The Suncoast BBQ and Bluegrass Bash presents one of the most prestigious barbeque contests in Florida, along with three smaller cook-offs and contests, live music, family events and what’s sure to be lip-smacking, finger-lickin’ good food.

- For more photos, visit and “Like” Instudio E on Facebook.   To get our weekend rolling, on Friday we stopped at a great fundraising night by the water on Siesta Key for “Leis for Strays,” hosted by Sarasota in Defense of Animals. The benefit included a live auction by Bob Harrigan and Linda McKnight. Our event hosts were Elise Matthes and Sue Waxman of SDA, and Gina Iovine of the Humane Society of Southwest Florida.   And for our after-10 p.m. dinner, we stopped at the Bearded Clam Waterfront Restaurant & Tiki Bar [...]

The music was hot and the heels were high — see who had the smoothest moves at last Friday’s salsa contest at the Floribbean Restaurant & Lounge. – photos by Instudio E.

YPG and the Arts: The Sarasota Young Professionals Group (YPG) is an organization of 21 to 40-year-old professionals from Sarasota. Part of the YPG’s goals, under current YPG Board Chair Frank Maggio, has been to bring together young professionals and the multitude of arts offerings that are available in Sarasota. In the past two years, YPG has focused on arts offerings for its members from discount ticket packages to mixers held at cultural venues. YPG programs such as The Culture Collective provide young professionals with the opportunity to experience local arts events at [...]

If you are planning a wedding or vow renewal and love the Sarasota Pops, are a lover and supporter of local arts organizations and dream of having an entire symphony orchestra play at your ceremony, then the Sarasota Pops Wedding Contest is for you. As part of a wedding-themed season, the Sarasota Pops Orchestra is creatively merging love and fundraising in an innovative wedding contest. The Contest: Between October 1, 2012 and March 10, 2013, the Sarasota Pops will match one of four finalist couples with a concert. The couples [...]

All right, so we know Sarasota has the best beach and is a number-one destination for the arts. Since good things usually come in threes—here’s another one for you! A Sarasota dad may soon be voted the “Hottest Dad” in America in a national contest by iVillage.com. Kevin McElyea (okay, yes, he is my husband!) has made the semi-finals in the police/firefighter category. He is the only police officer among five other firefighters, so come on and support Team Law Enforcement! He has already suffered severe ridicule from his friends, and [...]