Blog

Want to read some surprising statistics?  Walk this way.  The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) published the following 2008 annual information for Florida:  Total acreage in citrus-621,373,  Production-162 Million boxes, Florida's total value produced $1.4 billion.

It takes a lot of people to move the crop from the grove to your table.   One of those people was Tony Saprito, who with his brothers Salvatore and William, operated Saprito Grove and Fruit Co. at Main Street and Osprey Avenue for over thirty years.  During the season, several times a week, you could see the Railway Express Agency truck picking up a hundred or so half-bushel hampers destined for the folks "back home".

Tony was on the City Commission and served as mayor several terms.  His conservative environmental concerns brought him much notoriety.  When the F.D.O.T. put "no fishing" signs up on the bay bridges he championed the causes of the boatless fishermen by ramroding construction of the Saprito Fishing Pier, named in his honor in 1979, seven years before he died.

Another person, involved only slightly, in the distribution of citrus was myself and fellow SHS classmates.  As seniors, in 1945-46, we reigned over the front walk and steps of the building.  When the fully-loaded semi-trailers from the nearby Hyde Park Grove (now SouthGate) crawled by through the "school zone", a couple of my buddies would climb on the load and lighten it by a dozen or so.  I was a "designated catcher".  Life was/is good.

It's fair time again and so far the weather has been picture perfect.

I only slightly remember going to the fair when I was in high school and during the years when our children were very young we took them. But in their teen years they much preferred to go with friends, so many times Pete and I would just forego and let the kids go and have a fun time, especially since it was within walking distance of our house.

I recall one year, our son Ken and a friend went on a centrifugal force ride and his glasses flew off and the operator refused to allow him to hunt for them;  his friend had to practically lead him home.

Along about 1996 my classmate, Tom Houser, who was the General Manager of the fair, asked Pete to become the first designated Historian for the Fair Board.  It is a position he has held since then and it has been a very rewarding experience for both of us.  During fair week we are there nightly while Pete video records the various fair events for posterity.  It is fun for me to not only socialize with other board members and spouses, but to watch the passing parade of fair-goers.  As Sarasota has grown it is sometimes the only time of year I see some people I know and that is always a serendipitous event.

It is so much fun to see children having a wonderful time.  And of course, who can resist "fair-food?"

There are still several more days of fair-week left, so get out there and enjoy one of the great family fun events of the year.  Life is good.

Diane has often told me I should write a book about my experiences as the owner/operator of Sarasota Lock & Key Shop, dealing with people from all walks of life.  Safety and security transects all of life's strata.

During 42 years of operating a lock and key business I was called upon many times to get people into a locked house, car or building. Surprisingly though, I had several service calls to get people OUT of locked closets, bathrooms and walk-in refrigerators. This was before everybody had cell phones and fortunately other people were within ear shot.  Usually, the situation was exacerbated by the lock having broken when the door was slammed shut, so my lock picking skill was useless. Time for the universal master key, a Big Framing Hammer and a screwdriver.

Without a doubt, my most unusual service call was to a house on Hudson Bayou and Lincoln Drive. Dan and Lokie Pooler resembled Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Killbride), comparable to today's Hollywood Hillbillies.They used to push a wheelbarrow around their neighborhood picking up neighbor's yard trash and plant clippings. Their compost pile was higher than the roof of their house.Weird, I thought.

Mrs. Pooler led me through the house and into her bathroom. She pointed up to the ceiling and said she wanted a lock installed on it because the circus (Ringling) was back in town and the midgets move into her attic, and she can hear them and she was fearful they would come down through the ceiling and attack her. There was no door, just the ceiling.

I told her I'd have to go back to my shop and look in my supplier's catalogue...so, since 1958 I've been afraid to drive down Lincoln Drive in case she or her ghost sees me.  Life is good....  

In 1993 one of my classmates moved back to Sarasota after having lived out of state for over 30 years.  Another classmate, who was in real estate, found a house for her and decided that she needed a welcome home party so she called several other gal classmates, who had remained in Sarasota through the years, to meet at Steak 'n Ale for lunch.  It was like all the years had drifted away and we were all engaged in bringing each other up to date with our lives since high school.

We had such a good time that we decided to meet again in a month.  There were about 8 or 10 of us at that first lunch but as the word got out our group grew to nearly 30 and we still get together for lunch once a month and thoroughly enjoy each other’s company.

By now most of us are retired and enjoying life and bragging about children and grands.  We have been involved in a multitude of businesses and careers during our working years.  Some have been business owners, an artisan, author, calligrapher, motel owner, travel agent, doctor office manager, realtor, banker, musician, teacher, antique dealer, mortgage broker and the list goes on.  It’s been such a rewarding experience to reconnect with gals with whom we have a long standing history.  We all remember the Sarasota of our youth and a by-gone era and landmarks we’ve lost like the Lido Casino.  Most of us have had our pictures taken on the seahorses at the casino and as a result one of our gals labeled our group "The Seahorse Society" and the name stuck.  Our calligrapher even made us documents as to our official membership.

We've met consistently, monthly, since that first time in 1993 and I have missed very few of them.  Through the years we have, sadly, lost some of our members and some of our gals have lost spouses but our group perseveres.  It is fun for us to reminisce about the Sarasota of our youth when our town was much smaller and more laid back.  It has been interesting to watch how our town has evolved and we complain about the landmarks we have lost. Life is good...