In the Sarasota area, you can enjoy the breathtaking sunsets, educational museums, operas, ballets, plays, golf tournaments, and boat races. You can join in tennis, lawn bowling, water skiing, shell collecting, bird watching, growing exotic tropical plants, university classes, golf, or boating.
Quality service is available from knowledgeable physicians, bankers, lawyers, investment brokers, lenders and insurance agents, who can help answer your questions about living and conducting business in Florida.
Sarasota, together with its neighbors to the north and south, Manatee County and Charlotte County, form the 7th-largest market in Florida. It is also Florida's third-fastest growing major market. With over 600,000 people, the Sarasota/Manatee/Charlotte area is one of the largest, most affluent markets in Florida. In the last 5 years, it has grown 4 times faster than the national average. The per capita retail sales are almost 20% above the national average. It has a strong base of retirement age people, about a third of the population, but the fastest-growing segment of the market is middle-aged adults and their children. It has approximately 1/4 the population of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area.
The beauty of Sarasota will get your attention on your first visit. If you see Sarasota first from the window of an airplane, the colors of the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay, contrasting with the brilliant white sand of Longboat, Lido, and Siesta beaches, will make you anxious to see more. A rainbow of colors comes from the tall condominiums shining in the sun, the warm tile on the roof and patio of the mansion built by circus magnate John Ringling, the various green hues from the lush jungle-like vegetation, the flowers that are blooming any month of the year, and the lavender seashell-design Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.
Sarasota boasts some of the oldest and newest homes in the area. Some homes were built over 50 years ago as winter vacation cottages. Others are new gated bayfront estates with manicured grounds, marble foyers, soaring ceilings, the newest fixtures and technological advances, and spectacular views.
Residents from any neighborhood can enjoy the wide range of activities available throughout Sarasota. Whether your taste in art leans more toward circus posters, Rubens and Poussin, seashell creations, sand sculptures, or the new art of the Ringling School of Art students, it's here. Your hunger for theatre can be filled by the French Film Festival, the Asolo Theatre Company, Florida Studio Theatre, Island Players, Lemon Bay Playhouse, or Theatre Works, for a start.
Just off Main, discover Palm Avenue's fine art galleries, the famous antique and retro collectible shops of Pineapple Avenue, and the picturesque Sarasota Bayfront. Catch an independent film in the 1920s styling of Burns Court, or watch artists at work in the galleries of Towles Court. Naturalists will love nearby Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, adorned in tropical plants from bamboo to colorful bromeliads to exotic orchids.
If you want to add music to your diet, you could begin with the Florida West Coast Symphony, Key Chorale, Gloria Musicae, the Jazz Club of Sarasota, Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Sarasota Blues Society, Sarasota Opera Association, or the Sarasota Concert Band.
You also have a large number of choices when you look for educational opportunities, spectator or participant sports, boating and other water activities, restaurant styles, museums, state parks, or fresh citrus.
Sarasota is part of the Sarasota County Public Schools system. There are more than thirty schools in the school district. Parents who elect to send their child to a school other than their assigned one, may apply for a change through the School Choice process.
Every school has a School Advisory Council, comprised of parents, educators, business representatives, and community leaders. Together they help develop and implement their respective School Improvement Plan. The district also offers gifted resource programs in all schools, full-time programs at numerous sites, and a designated full-time school for gifted students (Pine View) in grades 2-12. To create well-rounded students, music and art instruction are offered at all grades. A county-wide partnership with the arts community fosters excellence in music, visual arts, dance, theater and media arts education in our schools.
Colleges in Sarasota include New College of Florida, a highly acclaimed public liberal arts college which serves as the honors college for the state; Keiser College of Sarasota, a private college offering majors in high-demand fields, Ringling School of Art and Design, a school of visual arts and design; and a satellite campus of both Eckerd College and University of South Florida. Several two-year colleges include Sarasota County Technical Institute and Manatee Community College.
Photo Source: sarasotagov.com, ringling.org and Nathaniel Burbank
Sarasota, Florida
"Where urban amenities meet small-town living"
