eNewsletter Sign-up
	The Ringling legacy still thrives in Sarasota with the John and Mable Ringling Art Museum, the Ringling Venetian Mansion, and the Ringling Circus and Clown Museum. All top tourist attractions in the area.  Sarasota beaches, Lido Beach and Siesta Key, and nearby Longboat Key and Venice beaches all offer sugary white sand, 87 degree crystal blue waters, and the family friendly Gulf Coast waves. On the way to the beach is the popular St Armands circle, just over the bridge from Sarasota, offering the entire spectrum of shopping and dining, from the high end eateries and boutique shopping to beach bars and Souvenir shops. St. Armands is bustling with activity from mid-day to past mid-night. Other popular Sarasota attractions to spend a half-day include the Sarasota Jungle Gardens, where you can hold an alligator; and Historic Spanish Point, a nature preserve with historic and archaeological exhibits, Mote Marine Laboratory, G.WIZ Childrens Musuem, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, and Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary, and more. Sarasota is recognized as Florida's Cultural Coast and is home to a professional symphony, ballet and opera. In addition, more than 10 theaters and 30 art galleries are located in Sarasota. Most notable is the acoustic perfection of the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, seating 1700. The vibrant Sarasota downtown area calendar of festivals, events, concerts and theatre productions is full year-round, and overflows during the February-April months with the Sarasota Film Festival, Baseball’s Spring Training Calendar, and Performing Arts venues offering near nightly entertainment. For eco-tourists, the Myakka River State Park, with 28,875 acres of land, and Oscar Scherer State Park are Sarasota's destinations for bird-watching, biking, walking, kayaking and canoeing or just communing with Florida's natural setting of swamps, palmetto brush and towering pine trees. Myakka State Park offers guided boat and train tours that include informative narration of the area's wildlife and history. In 2010, Sarasota will be the Baltimore Orioles spring training home. The Orioles join the nearby Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training home in Bradenton, making Sarasota a March vacation for both American and National League baseball fans. For those wanting to participate, Sarasota is known as Florida's "Cradle of Golf," offering more than 1,000 holes at public, semi-private and private courses, including the well-known courses at the Bobby Jones Complex. Fishing in Sarasota is another popular pastime, whether it be from one of the fifteen area piers or a charter into the Gulf of Mexico.