The 4th annual Harvey Milk Festival (HMF) is slated to return to downtown Sarasota for three days of music, film and art in celebration of LGBTQ equality. Last year, the festival stole the national spotlight thanks to performances by indie music heavyweights, drawing over 5,000 festival-goers. This year, it promises to be even bigger with film, art and a lineup of nine emerging local and national music acts.

Anthony Paull is certain that there’d be more of a public upheaval surrounding the Sarasota City Commision’s recent decision to ban panhandling along public roadways if people took the time to read through the subsections of the new ordinance. No, please—be our guest.

In his latest op ed, journalactivist Anthony Paull explains why he’ll be cheering when Sarasota City Commissioner Terry Turner leaves office, particularly in light of Turner’s latest motion to block local businesses from applying for permits to host live entertainment on their premises.

Anthony Paull is an independent filmmaker himself, and no stranger to the Sarasota Film Festival—you can see his short film The Cover at SFF during the SRQ Shorts screening. Here he outlines five films that have caught his indie eye.

For the last few years, Sarasota whiskey maven Turner C. Moore has hosted bi-monthly tastings in the Wine Cellar at Michael’s on East, pairing great spirits with delectable bites while offering an education on whiskies from around the world. This April, Moore is organizing the first whiskey festival in Southwest Florida, aptly titled “Whiskey Obsession.”

On Feb. 8, downtown Sarasota restaurant owners were served with a government notice reminding them of the zoning laws that prohibit the use of amplified music in outdoor seating areas, ultimately leading to the question—why is this happening now?