Does Bradenton Beach need a roadside attraction?
The Bradenton Beach ScenicWAVES committee, which oversees improvements to the scenic highway portion of Gulf Drive, was asked to consider installing a kinetic wind sculpture by Utah-based artist Lyman Whitaker.
Whitaker is a sculptor with more than 30 years of hand-building metal wind sculptures.
And members of the Anna Maria Island Garden Club are keen on the work, proposing installations in each of the three island cities.
“I am on this wind sculpture committee,” ScenicWAVES member Shawn Mayers told the group during a meeting Dec. 7 at city hall. “We’re going to be approaching Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach to see if there would be interest in having such a program and sculptures in those cities.”
ScenicWAVES is a citizen advisory committee that represents the Bradenton Beach Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity for the Florida Department of Transportation Designated Scenic Highway Program as well as the Waterfronts Florida Partnership Program.
The Bradenton Beach Scenic Highway is a 3-mile greenscaped segment of State Road 789 — a waterfront corridor.
Mayers said Whitaker’s work was selected by Anna Maria commissioners to be showcased at City Pier Park. The club will contribute $6,000 and Anna Maria will contribute $12,000.
Mayers said the garden club is hosting a fashion show Feb. 8 to raise its share of the money.
Whitaker’s work appears in other Gulf coast communities, including Bonita Springs, which purchased and installed “Double Spinner” in 2019.
For now, Scenic WAVE members said they want to observe the installation of the Anna Maria sculptures.
During the Dec. 7 meeting, they reviewed a catalog of the artist’s work, noting the project might be appropriate for the city’s community redevelopment agency, which funds capital improvement projects to promote restoration, growth and tourism in the Bridge Street commercial district.
For more information on Lyman Whitaker, go online to www.whitakerstudio.com.
About Scenic Waves
The ScenicWAVES Partnership Committee is a citizen advisory committee that represents the Bradenton Beach Scenic Highway Corridor Management Entity for the Florida Department of Transportation Designated Scenic Highway Program and the Waterfronts Florida Partnership Program. ScenicWAVES also serves as an advisory committee to promote awareness of the citywide tree canopy and landscaping education programs.
BB ScenicWAVES approves new vice chair
Bradenton Beach Scenic WAVES members voted Terri Kinder in as the group’s new vice chair.
Kinder succeeds Terry Gebhard, who moved from the area.
Chair Ingrid McClellan nominated Kinder Dec. 7 and Kinder was voted in with unanimous support.
Kinder, who hails from Ohio originally, has lived in Florida for more than 22 years. She is president of the Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce.
The next committee meeting will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18, at city hall, 107 Gulf Drive N.
— Robert Anderson