If the last full weekend of summer felt like a farewell, this week feels like the opening night of a long season. The mornings are a touch cooler, the patio calendars are filling back in, and every time I look at my phone another local favorite has something good on. Here is where I will be, and where I would send you, Monday through Sunday on the Gulf Coast.
Marina Jacks, Bookended by Music
Marina Jacks on the downtown Sarasota bayfront has a lineup worth planning around. Tuesday the 8th, Bri Rivera takes the patio in the afternoon; Wednesday the 9th, Ryan Faraday starts at five; Thursday the 10th, Scott Curts holds down the deck; Friday the 11th, Mystical Visions brings the evening set; and Saturday the 12th, the Chris Connolly Band closes out the week. The Deep Six Lounge and Piano Bar keeps things going with Rock Lee at the keys most evenings from five, and the Blue Sunshine Patio has those bay views I never get tired of. Link it with a walk over the Ringling Bridge and you have an evening that feels like a mini vacation.
Jazz Thursdays Is Back on the Museum Plaza
Thursday the 10th, the Sarasota Art Museum brings the Colin Leonard New Generation Quartet to the Marcy and Michael Klein Plaza for its Jazz Thursdays series. There is something about live jazz on an open-air plaza in the fall: the light goes golden, the first notes float across the lawn, and suddenly it is your new favorite way to start the evening. Arrive a little early, wander the galleries, and settle in before six.
A Friday to Remember, and a Venice Saturday
Friday morning the 11th, the community gathers at Nathan Benderson Park along University Parkway for the annual 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb and Day of Remembrance. It is a meaningful way to start the day, and a chance to honor and give back alongside neighbors. That evening, the Venice Friday Night Concert Series continues at the Centennial Park gazebo on West Venice Avenue, with the Generation Gap playing oldies from seven to nine.
Then Saturday the 12th, the Pink Floyd Tribute takes the stage at the Venice Community Center at seven. This one is worth making a night of: dinner on Venice Avenue first, then the show, then a slow drive home past the palm-lined streets. Tickets go through the Community Center, and they tend to go.
Selby Gardens: Last Weekend for Shared Light
If you have been meaning to see the Shared Light: Lynn Goldsmith exhibition at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens on Mound Street, this is your final weekend. It runs through Sunday the 13th, pairing Goldsmith's floral photography with intimate portraits set among the gardens. The 46th Annual Juried Photographic Exhibition, presented with the Observer Media Group, stays up through September 30 if you want to keep the art streak going.
One More for the Calendar
Florida Studio Theatre's Legacy: Motown and More! is now in full swing, running through the fourth of October. And when you are out enjoying all of this, notice how close it all sits to the corridor: a lot of my favorite haunts are under twenty minutes from Palmer Ranch. If you are thinking about making these weekend plans permanent, let's talk.