FLORIDA’S FUNKY, FOLKSY SIESTA KEY –
The Commercial Appeal, December 3, 2000

Walk on it, lie on it, photograph it or simply worship it — Crescent Beach at the north end of Siesta Key is the best beach in the world, according to the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Other experts more modestly describe it as the finest beach in the USA, or simply, “the best of the best.” This strip of sand on the Gulf of Mexico invites comparison to sugar, the color of clouds, talcum. It dazzles in sunlight and stretches for 2 + miles, including Siesta Key Public Beach. Its lack of seashells makes it barefoot-friendly, but shell seekers can find plentiful little gifts from the sea to the south, at Turtle Beach.

That’s only one reason to head for Siesta Key. As part of Sarasota that stretches roughly five miles between the Gulf of Mexico and the Intercoastal Waterway, it has an ambience that is more low-key and less manicured than the surrounding west coast of Florida. Popular for biking, jogging and fishing, it has two small, separate villages, and from November to September, a funky “Siesta Trolley” shuttles visitors back and forth between them. Here are art galleries, eating places, the sort of earthy dives that are called Old Salty Dog and feature the local specialty, fried hot dogs, welcome shorts and sneakers and don’t require reservations. For a more elegant dining option, there is Ophelia’s on little Sarasota Bay, or a ten-minute trip to Sarasota, where sophisticated restaurants abound.

Less “upmarket” than its tonier neighbor, Longboat Key, Siesta Key shares many local attractions: The newest is the Mote Marine Aquarium. This combination research, dolphin rescue, marine life, aquatic petting zoo, and biomedical and conservation center exhibits every manner of sea life including eels, sharks, turtles, manatees and the sort of creepy crawly underwater creatures ordinarily featured in bad dreams. The exhibits are designed to leave children as well as adults enlightened and spellbound. The aquarium is open daily from ten to five, admission is $8.00, $6.00 for students and toddlers get in free.

The one-of-kind Bird Rehabilitation Center on City Island (part of Longboat Key) is a short drive away. Dale Shields, a sort of avian national hero who has won praise from bird lovers coast to coast and was designated one of President Bush’s points of light, has been rescuing our feathered friends for thirty years. He has found pelicans and herons at the side of the road, wounded sandpipers, blinded crows and broken-winged vultures, and has given them all a safe haven. With his staff, he rehabilitates the injured and sends them back into the wild. Some must be kept permanently in the aviary, which is supported by public donations. Donors’ names are carved into individual bricks that create the walkways through the compound. Admission is by voluntary donation.

Wildlife attractions aside, the Sarasota area is known as the cultural Florida coast, and also includes the very prestigious Ringling Art Museum. Founded by John Ringling of circus fame and his wife Mable, this museum has a world class collection of 10,000 objects that include paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints and decorative arts, ancient as well as contemporary. It sits on the acreage adjacent to Sarasota Bay, left by Ringling to the state of Florida, and shares the property with the Ringlings’ winter Residence, Ca D’Zan. This is a 22 room Venetian style palazzo, open to visitors, and currently under a multimillion dollar renovation. Also on the property is the Museum of the Circus, filled with sequined costumes, an animated miniature circus, posters and other three-ring paraphernalia. The historic Asolo Theatre, also on the property, is Italian style, with rising tiers of boxes and a frieze of painted profiles of famous Italians. It serves the community as a lecture hall, movie theatre and meeting place, but is more reminiscent of a nineteenth century small-gem opera house. All these attractions are open to the public from 9 to 5:30 every day. Admission charge is $9, $8 for seniors.

For sports enthusiasts, the Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota will be the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds next March. The Sarasota Reds, (three steps below the majors,) play from April through August. Siesta Key has no hotel or motel chains and accommodations range from mom-and-pop bed and breakfasts to efficiencies to large, furnished apartments. Often a fully-equipped apartment can be had for the price of a regular hotel room in nearby resort communities. Or, for a taste of luxury (and the best tennis activities in the United States), one can choose the Colony Hotel on nearby Longboat Key, although some fully appointed resort condos on the beach are available here as well.

For more information, please call the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, at (914)349-3800, or the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau, at (800)522-955-0991.