“One of the things I really believe is that Siesta Key is a blessed island,” she said, adding that o

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With their eyes on the calendar, the organizers are bustling to line up more sponsors and running down their details list to create another banner event when the third Crystal Classic opens on Nov. 8.
And while some fretfulness air business travel had surfaced at the prospect of the 26 th Annual American Sand Sculpting Championship at Fort Myers Beach overlapping this year with the Crystal Classic, those worries scattered like sand to the sea when the Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce announced Aug. 7 that that event was being pushed back.
Although air business travel the date change probably won't have an impact air business travel on the make-up of the teams that appear on Siesta Beach, Gaddie said, the fact that the two locations would not be competing for tourists was a big relief.
The Siesta Key Chamber air business travel of Commerce was integrally involved in the event from the outset, she said. However, "after two years, everyone realized it was a much larger event with more potential than volunteers could handle air business travel properly."
Siesta residents and chamber volunteers Bob and Eileen Parkinson "helped to form the event into what it is," Gaddie added, but the chamber staff has taken on the primary role this year of handling the details.
air business travel Over the decades, Gaddie added, Siesta has seen big events founded, then just disappear. "We just felt that this was such an important event, we couldn't afford to not have it," she said of the Crystal Classic.
An organization called the Siesta Beach Festival Inc. holds the trademark for the event. Its board members air business travel are Dr. Kumar Mahadevan, president of Mote Marine Laboratory; Sarasota County Commissioner Joe Barbetta; Sheriff Tom Knight; Bob Parkinson; Steve Queior, president and CEO of the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce; air business travel Mark Smith of Smith Architects, the current Siesta Chamber chairman; air business travel and Sarasota attorney air business travel Jim Syprett.
Siesta resident Brian Wigelsworth air business travel is one of about 200 master sandsculptors in North America. As founder of the Crystal Classic, he is the direct connection with the people who come to the community to create breathtakingly intricate designs in sand.
This year, Wigelsworth is especially excited, he said, because all seven cast members of the Travel Channel's "Sand Masters" show will be participating. Asked if landing the whole group was a real coup for the Classic, he replied, "Very much so."
Both Gaddie and Wigelsworth stress the importance of sponsors to the success of each Crystal Classic — through in-kind donations as well as monetary contributions. "We're always looking for new sponsors," Wigelsworth said.
"One of the things I really believe is that Siesta Key is a blessed island," she said, adding that overall, business has been rebounding well in the past couple of years. "How many places air business travel have not come back from the huge economic downturn?"
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