Garden Club honored as Anna Maria’s Citizen of the Year

Anna Maria Island Garden Club vice president Renitia Bertoluzzi, right, smiles March 14 alongside Anna Maria Citizen Recognition Committee member Darcie Duncan, left, who presented a plaque naming the garden club as the city’s 2023 Distinguished Citizen of the Year. The club received a unanimous vote over other nominees, including The Islander and Sun newspapers and former resident, island worker Christine Olson, who founded To Inform Families First. Islander Photos: Ryan Paice

Members of the Anna Maria Island Garden Club — including vice president Renitia Bertoluzzi, front left, and president and Anna Maria City Commissioner Kathleen Morgan-Johnson, front right — pose March 14 with city officials on receiving the city of Anna Maria’s 2023 Distinguished Citizen of the Year award. The club helped fund the addition of wind sculptures in Anna Maria and Holmes Beach and is working to do the same in Bradenton Beach.