by Michele Baker
Honoring Grandmothers, Trailblazers, and Community Pillars on March 8
International Women’s Day, celebrated each year on March 8, is a global occasion to recognize the achievements, resilience, and spirit of women everywhere. While the day honors women of...
By Michele Baker
Reprinted with minor adaptations from an article by the same name in Southern Living by Jeanne Lyons Davis published on November 15, 2025
This season, think beyond holiday movie marathons and reintroduce Christmas traditions from years gone by that are bound...
By Michele D. Baker
Every autumn, as the Florida heat begins to mellow and the Gulf breeze carries a hint of fall, the stretch of I-75 between Marion County and Lee County transforms into a ribbon of revelry. From Ocala’s...
If you’re celebrating Independence Day with your grandkids along Florida’s Gulf Coast, there are plenty of exciting ways to make it special! Here are some festive activities:
Watch Fireworks Over the Water
Cities like Sarasota, Venice, and Fort Myers host stunning...
By Kathy A. Megyeri The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in downtown Sarasota is the only botanical garden in the world dedicated to the display and study of epiphytic orchids, bromeliads, ferns, gesneriads, and tropical air plants.
On 15 acres overlooking scenic...
By Patricia Horwell
May is the ideal time of year to enjoy the great outdoors on the Suncoast. With temperatures in the 80s, we get to enjoy more daylight hours as we approach spring.
And sunsets seem to be more vibrant...
By Michele D. Baker
The Great North American Eclipse is a total solar eclipse that will occur on April 8, 2024. The path of totality will stretch from Mexico, through the United States (from Texas to Maine), and into Canada...
By Michele D. Baker
The modern American Mardi Gras season (Carnival) officially begins on January 6, the Twelfth Night of Christmas, also known as Epiphany – the day Jesus first showed himself to the three wise men and to the...
Lights in Bloom® features more than two million lights illuminating the gardens and walkways of our Downtown Sarasota campus.
Step into a tropical winter wonderland at our Downtown Sarasota campus featuring more than two million lights, festive photo opportunities, activities &...
Adapted from an article on SouthernLiving.com (read the full article here)
The Christmas season in Florida isn’t a traditional winter wonderland. Floridians gather ‘round the palm tree in shorts, drink ice-cold eggnog while opening presents, and toast candy cane martinis poolside...
