Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Braves christen CoolToday Park with win

https://www.yoursun.com/sports/braves-christen-cooltoday-park-with-win
By CHUCK BALLARO Sun Correspondent

 February 22,2020


Atlanta vs Baltimore
Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies beats the tag by 
Baltimore Orioles catcher Chance Cisco during the first inning
Saturday at CoolToday Park in North Port.
Sun Photo by Tom O'Neil

 NORTH PORT — It was a new beginning for the Atlanta Braves on Saturday as they officially opened its new spring ballpark to fans.

The Braves played its first game of 2020 in its new CoolToday Park, the team’s new home for the next 30 years, following a soft opening last spring.

And the fans were treated to a great performance by the Braves starters, especially Felix Hernandez, as they cruised to a 5-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

Hernandez, trying to rejuvenate his career after tough times in Seattle, went two scoreless innings and looked better than he has in several years.

“I felt good. I threw a lot of strikes. I threw some good breaking balls today, having command of my pitches this early is a good sign,” Hernandez said. “I haven’t felt this good in three or four years.”

“He came out aggressive, he used his whole assortment. I liked the upbeat aggressiveness he was showing. That was a good start for a first time out,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

Meanwhile, the Braves offense jumped on Baltimore starter Chandler Sheppard. Ronald Acuna led off with an infield single. After walks to Ozzie Albes and Freddie Freeman, Adam Duvall blooped a single to center to score Acuna.

Dansby Swanson and Ender Incarte followed with sacrifice flies to make the score 3-0.

Atlanta scored again in the third on a Duvall double play, and in the fifth on a Peter O’Brien sac fly to center. Ozzie Albies scored twice for Atlanta, while six Braves pitchers combined for a four-hit shutout.

On this day, the big star was the new stadium, which along with the rest of the complex was best described with one hyphenate: game-changer.

The new facilities have gotten rave reviews, citing the amenities and its location close to several teams.

“I love it. The working conditions we have is unbelievable. Disney was fine, but this is a better situation for us,” Snitker said. “We have more room, a big clubhouse and a food room where everyone can sit and eat. We can spread out for meetings and on the fields.”

“It’s a beautiful facility in a beautiful part of Florida. We’re really excited about it,” Braves coach Walt Weiss said. “And we won’t have to spend half the spring on the bus. Everything about it is great.”

The facility will have state-of-the-art amenities to help players stay in condition and work on whatever medical needs they have.

“It’s 100 percent us, with more batting cages, more fields, not only in spring but all year round,” said Chip Moore, executive vice president of minor-league affiliates in spring training. “I think the players who come in will find these facilities quite nice.”

The biggest advantage is its central location with other teams, ending the need to travel by bus for hours for away games.

“We spent a lot of hours on the bus the last few years. The coaches can get their hands on the players better here,” Snitker said. “There are times when we can do our whole workout, get on the bus and play. It’s more conducive to get our work in.”

“We were spending five hours a day on buses. Now, being able to do your work in the morning is a better deal for these guys,” Moore said. “It’s great for the fans because they can catch a number of teams.”

“This stadium meets the needs of the modern player. The players will want for nothing, the fans are going to love this place and they did it right,” Braves broadcaster Chip Carey said. “Today’s player doesn’t want to sit in traffic for three hours. They can get their work in, play a game and go home. It’s a game-changer.”

About the only surprise was that the game was not a sellout at the 8,000-seat-capacity field. There were some empty seats along the foul poles and in the pavilion in right center field.The left field berm also had plenty of exposed grass. Attendance was 6,831.



Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate







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Thursday, February 20, 2020

26th Annual Siesta Key Craft Festival

http://www.artfestival.com/festivals/annual-siesta-key-craft-festival



26th Annual Siesta Key Craft Festival



When:
Saturday, February 22nd, 2020
10:00am to 5:00pm
Sunday, February 23rd, 2020
10:00am to 5:00pm
Where:
5124 Ocean Blvd. in Sarasota, FL

Cost:
Free Admission


Located on the beautiful west coast of Florida, Siesta Key is a little piece of paradise. Siesta Key is home to sunny beaches with crystal-white, powdery sand that stretch for miles.  Peruse shops from the chic and elegant to the hip and funky with all sorts of fashion and a enjoy a diverse collection of restaurants and eateries.

Join us at the Siesta Key Craft Festival and take in the sand and the sea along Ocean Boulevard and Beach Road as you discover wonderful creations from more than 100 crafters exhibiting and selling their work in an outdoor gallery.  From photography, paintings, sculpture, jewelry and more showcased from local and traveling crafters, your visit to Siesta Key is promised to be a feast for the senses. This spectacular weekend festival is not to be missed.


Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate


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Wednesday, February 19, 2020

North Port ready to reap the benefits of hosting spring training baseball

The Atlanta Braves have already made their presence felt in the local community; local officials hope to take advantage of the increased visibility.

NORTH PORT — National visibility is the first big benefit North Port area economic leaders point to from the Sept. 2017 decision by the Atlanta Braves to relocate its Spring Training home to the West Villages.

“Obviously the biggest thing is it’s put North Port on the map,” said Bill Gunnin, executive director of the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce. “Whether it’s visitors, tourism, people looking to do business here or move here, it’s put North Port on the map.”

The second biggest impact may be the Braves’ commitment to deal with local businesses, whether it was the choice of the Adams Group to install custom cabinets in the new $139-million complex at 18800 S. West Villages Parkway or a recent catering order with the city’s iconic Olde World Restaurant.

Meanwhile, Mike Dunn, vice president of Florida Operations for the Atlanta Braves; and Christina Shaw, the director of Special Events and Hospitality, spent countless hours getting to work with area businesses and nonprofits in south Sarasota County.

“They automatically became involved in the community, they’ve done a great job marketing, doing business locally — everything,” Gunnin said. ’They’ve had events out there (at CoolToday Park), they’ve used food trucks that are our members out there, they’ve had nonprofits working to raise money — they’re always looking to do local business first, to support our community.”

For example, in August, when North Port resident Emanne Beasha was appearing on America’s Got Talent, Jim Kraft, the director of Client Services, reached out to North Port City Commissioner Jill Luke, who has personal connections with Emanne’s family, to host a watch party, so North Port residents could cheer her on while watching the performance on the 80-foot by 40-foot video scoreboard.

CoolToday Park — with an event lawn that has become home to weekly farmers markets and special events and the Tomahawk Tiki Bar, which is open daily for lunch and dinner inside the stadium — has given North Port residents more than an 8,000-seat stadium to watch baseball games.

Cool Today Park has given North Port residents a sense of place in the West Villages that’s not part of a gated subdivision.

CoolToday partnered with Venice Pier Group to create a Thursday night summer movies series, with two movies offered each month for a $5 fee and hosted a performance by the Venice Symphony.

The city of North Port moved the July 4 Freedom Festival to the stadium for better community access.

This summer baseball-related activities will expand, with the Braves’ Florida State League team, the Florida Fire Frogs, moving from Kissimmee to CoolToday Park. The stadium already hosts the Braves rookie teams in the Gulf Coast League.

A signature win

But from a national point of view, the very fact that the Braves chose North Port as its new Florida home has made corporations look twice.

 Ron Starner, senior vice president of Conway Inc., the corporate parent company to Site Selection Magazine, said the Braves decision to move to North Port was the type of “signature win that most communities around the state would sell their firstborn for.”

 Rick Severance, president of the West Villages — the 9,650-acre development that hosts the Braves and CoolToday Park — noted that the facility helps create an ambiance for the area,

 “Anytime you bring in such a significant strategic partner to the city, it really elevates everything around it,” Severance said. “Great communities have a mix of really wonderful places.

 “As we work on developing our downtown — which will come out of the ground in the next month — everything is in complement of each other.”

 Severance, who joined Mattamy Homes as president of its West Villages Division in July, said he was especially impressed with the Braves’ approach to developing ballplayers. The club recently opened up its new $14-million Baseball Academy.

 “They don’t grow them as ballpayers, they grow them as men, which is a wonderful thing for the region,” he added.

 Mike Postle, vice president of construction and project management for Lodgco, the Mount Pleasant, Michigan-based hospitality company building the new 100-Room Hampton Inn & Suites hotel on Tuscola Boulevard, said that the Braves’ decision to relocate to North Port was a huge deciding factor for the family-owned company to build its fourth Florida-based hotel in the city.

“An organization like them coming to North Port, there has to be something going on, right?” Postle said. “That’s what piqued our interest first, when we heard they were coming here. That’s when we really started looking hard.”

 North Port Area Chamber of Commerce capitalized on that increased attention by moving the date for its 34th annual Business and Community Expo at the George Mullen Activity Center to Saturday morning, just prior to the city of North Port’s welcome-to-the-neighborhood event, “The BIG Rally.”

 “You’ve got everybody coming in with the Braves, so they wanted to promote North Port businesses,” North Port Mayor Debbie McDowell said.

 North Port Economic Development Manager Mel Thomas is quick to point out that North Port, which turned 60 in 2019, has been growing and improving the quality of life in the city to the point where it could be attractive for other businesses to relocate.
She points to amenities like the multimodal trails that parallel Sumter and Toledo Blade boulevards and the 81 miles of canals — much of which is open to kayak enthusiasts.

 “This is a matter of place-making,” Thomas said, then later added that the Braves locating in North Port has “provided the quality of life,” so when people are scouting for space, for value of land, it makes North Port that much more attractive.

 To help show that, the city is partnering with the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County to host an inbound mission of national business representatives to tour the area Feb. 27-29 — including a visit to CoolToday Park for the Feb. 28 game when the Braves host the New York Yankees.

 The city did something similar in 2019, when it partnered with the EDC and Visit Sarasota County to bring in travel writers and business site selectors.

 This excursion, Thomas said, is more business-oriented.
“We know we only have one inaugural opening season,” Thomas said, “and we’re using it to our advantage.”



Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

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Monday, February 17, 2020

Venice Italian Feast and Carnival

https://www.eventcrazy.com/Venice-FL/events/details/18868-Venice-Italian-Feast-and-Carnival


Open Date:
Thu, Feb 20, 2020
Close Date:
Sun, Feb 23, 2020

Location:
Venice Municipal Airport Festival Grounds
150 East Airport Road
Venice, FL 34285
Additional Features:
Commercial Vendors, Food, Midway Rides, Music

Description:
Since 1988. Traditional Italian feast and celebration. There will be great food and midway rides. Four days of continuous live entertainment. Delicious foods like sausage and peppers, cannoli, funnel cake, eggplant parm, zeppole, gyros, hot dogs, ribs and so much more. Sponsored by the Venice Italian American Club.

Ethnic Audience:  Italian

Hours:
Thur-Fri. 4pm-9pm, Sat.-Sun. 12pm-10pm

Admission:
Free, Fee for parking and some activities
Phone Number:
(941) 486-1492

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate



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Friday, February 14, 2020

North Port plans rally to welcome Braves to North Port

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20200213/north-port-plans-rally-to-welcome-braves-to-north-port 
By Earl Kimmel, staff writer
Feb 13, 2020

On the eve of CoolToday Park hosting the Governor’s Baseball Dinner, North Port will throw a party to toast the Atlanta Braves.

NORTH PORT — The city of North Port celebrates the Atlanta Braves opening its first full Grapefruit League season with “The BIG Rally,” from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, at the City Center Front Green.

“I’m looking forward to it and it’s going to be great,” North Port Mayor Debbie McDowell said. “Last year we only had the one game, as you know, and this year it’s a full season.

“We have to welcome them for the full season and we have to do it up right,” she later added. “Basically we’re throwing out a big huge welcome mat for the Braves North Port style.”

The Braves played one game at CoolToday Park in 2019 — a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on March 24, 2019, and the city partnered with San Pedro Catholic Church to honor the Braves at the church’s annual community festival.

This year, the city is in a position to embrace the national spotlight that comes with hosting a Major League Baseball spring training site — especially when it’s the newest site in the country and host to the Braves, one of the sport’s storied franchises.

CoolToday Park and the Braves will also host the Florida Sports Foundation’s 2020 Governor’s Baseball Dinner Sunday night, with Gov. Ron DeSantis, who played baseball at Yale University and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred heading up a star-studded guest list.

McDowell and other city officials anticipate some of those luminaries stopping by Saturday’s rally — maybe even visiting the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored 34th annual Business and Community Expo, which from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the George Mullen Activity Center, which is adjacent to the city hall campus.

Parking at the City Hall, which is located at 4970 City Hall Boulevard, is anticipated to be limited for the event, so shuttle busses will run from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. between the event and Heron Creek Middle School, 6501 W Price Blvd., North Port.

North Port resident Emanne Beasha, of America’s got Talent fame, will open up festivities with the national anthem.

Retired Atlanta Braves players Mike Bielecki and Michael Tucker will sign autographs in the Braves tent from 1 to 3 p.m.

Bielecki, had three separate stints with the Braves between 1991 and 1997, and was a member of the 1996 World Series team.

In 1988, as a member of the Chicago Cubs, he pitched the first night game ever at Wrigley Field, and was an 18-game winner in 1989, when he finished ninth in the Cy Young Award voting.

Tucker had the most productive season of his 12-year Major League Baseball career with the Braves in 1997, when he hit .283, scored 80 runs and logged 141 hits.

A pep rally will feature the local Little League, North Port schools, bands and local dignitaries.

Ari and the Alibis will perform live music.

In another anticipated spectator event, at 2:45 p.m, dachshunds will race in categories based on their age in a 30-foot outdoor station to compete for the title of “North Port’s top Dox.”

Other activities include a giant inflatable demolition game, inflatable tomahawk throw, and speed pitch station.

A variety of vendors will sell food and beverages, while the Rotary Club of North Port Central will be selling beer and wine (ID required).

The Braves open off their 17-game Grapefruit League home schedule at 1:05 p.m., Feb. 22 against the Baltimore Orioles at Cool Today Park, 18800 S. West Villages Parkway, North Port.

Another significant highlight for North Port residents will be the March 21 game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, when North Port Parks & Rec and the city of North Port will host North Port Community Night.

Gates open at 4 p.m., with the game starting at 6:05 p.m.

There are 500 reserved seats available only to North Port residents in Section 124 at a cost of $15 each. Those seats are not assigned and parking at CoolToday is $10 per vehicle.

McDowell, an avid baseball fan, has fond memories of taking her children to spring training games in Sarasota to watch the White Sox, Charlotte County to watch the Rays, and looks forward to the types of memories area families will forge both watching the Braves spring training games and the Florida Fire Frogs, the Class A team that will call CoolToday home.

“My kids, to this day still talk about those memories,” McDowell said. “You cannot put a price tag on the memories created at a baseball field.

“They got Nolan Ryan’s autograph — that is a memory you cannot quantify, that is baseball,” she added. “For the individual, it’s all about the memories that are created by the baseball field.”

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate







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