Island businesses honored

HOLMES BEACH – With the streets of Anna Maria Island already getting fuller with seasonal residents, it was a perfect time for the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce to swear in its leadership, remember the past year and prepare for the upcoming season.

It was a full house at the Key Royale clubhouse for the Chamber’s installation banquet. As Mike Sales sang hit tunes in the background, the talk before dinner was about the coming year, Anna Maria being named one of the top family vacation islands in the world by Islands magazine and how most of the Island businesses had survived the recession. More...

Free nights offered on Island

To attract visitors in tough economic times, eight Anna Maria Island rentals and two on the mainland are offering free room nights through at least Dec. 15, with some extended through February 2010.

With the extra day, visitors can lounge on the beach or venture into Bradenton to the South Florida Museum, the Village of the Arts and other local attractions, shops and restaurants, according to Jessica Grace of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. More...

Pier repair estimate $225,000 or less

ANNA MARIA – The long awaited report on the condition of the Anna Maria City Pier recommends a considerable amount of work, but only one repair is flagged as immediate.

The inspection was done in October by MT Causley at a cost of $6,100 and released Nov. 6. The total cost of recommended repairs is between $176,180 and $224,675 with a 10 percent contingency. More...

Pine Ave. parking questioned

ANNA MARIA – Wasting no time getting down to business, new Commissioner Harry Stoltzfus submitted a letter Thursday questioning parking at two Pine Avenue Restoration buildings.

“I’ve been trying to reconcile what I consider an unsafe confluence of vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic created by 315/317 Pine Avenue with the goals, objectives and policies of the comp plan and the codes of the LDR (land development regulations) and I am unable to do so,” Stoltzfus said in a letter to city officials. More...

Cortez Folk Arts Festival Saturday

CORTEZ – The second annual Cortez Village Folk Arts Festival will bring music, arts and crafts, seafood and more to Cortez on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez, 4415 119th St. W.

Cortez musician Eric Von Hahmann and other local bands will provide continuous music while food vendors prepare locally caught seafood and other treats. More...

See exhibition sculpture at SandBlast

SandBlast, Keep Manatee Beautiful’s annual sand sculpting contest, starts today when Team Sandtastic, begins to build a huge exhibition sculpture at the BeachHouse restaurant, 200 Gulf Drive N., Bradenton Beach.

The sculpture, which will have a nautical holiday theme, will be completed by Nov. 20. During those three days, the public is invited to the free clinics from 5 to 6 p.m. to learn sand sculpture tips, tricks and techniques. More...

Women add Island spice to Sweet Adelines

When Pam McMillen walked into a rehearsal of the Magic of Manatee Sweet Adelines chapter three years ago, director Lois Van Beek had a déjà vu experience.

“Lois walked up to me and said, ‘I know you. You look just like your mother,’ ” said McMillen, now the costume chairperson and assistant choreographer for the group. More...

Mixed reviews for 'Mountains Beyond Mountains'

Pulitzer prize-winning author Tracy Kidder’s book, “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” is not everyone’s idea of a great book, nor is the writing everyone’s idea of Pulitzer prize-winning quality.

The work, subtitled “The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World,” is Kidder’s account of some months he spent with Farmer in Haiti at his medical center, where the Harvard-trained physician has quite a success record treating patients who live in extreme poverty with drug-resistant tuberculosis, HIV and other diseases. More...

ArtsHOP delivers inspired weekend

Eight galleries with eight distinct personalities welcomed visitors during the third annual ArtsHOP Gallery Walk on Friday evening, which launched a three-day celebration of the arts on Anna Maria Island focused on The Doors.

In a remarkable case of art imitating life, or perhaps life imitating art, an informal group of musicians with no name gathered outside the Artists’ Guild Gallery in Holmes Beach and started to jam, bluegrass style. Their standup bass player just happened to be standing near one of the painted doors that would be auctioned off later in the weekend, and featured, of all things, a standup bass player. More...

Cobia on the fly

As the waters cool in the Tampa Bay region, savvy anglers know it’s time to start looking for cobia in area waters. These feisty game fish can grow to over 100 pounds, and 50- to 60-pound fish are common during the fall. While most anglers target cobia in the Gulf, they range widely throughout local bays as well. A few years ago, I was introduced to a fantastic cobia fishery in upper Tampa Bay by Captain Bryon Chamberlin, of Land Of Lakes. More...

Life support for the real estate market

The patient is the real estate market, and the best specialists in the country have all taken a whack at curing the poor thing. We’ve had stimulus programs, tax credits, low interest rates, loan modifications and a lot of creativity coming out of the real estate industry, but we still have a pretty sick puppy. Well the calvary just galloped into town in the form of the federal government throwing out a couple of lifelines, again. More...

Historical precedent is positive

A little over a month ago, I wrote a column here in the Sun, which referenced the seven-month winning streak ending Sept. 30 for the stock market’s major indexes and how it might pay to be a little cautious in the near term and watch for pullbacks in prices before moving additional money into equities. More...

Soccer champions are crowned

The 2009 Center soccer season came to a close on Saturday, Nov. 14, with a full day of championship and All-Star games played. After an intense three-day playoff schedule, three teams surpassed all competition and were named playoff champions. Mike Norman Realty had an upset victory over Harcon Corporation in the Premier Division, despite Harcon finishing the regular season in first place. Ross Built capped a first place finish in the standings with a win over Autoway Ford in the Division 1 championship game. Sandbar completed a dream season with a comeback victory to beat Panoramic in the finale, as the team finished unbeaten throughout the year. More...