Every Thursday at noon over the summer, Sheila Loccisano filmed a check-in at the Longboat Key Historical Society for her "Follow Me to Longboat Key" Instagram page, which has 233,000 followers. Each video ended at a locked door with a selfie beside the sign. Then on a Thursday in October, as Your Observer reported, the door was open and the video finally had a happy ending.
The small building at the edge of Town Center Green is open again, and this month the Green fills up around it. A comedy night, a tree lighting, and a Thanksgiving gathering just down Bay Isles Road all land within about ten days of each other. The Green already works as Longboat Key's gathering place. The library meant to give it a permanent indoor anchor is the one piece residents' own fundraising couldn't settle.
A Laundry Cottage That Became the Island's Archive
The Historical Society's building is a century old. It started as the laundry room, also called the linens cottage, of the Whitney Beach Resort, and it was moved to Town Center Green in 2021.
The summer closure turned out to be a missing sign. Society President Michael Drake told Your Observer that a notice with his name and number, saying the society was closed for the summer but open by appointment, had disappeared. Starting in October, the society went back to its posted hours of Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Inside are some of the oldest images of the island:
- Photographs from 1914 to 1920 described as "the earliest known photographs of Longboat Key"
- Pictures from the 1953 fish fry
- Bound copies of the Anna Maria Islander from 1963 to 1976
- Ralph Hunter's "From Calusas to Condominiums" and Lora Colvin Whitney's "Hail This Feisty Village!"
- Old plaques from post offices, bridges and other public places, including one with John F. Kennedy's name
The society is asking for donations, volunteers and artifacts. The first goals are a new front door and display modules for more of the collection. Drake also wants volunteers to staff the building in season, when he plans to extend its hours. The society is also working to secure 602 Bay Isles Road as its address.
November on and Around the Green
The Green's own address is 600 Bay Isles Road, and the island's season calendar is clustered along that stretch. Here is what is scheduled from publish day through the start of December.
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu., Nov. 12, 9–10:30 a.m. | Food drive for Our Daily Bread | Christ Church of Longboat Key | Benefits Our Daily Bread of Bradenton |
| Thu., Nov. 12, 4:30–8:30 p.m. | Laughs on Longboat | Town Center Green, 600 Bay Isles Road | $35 per person; live music at 4:30, comedians at 5:30 |
| Thu., Nov. 12, 4–7:30 p.m., and Fri., Nov. 13, 10 a.m.–2 p.m. | Christmas Market | St. Mary Star of the Sea, Fr. Pick Hall, 4280 Gulf of Mexico Drive | Annual market run by the Women's Guild, inspired by European markets |
| Tue., Nov. 17, 5 p.m. | Community Gathering for Gratitude and Thanksgiving | Temple Beth Israel, 567 Bay Isles Road | 46th annual interfaith service, themed "250 years of Gratefulness" |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 5–7 p.m. | Light Up Longboat | Town Center Green | Tree lighting, food vendors, music and prizes |
| Fri., Nov. 27, noon–4 p.m. | Hello Holidays at J.McLaughlin | J.McLaughlin | 10% of sales benefit the Longboat Key Paradise Center for Healthy Living |
November 12 is the busiest day. The comedy night and the opening evening of the Christmas Market overlap, and the morning food drive comes first. For Laughs on Longboat, the Town of Longboat Key's listing has Akiem Esdaile playing at 4:30, followed by four comedians at 5:30, plus food trucks and complimentary beverages. The Longboat Key Foundation lists the comedians as Cliff Hornsby, Al Ernst, Eileen Smith and Greg Schwartz. The Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce calendar adds that the beverages include beer, seltzers, water and tea.
Nine days later, Light Up Longboat brings the tree lighting to the same lawn. Vendors can rent tables for $35.
On Dec. 12, the season moves off the island. Barefoot Tiki Tours, a Longboat Key Chamber member, is an official entry in the 40th annual Sarasota Holiday Boat Parade of Lights and is offering its whole boat as a private charter for the parade, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
The Building Meant to Hold It All Year
Everything in the table above happens outdoors or in borrowed rooms. The Sarasota County library planned for the Green would give that stretch of Bay Isles Road an indoor public space. The town worked with the Longboat Key Foundation to fund it beyond a basic branch, adding event space. In September, Sarasota County Facilities, Parks and Recreation Manager Brad Gaubatz described the design to the town's Planning and Zoning Board, as Your Observer reported:
- A larger community room that seats 200
- Large "sitting steps" for visitors to read on
- A covered outdoor terrace facing the Town Green
The terrace is the detail that ties the library to the lawn. A covered outdoor room facing the Green would sit right beside the space Light Up Longboat and Laughs on Longboat use now.
The funding shows how much islanders put in. The project's total cost is $13.5 million. Sarasota County committed $11 million, with $1 million for design and $10 million for construction. The town and the Longboat Key Foundation set a fundraising goal of $3 million and raised $3.8 million, including a $1 million pledge from U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan. As of September, the county had received $1.6 million of that money.
In September, the plan was to break ground in March. County staff expected to apply for building permits in October. The Planning and Zoning Board unanimously approved the county's requested amendments, on the condition that a revised site plan be submitted. The plans still needed Town Commission approval before permits could be issued.
What Amendment 3 Decides for the Green
The local fundraising was done. The deciding factor came from outside the island. Amendment 3 was on Florida's ballot this week. According to the Florida Division of Elections, it raises the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments. It also lowers the cap on yearly assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%, limits what counties and cities can use property-tax money for, and takes effect January 1, 2027. That is a summary of the ballot language. It is not tax advice, and homeowners should ask a tax professional how it applies to their own property.
Sarasota County's Amendment 3 page says the measure could reduce property-tax revenue with no replacement funding and could affect services including libraries. The county says it neither supports nor opposes the amendment. At the town's Sept. 14 commission meeting, Assistant Town Manager Isaac Brownman explained what that would mean for the Green, as Your Observer reported:
"The county has made it very clear because of the magnitude of the impacts of Amendment 3 they will not be constructing a library on Longboat Key at this time if Amendment 3 passes."
At the same meeting, Brownman said the county was still moving "full steam, full blast" on design, permitting and the land-use amendment. Howard Tipton, whose last day as town manager was the day of that meeting, said a groundbreaking was scheduled for March. He also said that if the amendment passed, the town would have to work out how to refund the money already raised. The Nov. 3 vote decides which of those two paths the library takes. The Town Commission's approval of the revised site plan is the next local step before permits can be issued.
The Same Season, Up and Down Gulf of Mexico Drive
Other public spaces on the island are getting the same attention. Bayfront Park's pickleball and basketball courts reopened Oct. 23 after a resurfacing that cost $193,995, Your Observer reported, with new backboards and breakaway rims.
On the north end, the Whitney name that comes with the Historical Society's cottage has a new storefront. Market on Whitney held its soft opening Oct. 22 at Whitney Plaza, selling gourmet cheeses, meats, pantry goods and cookbooks, according to Your Observer. Owner Samantha Spontak spent seven years at Sarasota's Artisan Cheese Company, and the shop is in the former Elegant Lady Cheesecake Parlor space, the paper reported earlier in October. A cheese board from the north end makes an easy addition to a table at Laughs on Longboat on Nov. 12.
Whatever the county decides about the library, the Historical Society's hours stay Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the tree on the Green is lit Saturday, Nov. 21, at 5 p.m.
If you're a seasonal resident heading back for the winter, or you're thinking about spending more of the year on Longboat Key, I'm happy to share how the Town Center Green and the Bay Isles Road corridor fit into everyday island life. With Kelli Eggen, the conversation starts with how you want your days to look. Let's Connect.
