The Sarasota Record
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Sarasota — your local wire.
Sarasota — your local wire.
Community
Latest reporting from the Community desk.
Community
Latest reporting from the Community desk.
Community
Latest reporting from the Community desk.
Community
Dolly Parton honored by Van Wezel, Sarasota book program
Sarasota institutions mourn Dolly Parton after her death Aug. 25, 2026, at age 80, with the Van Wezel recalling her sold-out 2011 concert and the Library Foundation for Sarasota County continuing her Imagination Library book program for local children.
Community
Mote team produces 1.5 million coral embryos in Keys restoration
Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium and 11 partner organizations produced more than 1.5 million coral embryos during an assisted-spawning effort in early August 2026, a landmark step toward restoring Florida's reef after the 2023 heat wave devastated remaining branching coral populations.
Sarasota, FL
80°F
Sunny
Feels like 95° · 7% rain
SatMostly Sunny93°F38%
SunMostly Sunny92°F76%
MonMostly Sunny92°F81%
TueMostly Sunny92°F83%
WedMostly Sunny91°F72%
ThuScattered Showers And Thunderstorms91°F68%
FriIsolated Showers And Thunderstorms90°F60%
Community
Dolly Parton honored by Van Wezel, Sarasota book program
Sarasota institutions mourn Dolly Parton after her death Aug. 25, 2026, at age 80, with the Van Wezel recalling her sold-out 2011 concert and the Library Foundation for Sarasota County continuing her Imagination Library book program for local children.
Sarasota, FL
80°F
Sunny
Feels like 95° · 7% rain
SatMostly Sunny93°F38%
SunMostly Sunny92°F76%
MonMostly Sunny92°F81%
TueMostly Sunny92°F83%
WedMostly Sunny91°F72%
ThuScattered Showers And Thunderstorms91°F68%
FriIsolated Showers And Thunderstorms90°F60%
Community
Dolly Parton honored by Van Wezel, Sarasota book program
Sarasota institutions mourn Dolly Parton after her death Aug. 25, 2026, at age 80, with the Van Wezel recalling her sold-out 2011 concert and the Library Foundation for Sarasota County continuing her Imagination Library book program for local children.
Sarasota, FL
80°F
Sunny
Feels like 95° · 7% rain
SatMostly Sunny93°F38%
SunMostly Sunny92°F76%
MonMostly Sunny92°F81%
TueMostly Sunny92°F83%
WedMostly Sunny91°F72%
ThuScattered Showers And Thunderstorms91°F68%
FriIsolated Showers And Thunderstorms90°F60%
Community
BrickTop's steakhouse and sushi restaurant headed to University Town Center in 2027
Nashville-based upscale chain BrickTop's is opening a roughly 7,500-square-foot restaurant at 55 N. Cattlemen Road in University Town Center, targeting a mid- to late-summer 2027 opening with steaks, sushi, and new American cuisine.
Community
Wellen Park Wine Festival tickets on sale for Nov. 13–14 event
Tickets for the third annual Wellen Park Wine Festival went on sale Aug. 1, with the two-day event set for Nov. 13–14 in Downtown Wellen along the U.S. 41 corridor, featuring 40-plus vintners, eight local restaurants and prices from $25 to $175.
Community
Sarasota Youth Opera opens auditions for fall staging of Rootabaga Country
Sarasota Youth Opera is accepting audition registrations through Aug. 30 for its fall production of Rachel J. Peter's Rootabaga Country, with performances Nov. 7–8 at the Sarasota Opera House and additional opportunities to sing in Hansel and Gretel and Carmina Burana.
Community
Nineteen airport paintings now on free display at City Hall and Van Wezel through 2027
Nineteen paintings commissioned in the 1980s for Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and stored since 2021 are now on free public display at City Hall and the Van Wezel through May 2027, tracing Sarasota's history from Indigenous communities to its circus and arts legacy.
Community
Ruby Bridges to hold public town hall at Booker High School on Nov. 12
Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges will appear at Booker High School's Visual and Performing Arts Center on Thursday, November 12, for a public town hall organized by Embracing Our Differences, with net proceeds benefiting the nonprofit and the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition.
Community
Visit Sarasota County seeks nominations for Haley Hall of Fame Awards
Visit Sarasota County is accepting nominations through Friday, August 28, for its annual Haley Hall of Fame Awards honoring hospitality and tourism workers, with winners to be celebrated November 19 at the Art Ovation Hotel in downtown Sarasota.
Community
Boar's Head employees raise $100,000 to put two refrigerated vans on the road for All Faiths Food Bank
Employees at Sarasota-headquartered Boar's Head Brand raised more than $100,000 through their Circle of Friends campaign to fund two refrigerated cargo vans for All Faiths Food Bank, pushing the program's lifetime giving past $1 million since 2019.
Community
Dogs Inc. says its guide-dog routines can keep any pet active indoors this summer
Dogs Inc., the Sarasota-area guide dog nonprofit, says the indoor fitness exercises it uses to train future service animals work for any household pet stuck inside during summer heat, and the organization is recruiting volunteer puppy raisers.
Community
The Cambodian-American tradition behind Sarasota's Gold Star Donuts
Gold Star Donuts on Whitfield Avenue is one of several Cambodian-owned doughnut shops across Florida connected to a refugee entrepreneurship tradition that began with Ted Ngoy's arrival in California in 1975, as profiled in a July 22 Sun Newspapers column.
Community
Sarasota's McCreight one move from Ninja Warrior finals, eyes Season 20 return
Sarasota occupational therapist Kyle McCreight, 38, was eliminated one move from the buzzer on American Ninja Warrior's Season 18 Eastern Regional Finals aired July 13, but plans to return for Season 20 while continuing his work with limb-different children through the Never Say Never Foundation.
Community
Junior League grant brings free snacks, water to Big Waters nature programs
Big Waters Land Trust received a $2,500 Junior League of Sarasota grant to provide healthy snacks and water at its free nature education programs across the region for the rest of 2026.
Community
Selby Gardens adds $5,000 orchid photography prize to 46th annual juried exhibition
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is accepting submissions Aug. 3–10 for its 46th Annual Juried Photographic Exhibition, which introduces a new $5,000 Richard and Ellen Sandor Photography Prize for the best orchid image — the first dedicated cash award in the exhibition's 46-year history.
©2026 The Sarasota Record
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©2026 The Sarasota Record
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©2026 The Sarasota Record
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