- May 1, 2024
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The upcoming year is packed with fun events that benefit the area’s many, many nonprofits. From celebrating big anniversaries to celebrating our community members, these are a few of the events you won’t want to miss in 2024.
Benefiting: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens
Details: 6 p.m. Feb. 10 at Selby Gardens’ downtown campus
Tickets: $750
Call: 941-248-3583.
It’s hard to say enough about what an experience the Orchid Ball has become. Not only does it have the most picturesque setting in all of Sarasota at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, it also is tied to a sneak preview of the gardens’ spring exhibit. This year’s exhibit is “Yayoi Kusama: A Letter to Georgia O’Keeffe.”
This year’s event also has an extra layer of excitement, with Selby celebrating its 50th anniversary, and is sure to be an evening worth remembering.
Benefiting: Sarasota Orchestra
Details: 6 p.m. Feb. 15 at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
Tickets: $400
Call: 941-487-2737.
Speaking of anniversaries, the Sarasota Orchestra is celebrating an anniversary of its own this season, and it’s a biggie: 75 years.
To mark the occasion, it has planned a special concert featuring Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 paired with Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.” Complete with a sunset cocktail reception on the bay to kick off the night, the event will be one fitting of the milestone.
Benefiting: Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center
Details: 10 a.m. March 22 at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota
Tickets: $225
Call: 941-365-0208.
In addition to supporting a heart-touching cause, SPARCC knows how to have fun doing it. There are many fashion shows during season, but this is one of the most fun. You can not only admire the looks sourced from SPARCC’s own Treasure Chest boutique as they come down the runway, you can then elbow your way out to the Ritz foyer to try to be the first to buy them. Add in some shopping pre-luncheon and sip at Jack Dusty while you wait for valet post-luncheon and this event is tailor made to be a picture-perfect day.
Benefiting: Girls Inc. of Sarasota County
Details: 11 a.m. April 3 at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium
Tickets: Patron $250
Call: 941-366-6646, ext. 207.
If you want to be inspired, this is a don’t-miss event. Every year, the girls of Girls Inc. demonstrate to a sold-out crowd the benefits of teaching girls to be strong, smart and bold.
And if that’s not enough, each year Girls Inc. honors a strong, smart, bold woman in the community. Complete with the Girls Inc. boutique beforehand, it’s one of the few events where you meet those who benefit from patrons’ generosity.
Benefiting: Sarasota Art Museum
Details: 6 p.m. Feb. 14 at Sarasota Art Museum
Tickets: $300
Call: 941-309-4321.
Like surprises? Sarasota Art Museum’s Unconventional Evening is sure to be packed with them. And what better day to do something unconventional than Valentine’s Day? Enjoy “an immersive and fluid” event with drinks, dinner, artists and performers in the museum, where the invitation promises you can “interact, activate and ‘be the art.’”
Benefiting: Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation
Details: 7 p.m. Nov. 2 at SMH’s West Parking Garage
Tickets: $175
Call: 941-374-9700.
We know it’s hard to think about November the first week of January, but trust us: By the time it rolls around again, you’ll be ready to kick off a new season. And, after making a resurgence post-COVID, Raise the Roof has proved it is the best dance party in the land. So check the theme, get your outfit together (with comfortable shoes) and pray for good weather because it’s become THE party that announces the arrival of the social season.
