of Robinson Preserve. More...

Cortez mourns Ralph Fulford

CORTEZ – A pillar of the Cortez fishing village, Ralph Moses Fulford, died on Oct. 12.

Born April 4, 1928, in Cortez, Fulford lived most of his life in the village and was a lifelong resident of Manatee County. More...

Artists create turtle art for auction

Local artists have created more than 50 original pieces of art inspired by loggerhead turtles for the annual artsHOP silent auction on Nov. 12 and 13 at The Studio at Gulf and Pine in Anna Maria.

Several of these artists and their works will be featured each week in The Sun until the event weekend. Featured this week are Pat Hoffmann, Justin Kingsley Noyes, Betsy Smith and Robert Harper. More...

Sun provides creative, educational outlet

I was introduced to fishing in Anna Maria Sound and the edges of Tampa Bay by Captain Scott Moore in the early 1980s. I was invited along on trips with my friend Bobby Lee, and we were blessed to experience amazing days on the water with a man who would become a legend for his prowess with snook, tarpon, redfish and myriad other species. Those early days were the beginning of an awareness of the vulnerability of our fisheries resources and led to the formation of the Manatee Chapter of the Florida Conservation Association and a lifetime desire to protect fish and the waters they inhabited. More...

Using strategic defaults to stop the bleeding

Every time a new crisis comes along there’s a brand new vocabulary trailing right behind. The country’s financial meltdown and mortgage catastrophe has generated a lexicon of terms like sub-prime, negative equity, loan modification and re-equifying among others. Over the past several months, we’ve started to see another expression taking us to a whole new level, maybe even the lowest level of the crisis. More...

Social security strategies

You wouldn’t think that something as simple in principle as Social Security benefits would require much thought or strategy. But just like many things associated with the government, it’s never quite as simple as it seems. More...

Turtle season ending on high note

With 135 sea turtle nests laid this year on Anna Maria Island, one more than the 10-year average, Suzi Fox is calling the 2010 turtle season a good one.

The director of Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shore Bird Monitoring shared her thoughts about the season with volunteers on Sunday as they gathered to wash stakes and ropes, sort signs and rebuild cages. More...

Tug-O-War ends in a 2-2 tie

This week’s Sun sports Game of the Week featured play from the 8-9 year old soccer age group at the Community Center. Jessie’s Island Store took on Connie’s Landscaping Wednesday night. The Jessie’s team shut out the Connie’s team in the first half. Great defense led by William Bernett and goal tending by Noah Fischer kept the Connie’s team scoreless. Mid-way through the first half the Jessie’s offense struck. More...