Our Area
LONGBOAT KEY / SARASOTA
An easy 15-20 minute drive from Buttonwood Cove is the city of Sarasota. Sarasota has long been considered the Cultural Center of Florida. The city has its own opera house, symphony hall, performing arts theater and smaller private venues which offer everything from Broadway Shows to an annual Jazz Festival, original stage productions and an outdoor Arts Festival every January.
Along the bay front of Sarasota is the state owned John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Having made a fortune through the family-owned circus John Ringling amassed an art collection of over 600 paintings, sculptures and various decorative arts including more than 25 tapestries. The Museum’s art collection now consists of over 10,000 objects that include a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs and decorative arts.
In January, 2006, the Museum opened the Tibbals Learning Center. The focal point of the Learning Center is the magnificent model of the American Circus. The creator of the display is Howard Tibbals who handcrafted nearly 1 million pieces to make up his miniature circus including 1500 performers, 152 circus wagons, 7000 folding chairs for spectators and dishes and tableware to serve 900 people. Tibbals constructed his model at a scale of 3/4 inch to a foot. The perimeter of the model is approximately 450 feet, or the length of 1.5 football fields.
Local recreational pursuits are many and varied and include boating, sailing, shore and deep sea fishing, golf, tennis and hiking.