Bayside Pet Resort Coming To Wellen Park

https://citylifestyle.com/sarasota-fl/articles/professional-services/bayside-pet-resort-coming-to-wellen-park

Article by Jennifer Hamilton

Pet parents will soon have a convenient location for day care and overnight boarding in Wellen Park. Bayside Pet Resort has announced its fourth location – a freestanding 16,000-square-foot building on US 41 offering overnight accommodations for 100 dogs and 18 cats, two doggie day cares for large and small dogs, grooming, and obedience and agility training. Complete with a pool, shaded courtyards and a half-acre agility course, construction on the luxury pet resort is expected to start by September and be open in February 2023.

“Wellen Park is home to many pet lovers who will be counting the days until Bayside Pet Resort opens,” says Rick Severance, Wellen Park President. “We look forward to bringing this quality and level of luxury in pet care to our residents and the neighboring communities.”

Founded in Sarasota a decade ago by Bob and Lynne Huff, Bayside is the 2022 'Best Pet Boarder' and 'Best Pet Trainer' as voted by readers of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 

“Wellen Park is a phenomenal location,” says Tyler Smith, Vice President of Development and Operations for Bayside Pet Resort. “With the expanded growth happening right now and continued growth in the future, we feel this is a great service for a lot of people who will be living in the community.”

The building, situated on 2.5 acres, is a new prototype with larger dog runs and outdoor spaces. It will have various-sized kennels, including overnight boarding in 100 air-conditioned dog suites – most with popular indoor-outdoor runs – and 18 kitty condos and penthouses. The kennels are humidity-controlled with fresh air circulated every ten minutes and are equipped with webcams for owners to check in on their pets. Bayside Pet Resort also provides fresh linens and soothing music.

“We’re a five-star pet resort that offers wonderful amenities for our guests,” says Angeline Pantazis, director of operations for Bayside Pet Resort. “We take care of our clients’ pets as if they’re our own.”

Bayside Pet Resort also accepts turtles, fish, bearded dragons, guinea pigs, rabbits and snakes. A pot-bellied pig is also a frequent guest. Horses, birds and poisonous animals are not accepted.

Consistently ranked among the US’s 50 top fastest-selling master planned communities annually by prominent real estate consulting firm RCLCO, Wellen Park offers a mix of residential, commercial and recreational options. The community currently has approximately 9,500 residents, and at full build-out will have more than 50,000 residents and 22,500 homes within its three distinct districts: West Villages, Downtown Wellen and Playmore.

Downtown Wellen, the vibrant gathering hub for Wellen Park and the region, is under construction with the first phase anticipated to open in the fourth quarter of 2022. The pedestrian-friendly downtown offers retail shops, waterfront dining, professional and beauty services, public community spaces, lakefront parks and outdoor recreational opportunities along the 80-acre Grand Lake and 2.8-mile lakefront trail. Kayak, paddleboard and bicycle rentals will be available from an on-site outfitter.

Downtown Wellen also features a large events lawn, a hammock grove and alfresco lounge area under a nearly 100-year-old oak tree, a unique nature-inspired playground, and Solis Hall for concerts and community and private events.

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

21st Annual Downtown Venice Art Classic 2022

 

https://www.visitvenicefl.org/21st-annual-downtown-venice-art-classic-2022/

Saturday, March 5th, 2022 from 10:00am to 5:00pm

Sunday, March 6th, 2022 from 10:00am to 5:00pm

Downtown Venice: 100-300 West Venice Avenue in Venice, Florida

Free Admission

Join us for the celebration of The Downtown Venice Art Classic. Located on Florida’s west coast in Sarasota County, Venice is a town on the Gulf of Mexico, filled with historic charm, natural beauty, and independently owned shops and restaurants. The Festival is set up along West Venice Avenue and attracts both residents and visitors.

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

‘Baby boom’: Record number of dolphins born in Sarasota Bay in 2021 after red tide issues

https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-county/baby-boom-record-number-of-dolphins-born-in-sarasota-bay-in-2021-after-red-tide-issues/

by: Daisy Ruth  Posted: Dec 16, 2021

 SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A record 22 babies were born to mother dolphins in Sarasota Bay this year, surpassing the previous record set in 2017, and researchers believe it may be due to red tide.

The Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program documented the births throughout the year. The program studies 170 dolphins that researchers see on a regular basis in Sarasota Bay. The dolphins have been studied since the 1970s. Through their studies, researchers know the dolphins in Sarasota Bay are long-term residents who have lived there across decades and generations.

According to the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, the dolphins are “the focus of the world’s longest-running study of a wild dolphin population.”

“We can recognize them from patterns of nicks and notches on their dorsal fin, on the fin on their back, and we’ve been able to track them through as many as five concurrent generations, and up to six generations for some of the lineages in the area,” said Dr. Randy Wells, vice president of Marine Mammal Conservation and Director of the Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.

This year’s baby boom comes after a difficult time for the dolphins of the bay due to strong and long-lasting red tide that came into the Sarasota area in the summer of 2018. Dr. Wells said dolphins died due to both the brevotoxins of red tide directly, as well to ecological effects of red tide, like loss of fish.

Dr. Wells said that more than 75% of the dolphins’ prey fish were gone as result of red tide.

The red tide existed in the bay through the winter of 2018 and in to 2019. Returning predators became an issue when it waned. One hypothesis that researchers have leads to sharks and their prey of stingrays.

“The dolphins stayed in the area and the sharks came back to the area. The rays did not come back in the same numbers that they had been before. Previously, when we’ve seen declines in stingray abundance through the fishing studies that we do to monitor the available fish in Sarasota Bay, when we see a decline in rays, we see it increasing the number of shark bites,” Dr. Wells said. “This time we saw a record number of shark bites on our dolphins during 2019 and 2020 following this red tide.”

Dr. Wells explained that, in those years, they saw a decline in baby dolphins, possibly related to the decline in the stingray population.

“So it’s hard to prove a negative, but these little babies are bite-sized morsels for some of the larger sharks like bull sharks and we wouldn’t expect them to necessarily show a scar that is healing. They would just be gone,” he said.

While the baby dolphin population declined due to these issues, it led to the “baby boom” of 2021.

Dolphins who lost their calves were able to become pregnant again. According to the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, Sarasota dolphins typically rear their young for around four years.

Dr. Wells said red tide issues in 2020 did not have any major effects on the dolphins in Sarasota Bay. Pregnant dolphins were able to carry their babies for 12.5 months, giving birth this year.

The fish populations have bounced back quickly from red tide blooms in 2021, according to Dr. Wells.

“We learned long ago that studying the dolphins in a vacuum doesn’t get you very far. You really need to understand the dolphins relative to the drivers that determine what their behavior is going to be,” he said. “So ecology is important. We monitor the fish and we found that the fish populations came back within a few months to near record levels.”

The new year also looks to be shaping up well for Sarasota Bay’s 22 babies and other resident dolphins, as Dr. Wells said the fish population is doing well and researchers are not seeing any indications of health issues among the dolphins.

He does ask that residents and dolphin lovers do their part to keep waterways clean and the animals safe.

“[The dolphins don’t] get to just choose which threat they’re going to face. [They] can’t say, ‘oh this month we’re going to face red tide,'” he said. “They have to face a variety of threats at any given time and we need to give them the freedom to do that by creating as good quality of an ecosystem and a home as we possibly can.” 

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

Venice's 'most talented team' solidifies its legacy with state football title

 Doug Fernandes

Sarasota Herald Tribune, December 21, 2021

Venice coach John Peacock told his team before the season that they should win a state title in 2021

For John Peacock, the elation from winning his second state football championship had ebbed. In its place was the residue.

The Venice High head coach was wiped.

“I’m just really tired,” Peacock said Sunday night. “It’s been a long season."

 

For Ryan Browne, the elation from winning his first state football championship had not. It was forced to share space with disbelief.

“I can’t even say I’m on Cloud 9,” the Venice quarterback said. “Because I’m almost in shock. For my entire life, it’s been a goal of mine to win a state championship. It’s amazing. It’s unreal.”

Unfortunately for Apopka High, Venice’s 35-7 dismantling of the Blue Darters in Saturday’s Class 8A title game was all too real. They may have thought their single-wing offense would give the Venice defense fits. They may have thought a defense which had allowed 30 points in its previous four playoff games could stymie an offense which had scored 195 in its previous four.

On both counts, Apopka couldn’t have been more wrong.

“A lot of nerves are pre-(game) nerves,” Peacock said. “This past Saturday, no. After our first drive, the focus, the kids just did a really good job of being locked in and focused on what we were trying to accomplish and bringing their intensity level. This was something I didn’t have to do a whole lot of coaching.

“We thought we’d be able to score. We didn’t think they would be able to contain us and stop us.”

Still, despite trailing 21-7 at the half, Apopka had done a decent job of bottling up Venice’s running game. When that happens, a head coach has but one option at his disposal.  

And Peacock used it. In the biggest game of his young life, Browne delivered, throwing four touchdown passes, assuming a much larger role than in the first four Venice postseason victories.

“The way our games had been going,” Peacock said, “we’ve been so dominant in the run, we didn’t need to take a chance (to throw), but this Saturday, he did a great job. Made some great reads and threw some great balls.”

“I was on the biggest stage,” Browne said, “but I was prepared to have a game where I was 7-for-10, like I was. Whatever it takes to get that ring is what really mattered. As long as we win.”

Capturing a second state crown, Peacock said, removes the fluke factor. “I think when people see one state championship, they can say a lot of things — ‘oh, you got lucky that year’ but you win two, people say, ‘man, they must be doing something right there.’ I think one thing (the title) does is it kind of solidifies what we do as a staff.”

Peacock called this year’s team “the most talented” he’s ever had. Which means not winning it all was non-negotiable. Before the start of the season, he said as much to his players.

“We knew what kind of team we had,” he said. “We talked to the team before the season. I told them, ‘Listen, we should be winning a state championship this year. I’m telling you, it’s different this year. You guys should win it. If we don’t win it, we did something wrong.’ This year, it’s like we already had it won. We just had to go out there and do it.”

And next season, Peacock’s motivating theme to his team will be doing it again. Back-to-back titles. But before that, he needs to raise money to pay for championship rings for his players. He’ll be an assistant coach in Wednesday’s FACA North-South All Star Game at The Villages.

Before long, he’ll begin preparing for a 2022 season and a Venice team that is graduating a host of players who made this campaign so memorable.

And for one, utterly unforgettable.

“Two years ago, a year and a half ago,” Browne said, “I would have never imagined I would be in the state of Florida playing football and winning a state championship in the biggest division.”

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179

“For the Love of Arts” celebrates Wellen Park’s dedication to the arts

https://www.wellenparkjournal.com/articles/for-the-love-of-arts-celebrates-wellen-parks-dedication-to-the-arts/

December 15, 2021

Representatives of the arts, partners of Wellen Park, current and future residents gathered at the recent For the Love of Arts reception. COURTESY PHOTOS

Wellen Park recently held the “For the Love of Arts” event in partnership with the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County. This event symbolized the allegiance between this community and the thriving local art scene that is right in Wellen Park’s own backyard.

“We are blessed to be in a vibrant and robust arts and cultural region, which is why it’s so important for us to build upon that access within Wellen Park,” said Wellen Park president, Rick Severance, who kicked off the event.

Current and future residents gathered in the Wellen Park Welcome Center for the reception. The Welcome Center serves as an outward representation of Wellen Park’s commitment to integrating art into everyday life through beautiful custom murals and installations.

The Venice Symphony, Sarasota Opera, The Ringling, Hermitage Artist Retreat, Venice Theatre, Sarasota Art Museum, Asolo Repertory Theatre, and Venice Art Center all sent representatives to speak about their organizations and other upcoming opportunities to experience the arts in Sarasota County.

Check out some of the featured artists and their work that was showcased throughout the event:

Michele Moore of the Bone Boutique creates unique jewelry and is the featured artist from the North Port Arts Center — her work is currently on display at the mobile pop-up cart.

“Blooms” is a vibrant mural of colorful flowers painted on the building’s exterior walls by local artist Laura Pommier.

“Heartfelt Connections” by Sarasota based artist Alexis Fraser, also known as Lipstick Lex, is a piece made of lipstick kisses as an homage to Wellen Park’s heritage tree program.

The For the Love of Arts event was part of Wellen Park’s Countdown to Downtown event series, which is an 18-month-long celebration leading up to the opening of Downtown Wellen, set to be completed in the later months of 2022. 

Ali H. Johnston, MBA in Real Estate

REALTOR®, Lic. Broker #BK3284964

West Villages Realty LLC

19503 S West Villages Pkwy

Stes A2 (by Appt)

Venice, Florida 34293

Office: 941-460-3179