Author and real estate junkie Bob Plunket leads a Conversation at The Crocker about how various neighborhoods developed in Sarasota on Tuesday, January 14 at 7 p.m. at The Crocker Memorial Church, 1260 12th Street in Pioneer Park, Sarasota.

A lively and informative discussion about the history and development of significant neighborhoods in Sarasota. You’ll learn a lot and get to voice your own opinion on places to live – then and now.

Sarasota officially became a real estate destination in1885 when 60 people from Scotland, who had purchased land in this area from the Edinburgh-based Florida Mortgage and Investment Company, arrived on an uncharacteristically chilly December day at what is now lower Main Street excited to establish neighborhoods and a town. They were soon disappointed with the mud road and wood huts they saw.

Then it snowed…

… Want to know what happened next? Then be sure to be in the audience at the Crocker Memorial Church (1260 12th Street, Pioneer Park) on Tuesday, January 14 when a small group of gabby researchers talk to one another and to you about the development of significant neighborhoods in Sarasota. The event is part of the series Conversations at The Crocker and is presented by the Historical Society of Sarasota County (HSOSC). The event is free to Historical Society members and $10 for the general public. The fun starts at 7 p.m.

Conversation leader is Bob Plunket, who has been writing about Sarasota’s people and places for over 30 years. His articles currently appear regularly in SARASOTA Magazine and The Observer, plus national publications such as Barron’s.  “After owning eight different houses in Sarasota over the years,” he said, “I’m obsessed about all the amazing neighborhoods in Sarasota where you can own, rent, and be foreclosed in. And the history of all of these neighborhoods is entirely fascinating from the street names to the famous people who lived in them. For instance, do you know why there’s an Ocean Boulevard on Siesta Key when the city isn’t near any ocean? Turns out the street was named after Captain Louis Roberts’s wife, whose given name was Ocean Hansen. Roberts was an early developer of Siesta Key and had a hotel on the island that he expanded from his house.”

Joining Bob Plunket will be  Dr. Clifford Smith, Senior Planner, Historic Preservation, City of Sarasota.  Also on the stage will be Margi Baskerwille Nanny. Along with her former husband Jerry King, they developed Centergate. King was one of the Sarasota’s top real estate developers of the 1960s to 1980s and with his family developed Southgate, and several and several other neighborhoods that will be discussed.

On The Street Where You Live is the fourth event  this season in Conversations at The Crocker, a series now in its second successful year. Conversations at The Crocker events are organized and produced by the Historical Society of Sarasota County (HSOSC) with support from SARASOTA Magazine. Conversations at The Crocker events highlight specific aspects of Sarasota’s past and examine pivotal events and people who have influenced Sarasota today.

All Conversations take place at The Crocker Memorial Church and proceeds from this panel discussion series help to maintain the Historical Society’s two heritage properties at Pioneer Park – the Bidwell-Wood House (1882, Sarasota’s oldest private residence) and the Crocker Memorial Church (1901). Docent-led tours of both buildings are available an hour before each of the Conversations at The Crocker events. The Gift shop is also open prior to Conversation events.  Chairs of Conversations at The Crocker are Lynn Harding and Marsha Fottler. President of the Historical Society of Sarasota County is Howard Rosenthal. Site Manager is Linda Garcia.  For additional information about Conversations at Crocker,  contact Linda Garcia at 364-9076

Deborah Walk,  Curator of the Ringling Circus Museum, invites three famous circus friends to sit and chat about performing, rehearsing at winter quarters and much more. Hear insider stories about circus luminaries and how they influenced the development of Sarasota and Venice while thrilling audiences all over the world.

Deborah Walk, Tibbals Curator of the Circus Museum and Curator of Historical Resources at the Ringling Museum, takes to the stage at the Crocker Memorial Church on Tuesday, December 10 for a conversation with three famous circus performers who will share insider stories about life under the big top. Joining Walk will be Jackie LeClaire, Karen Bell and Mary Jane Miller for a evening of thrills, chills and circus recollections that will leave you breathless.

This Circus Circus! event, organized and presented by the Historical Society of Sarasota County (HSOSC), takes place on Tuesday, December 10, starting at 7 p.m. at the Crocker Memorial Church, 1260 12th Street (Pioneer Park) in Sarasota. HSOSC members admitted free; guests, $10.

In 1942, Mary Jane Miller’s friends coaxed her to answer an ad in the Herald-Tribune that announced  Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus was looking for girls for the season.  Against her mother’s wishes, Mary Jane went to the Winter Quarters and tried out. Tuffy Genders, aerial director of the show, was reluctant to audition her because of her young age and lack of experience. But, he asked Mary Jane to climb a flexible metal ladder 40 feet high. He watched her quickly scramble to the top, hang on by one hand and wave to him.  She was hired, went on the road and the rest is history. Mary Jane spent 13 seasons with Ringling. She performed nearly every type of circus act – elephants, flying act, iron jaw (hanging by your teeth), even handstands on the top of the Wallenda’s Roman Ladders act. Mary Jane also appeared in the 1952 Cecil B. DeMille movie The Greatest Show On Earth. Her stories are priceless and she’s anxious to share them with Conversation guests on December 10 at the Crocker Memorial Church.

Click to visit Jackie’s web site

Jackie LeClaire has delighted and amazed audiences for almost seven decades. His first salaried position was as a clown in partnership with his father on tour with the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus. At 18 he became an aerialist for a while before returning to clowning. But, Jackie kept up his trapeze skills and was a double for Cornel Wilde in the film, The Greatest Show on Earth. Jackie LeClaire has traveled the world making people laugh. He was inducted into the International Clown Hall of fame in 1966 and in 2002 he was inducted into the Circus Ring of Fame on St. Armands Circle. Although officially retired, Jackie continues spreading joy through programs such as Laughter Unlimited. In 2010 Jackie LeClaire was chosen by the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art as Circus Celebrity of the Year.

Karen Bell has been performing around the world as a clown for 28 years, beginning with an eight-year tour with Ringling Bros. Circus. She is a well-respected circus performing clown and a ‘producing’ clown for Ringling, Karen has created material for herself and other clowns who perform in the show. Karen has been a featured lecturer at the World Clown Annual Conference twice, the only female clown to be featured. She moved to Sarasota to work with Circus Sarasota’s outreach program, Laughter Unlimited in 2005. She develops humor-based interventions for senior citizens living in nursing facilities.

Deborah Walk is the Tibbals Curator of the Circus Museum and Curator of Historical Resources; she oversees the exhibition programs at the Circus Museum as well as the archival program.  She was head of the team that supervised the construction and installation of the Circus Museum’s Tibbals Learning Center, which opened in 2006. Deborah is a past president of the Society of Florida Archivists and Beta Phi Mu (National Honor Society for Library and Information Science): Gamma Chapter.  She is a past member of the State Historical Records Advisory Board and past chair of the Sarasota Historical Commission. She is Secretary for the board of directors of Circus Sarasota, advisory board member at HSOSC and incoming president of the national Circus Historical Society.

Conversations at The Crocker is an annual series of interactive programs focusing on various aspects of Sarasota’s past. Sponsorship of Conversations at The Crocker is provided by SARASOTA Magazine.

For more information about Circus, Circus at Conversations at The Crocker on December 10, call Linda Garcia, Site Manager at HSOSC, at 364-9076 Make plans to join the conversation.

It’s the next best thing to running away to join the circus.

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