Blog

Since the Municipal Auditorium has been in the news so much lately it got us to thinking of the functions we have attended there through the years.

Long before there was a Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall most large functions were held at the Municipal Auditorium. If memory serves  me correctly, I think one of my High School proms was held there. Certainly my High School graduation was held there and they turned the auditorium around with the graduates seated in the balcony and relatives and friends seated on the main floor.

The Sara de Soto Pageant coronation balls were held there along with concerts featuring such notables as Stan Kenton, Tex Beneke, Dave Brubeck, Guy Lombardo, Carmen Cavallaro, the Florida West Coast Symphony as well as many more, that others maybe will remember.

The Historical Society held their unique version of "Antiques Roadshow" there twice.

The Youth Center, at one point, occupied the rear of the auditorium, and in recent years, we have attended jam sessions by the Jazz Club in the same place.

The High School Drama Class of 1946 presented a Pageant of Sara de Soto tableau with a cast of over 50 students participating. Suzette Jennings (Blue) played the part of Sara and Pete was an Indian.

Even when they did a "face lift" on the building and renamed it the Exhibition Center, I refused to call it that, so I was delighted when the city restored the original facade and put the original name back in place.

Both Pete and I feel this building is such an integral part of our collective memories of Sarasota that it should remain as a venue for all kinds of programs and functions for the benefit of Sarasota.  Life was/is good.