Sarasota Livin'

The merchants on St Armands Circle seemed to have a great night last night with the opening of the holiday season. We spent some money... Lots of small music groups playing... the crowd favorite seemed to be the "Island Hobbits" (hope that was their name)

From the St Armand's Circle Association web site:

Today, more than 130 stores on St. Armands Circle pamper customers from all areas of the United States and many foreign countries, but in the early 1900's, the key was just a mangrove island too far from the small fishing village of Sarasota to attract much attention.

In 1893, Charles St. Amand, A Frenchman and first resident of the island, purchased for $21.71 three tracts of land totaling 131.89 acres. He homesteaded the land, fishing in the waters of the Gulf and Bay and, along with other early pioneers, raised produce which he brought by boat to the market at City Pier in Sarasota. In later land deeds, his name was misspelled "St. Armand" and this spelling has persisted to the present day.

Visionary circus magnate John Ringling purchased the St. Armands Key property in 1917 and planned a development which included residential lots and a shopping center laid out in a circle. As no bridge to the key had yet been built, Ringling engaged an old paddle-wheel steamboat, the "Success," to service as a work boat. His crews labored at dredging canals, building seawalls, and installing sidewalks and streets lined with rose-colored curbs. In 1925, work began on a causeway to join St. Armands Key to the mainland. Circus elephants were used to haul the huge timbers from which the bridge and causeway were built.