This past weekend, one of the great burgeoning traditions in Sarasota took place: the Benderson Chase. The two-day regatta, formerly known as the Head of the 941, launched in 2013 and is one of the largest regattas in the state. This year, the race, hosted by Nathan Benderson Park and Sarasota Crew in partnership with Visit Sarasota County, featured an estimated 450 boats and over 1,000 rowers on the lake in Nathan Benderson Park. “We’ve been hosting the race for ten-plus years now and it’s really continued to grow in the last few years post Covid,” says Rick Brown, Director of Operations for Sarasota Crew. “The race will feature teams from all over Florida, a team from The Bahamas and even a couple individuals from Pittsburgh. It’s a fun fall event for the rowing world with the unique course set up that we’re able to have here.”

Part of what makes this event so unique is the lake itself in Nathan Benderson Park. While the 400-acre lake is roughly 2,000 meters long, making it perfect for the traditional 2,000 meter sprint races that occur in the spring, the Benderson Chase is a 5,000 meter head race. Not only is the Benderson Chase more than twice the distance of a typical sprint race, it also is not in a straight line. Boats are forced to navigate around the back channels of the lake, making strategic decisions about which line to take. Boats take off at staggered times, racing against the clock instead of each other.

“For this race, we actually race around the lake.It adds to some of the fun–we go through the back channel around the island on the lake and the bridges, then there’s a choice of which way you can go coming out of that channel,” says Brown. “A lot of rowers enjoy having to navigate the course and not just racing for 5,000 meters in a straight line.” 

Pictured: The Benderson Chase at Nathan Benderson Park in 2019. Photo courtesy of https://ncfcatalyst.com/10th-annual-sarasota-invitational-regatta-held-at-nathan-benderson-park/.

Discover Sarasota Tours announces a NEW Art Crawl Trolley Tour showcasing Sarasota’s galleries, studios, and public art. This city-wide tour explores six different downtown Sarasota neighborhoods on the 2nd Friday night from 5-9PM during the months of January-April. The tour is led by local guide & watercolor artist Jerome Chesley. “I was looking for a way to support all our downtown art galleries and saw that St. Petersburg runs an annual Art Crawl Trolley tour. This got me thinking about how it might work here with our trolley. Once I spoke with partners: Visit Sarasota, SRQ Magazine, Mary Davis Wallace at the City, the DSA, the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and the Arts and Cultural Alliance, I knew that together, we could make it a city-wide effort in support of our visual arts community,” said Tammy Hauser. Visitors start at the Trolley Cottage Gift Shop located in the heart of Gillespie Park offering charming Sarasota gifts and complimentary wine or beer. Guest can also visit the Artful Giraffe Gallery at this hub location. Then, they will board the trolley or van to explore Historic Burns Court, Towles Court Art Center, Limelight District, Main Street, Palm Avenue & the Rosemary District. During the 30-min rotating tour they will see Sarasota’s collection of public art. At each hub stop, guests can hop off to explore galleries and studios or hop back on to go to the next stop. “There is so much art to see in Sarasota and I am excited lead this art crawl tour to share the galleries, studios, and public art that comprise Sarasota arts legacy” said Guide, Jerome Chesley. Participating galleries include: Chasens in the Mark, 530 Burns Court, Palmer Gallery, Artful Giraffe, Creative Liberties, Bazaar on Apricot and Lime/Hamlet’s Eatery, Helmuth Stone, Towles Court Art Center, Mara Studio Gallery, Sarasota Trading Company, Alex Art International, Art Ovation Hotel, Sarasota Fine Art, Meg Krakowiak Studio and NorthStar Jewelry and Gallery. The Art Crawl will be offered from 5-9PM on January 12, February 9, March 8, and April 12, 2024. The $10 ticket includes transport to each of the tour’s six gallery locations, FREE parking at The Trolley Cottage Gift Shop, and complimentary beer, wine, or water before boarding. Final tour departs at 8:15PM. Many participating galleries will also offer complimentary refreshments on Art Crawl Trolley nights. Guests can board and pay at any of the stops along the route. Presented in partnership with Visit Sarasota County, SRQ Magazine, Downtown Sarasota Alliance, Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, and the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County. 

The Story Book Trail at Lincoln Park opened on November 16, inviting a new and exciting way for Manatee County to improve literacy and reading confidence among students. Story Book Trail is composed of panels along the Lincoln Park walking trail that serve as “pages” of a book, giving children and parents the ability to practice reading while getting exercise and fresh air. The first book featured on the panels is A Walk in The Forest, by Maria Dek, a poetic story that includes counting animals and plants while enjoying the beauty of nature. The installation was a collaborative effort between the School District of Manatee County and Soar in 4, and was sponsored by I am Yes Joyful Projects and Manatee Education Foundation.

The trail’s grand opening started off in style, with the Lincoln Memorial Middle School drumline marching along the trail playing numerous fight songs. The performance was followed by speakers from all four sponsoring organizations, emphasizing the community efforts and teamwork it took to complete the educational park addition. Even though the dark clouds above cast a constant rainy drizzle, the event was full of gleaming smiles and excitement over the literacy project that will no doubt have a lasting impact on students within the local community.

One of the primary objectives for the trail is to give parents the ability to bring more education into their children’s day-to-day lives. “A parent is a child’s first teacher, so this installation is another opportunity for parents to serve as teachers for their students,” says Derek Jensen, the deputy superintendent of instruction at the School District of Manatee County. Reading out-loud to children is a huge factor in determining how easily they learn to read and how they will perform academically in the future. “It's huge. Some people would say it's probably the number-one factor in determining early academic outcomes, as well as long term academic outcomes. Students in poverty oftentimes have a word gap of millions of words, so some students come to school having heard one million fewer words than other students,” Jensen adds.

The panels serve as a great way for early readers to practice their skills while being able to move their bodies. Many students struggle to maintain concentration, so being free to be silly and run could be an important bridge in helping certain students achieve their literacy goals. The panels also have QR codes that provide audio translations to Spanish and French for non-English speaking families.

The Story Book Trail installation is just the first of many, with the four organizations hoping to create even more additions across Manatee county. “It's part of a really intentional early literacy framework that we have throughout Manatee County to support families. I think that's really cool because it's not something that's an isolation-it's part of the big picture of early literacy,” Jensen says.

Story Book Trail at Lincoln Park, 501 17th St., East Palmetto.  

Pictured: Amy Weinberger of the I am Yes! Joyful Project cut the ribbon at the Story Book Trail Grand Opening on Nov 16. Photo by Emma Dannenfelser.

For more information, visit mymanatee.org

Sarasota County Schools is pleased to share that the Arts Schools Network (ASN) has appointed Dr. LaShawn Frost – the Principal of Booker Middle School – as the President of its Board of Directors. Dr. Frost, known for her exceptional leadership skills, extensive board experience, and innovative approach, will serve a two-year term as Chair, steering the organization towards new heights. Under Dr. Frost's dynamic leadership, Sarasota County is set to make history by hosting the 2025 National Arts Schools Network conference. The event will be hosted by Booker Middle School, marking it the first time, nationwide, a middle school has been chosen to organize this national gathering. In expressing her gratitude for the appointment, Dr. Frost stated: "It is an honor to serve as Chair of the ASN Board and to host such an amazing conference that brings together art school leaders from across this great nation. Our vision is to empower leaders of arts schools by connecting them regionally, nationally, and internationally to raise the quality, profile, and success of the students they serve. Booker Middle School is excited to host our fellow arts schools and arts organizations throughout the country in a meaningful way, providing them with a unique Sarasota experience.” Please join us in congratulating Dr. LaShawn Frost and Booker Middle School!  

New College of Florida, in coordination with Architecture Sarasota, announces the winner of the Reimagining Pei architectural competition, selecting Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors (Sarasota, USA). The competition culminated in a live presentation by three finalists on November 15 at Mildred Sainer Pavilion with more than 200 New College students, faculty, and staff joined by local community members. The Sweet Sparkman proposal included innovative increases of pedestrian walking paths, enhancements for vehicular traversing of the campus, and a creative interpretation of redesigning the Palm Court. The designs preserved the traditional Pei designs while formulating a plan to surround the dorms with a world-class athletics complex. All three finalists used the recent launch of intercollegiate athletics at New College as inspiration to integrate visionary athletic complex designs into their final proposals. The finalist proposals and video of the live presentation are available online at NCF.edu/ReimagingPei. The competition was launched to honor the work of renowned architect I.M. Pei who designed the iconic brutalist-style dormitories on New College’s East Campus (a.k.a. Pei Campus). New College tasked the firms with boldly transforming the structures as it develops an innovative and comprehensive future campus plan to include an athletic complex, retail and entertainment. Joining Sweet Sparkman in the field of finalists were Brooks+Scarpa (Los Angeles, USA) and STUDIOS Architecture (France and USA). A distinguished committee of local and national members of the architecture community narrowed down exceptional portfolios of entrants in early September. All three finalists received a $10,000 honoraria from the New College Foundation, Inc. to develop their design concepts for the adaptive use of the dormitories on the Pei Campus. The quality of the conceptualization all three finalists provided demonstrated efforts far above and beyond the monetary value of the honoraria.The three finalists were firms with diverse practices based in sustainable and equitable design. Brooks+Scarpa is a Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award-winning firm in Los Angeles, California, known for its multidisciplinary ethos and innovative approach to material application in environmentally responsive designs that stretch across a variety of sectors; STUDIOS Architecture, recipient of one of eight Honor Awards at the 2022 GSA Design Awards, is an international architecture firm with six offices in France and the USA (the “Reimagining Pei” competition entry was submitted by the firm’s Washington, DC office), known for campus-scaled corporate, educational, and residential projects which boast original approaches to material sourcing, focused on upcycling and recycling; Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors is a multi-award-winning Sarasota-headquartered firm with a two-decade track record of designing for the climate challenges specific to the city, specializing in community, commercial and residential architecture. Architecture Sarasota will display the Reimagining Pei Challenge final design concepts at McCulloch Pavilion, 265 S. Orange Avenue beginning Wednesday, December 6. The building is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The Reimagining Pei competition is separate from any from any future project. There is no guarantee of additional work, and any subsequent project will be subject to a separate public procurement process.