When voters decided Sarasota City Commission races earlier this month, more than 600 Republican voters who sat out an election in March cast ballots in one of two different contests. Still, the two Republicans running in the race, both incumbents, lost their respective contests. “In some ways,” reflected Republican Party of Sarasota chairman Joe Gruters, “it’s harder to get elected to the city commission in Sarasota than it is to get into Congress.

An SRQ Media Group analysis of the May 12 election returns in Sarasota showed that efforts by both major political parties did produce tangible results, but ultimately the get-out-the-vote efforts by professionals campaigns led to Liz Alpert’s defeat of Eileen Normile in the Sarasota City Commission District 2 contest and Shelli Freeland Eddie’s win over Stan Zimmerman in the Sarasota City Commission District 3 race. Results will be discussed this morning at a Where The Votes Are event at SRQ’s corporate headquarters on Pineapple Avenue. Doors open at 7:45 am; the event is free and open to the public.

Gabriel Hament, Alpert’s campaign manager, said Alpert certainly benefitted from support from the Sarasota Democratic Party, but also said some efforts credited to the party in fact originated from the Alpert campaign. “We brought the party with us to show how to run a field race,” he said. The fact Alpert personally reached out to so many voters made a huge difference, he figured. In the end, Alpert held an edge demonstrated in the March contest and won with 53 percent of the vote. And that was despite Republicans making enough voter gains that GOP voters outnumbered Democratic voters in the District 2 contest. Gruters was happy about the gains, but said it was no match the Democratic effort. He said the Republican party assigned somewhat to work on the campaign full-time for the last five weeks of the cycle, while Democrats staffed the whole season. And he also said the party put 65 percent of its efforts where they thought it was most needed, helping Normile overcome a vote deficit in District 2 rather than defending Zimmerman’s edge in District 3.

In the District 3 contest, campaign professionals working with the Eddie campaign noted record turnout by minority voters in the contest, especially notable as Eddie is the first black city commissioner ever elected outside of minority-heavy District 1. “Shelli is ‘elected proof’ that candidates – even in small close-knit races like this one – don’t have to choose between pursuing active, high-frequency voters and reaching out to disenfranchised minority voters,” said Christine Hawes, co-founder of Keen Campaigning. Of course, white voters still heavily outnumbered minority ones in the district, while Democrats increased a voter edge in the district in the contest. All of the efforts led to Eddie overcoming a 10-point deficit to Zimmerman and March and ending with a 7-point edge. 

With the Senior Play Reading Festival announced for this coming October, The Players Follies Group is on the hunt for material, putting out the call to local playwrights and writers of all sorts for original short play submissions to populate the festival.

“We didn’t want to do plays that were already published, we would rather call on the community,” said Follies acting coach and festival coordinator Cinda Goeken, adding that the festival has reached out the community for four years running and never been disappointed. “We’ve always had a very enthusiastic number of people submit.” In the intervening years since it began, the festival has grown and today some submissions come from as far as Germany.

In addition to being original and unpublished work, plays should be between 1-10 minutes in length and call for no more than eight performers to produce. Musicals will not be accepted, but authors may submit up to three plays for consideration at no cost. Prospective playwrights should also keep in mind that the Follies is a 55 and older troupe and submit accordingly.

New this year, the festival will have a theme for its submissions – “Plays on the Front Porch” and “Plays on the Back Porch” – corralling prospects for a more coherent festival. “We wanted to shake it up a bit and not get the same old kinds of plays,” said Goeken. “Make it a little more interesting and definitely different.”

The deadline for submissions is July 31, at which time bound and typed copies must be within the Follies’ hands, with selected plays announced by Aug. 29. Typically twelve or thirteen plays are selected.  

Yo! Sushi has over 80 locations throughout Europe and the United Kingdom.  The second location in the United States opened in May in the University Town Center Mall. I was resistant to the idea of conveyor belt sushi but now that I’ve tried it, I can’t wait to return. There is an open plan kitchen where a small army of chefs prepare fresh sushi, as well as a variety of hot dishes. The sushi is placed on colorful bowls (the colors correspond to price points) and the bowls are sent on a journey around the restaurant past booths and bar seats where patrons are encouraged to help themselves. The restaurant is a fun, colorful, and comfortable space and the service is excellent. Don’t mistake the space age look of the UFO-style food plates and silver scalloped conveyor belt to mean that you have to fend entirely for yourself – the servers are plentiful and are all friendly and informative. There’s even a little ‘Help’ button located at each booth, just in case. Yo! Sushi serves beer, wine, and sake and there’s a convenient cold case of grab and go items called Yo! To Go.  

For the fourth year, JMX Brands made Internet Retailer Magazine’s Second 500, which ranks North America’s fast-growing mid-tier Web merchants. JMX Brands jumped to 903 on the list and is also the 20th fastest growing in the Web-only category. JMX Brands is a web-only retailer of Amish furniture. 

JMX Brands

Realize Bradenton has elected Jennifer Zavidil and Rick Fawley to three-year board positions. Dennis Zink has been elected as board chair and Chris Timol as vice chair. The board of directors addresses issues and opportunities for community and economic development in Bradenton. 

Realize Bradenton

My Beloved Boutique, a women’s clothing retailer, is set to open in Bradenton. The boutique has a special mission to help support the rehabilitation of sex-trafficking victims. The store will open June 20, at 6408 Cortez Road, Bradenton FL. 

My Beloved Boutique