Spring Break at Siesta Key Beach

Sarasota, FL       High:  78     Low:  64

We must have been nuts to head to the drum circle at Siesta Key Beach the first week of spring break for a lot of college kids and school kids, but we hadn't been in awhile. Holey moley! It was the most packed we had ever seen it in the four months we've been here.

Our friends from the park, Edie and Gary, wanted to see the drum circle before they leave in four days, so we met them at Siesta Key and filled them in on the regulars and the not-so-regulars. She's a regular dancer....

And she passes out flowers....Try not to look at the bikinis....

The beat was great as always....

The drummers really enjoy themselves...Of course, they do! They've got lots of women gyrating in barely nothing little jingle skirts in front of them!

He's a regular.....

Sparky loves how friendly they are and how well they interact with the public....The  hoop dancers encourage the young ones to try and hoop, the drummers let the little ones have their hand at drumming...This young man came out of the drumming circle after he saw the little girl bobbing in place to the beat and showed her what he was doing.

Here's a beachgoer we hadn't seen before...

The cops were out in full force...Two officers on horseback at the beach, and two on ATV's also patrolling and watching the college kids....People came prepared to have a good time today...Lots of beer and wine despite the cops being there...and FOOD! Sparky's mouth started watering....Better go find some other subjects to photograph.

This little guy could have cared less what was going on around him.....

And THIS little guy, (must have been Red's brother) was more interested in what he found than the drumming...Can't blame him, pretty cool find!

This little gal really appreciated her mom bringing her to the circle, Sparky thinks!

Everybody had fun this evening...from big people down to little people.

Sparky and Eldo had fun...Our friends had fun...Yes, everybody crowded into the inner circle again, and it was harder to see what was going on this time, but as you can see, Sparky made the best of it. People watching is almost as fun as dancing to the rhythm of the drums!

Until next time.......

And the Beat Goes On at Siesta Key Beach......

Sarasota, FL      High:  82    Low:  64

If you ever get a chance to see a drum circle, make sure you do! People say one of the biggest is at Siesta Key Beach in Sarasota, FL.  Every Sunday, about an hour before sunset, people start to gather behind the red lifeguard stand....

The regular dancers make some preparations beforehand in honor of the occasion....

Around 4:30, an occasional drumbeat is heard, "calling all drummers, calling all drummers". Slowly, the regulars come in and the drum section gets bigger. The serious drumming gets going around 5:00 or a little after..Other community members bring their own drums and instruments and kind of follow along, but there's a main, dedicated group of leaders in a central location leading the rhythm, at least in this Sarasota group.

The idea behind a drum circle is a dedicated group of beat enthusiasts meet regularly at a public location. People of all ages meet to play drums and percussion instruments. The object is to get a rhythm going and it lasts for quite awhile. Then it simmers down, occasionally stops, then someone gets a new rhythm going again, and the crowd starts dancing again. This gal danced for two hours straight, and boy, did she have the moves! (Yep, she sure did! says an admiring E.)

The drum group attracts a wide variety of personalities, that's for sure! Not sure what this man's role was, he seemed to be kind of a leader of the whole thing, and he blew the conch shell when the sun set this evening. He did his thing with sticks, and sort of appeared as though he was paying homage to the sun, the drummers, the observers and artfully posing and flexing his physique. Later, he was drumming....

Here's what some retired teachers do....Sparky overheard this guy say he taught for more than 20 years. He was holding court with the kids with information delivered in true teacher style....Well, not quite....

Hula hoops were big here....One lady who seemed to be a regular hula hoopist "artista" had paid 150.00 for a multi-colored, lighted hula hoop! She was great with the children who wanted to hula.....A gal watched her little nephew become entranced with the hula hoop lady and captured a fantastic video of the interaction on her iPad 3. The detail on her iPad was incredible despite what this inferior photo shows.

So many kids were trying to figure out how to do the hula hoop! This little guy couldn't figure it out, so he rolled it around.

Another cutie plopped it down on the sand and promptly sat inside it, claiming his space.....

There were belly dancers big and little with jingle skirts....and scarf dancers.....

The drummers really got into it. Of course, it helped that the gal shown back in the third photo above was perhaps the top belly dancer in the bunch and danced the entire night right in front of them, inspiring them to drum on, drum on and pick up the beat!

When it got dark, the group brought out a fire heater...and Sparky proceeded to get her groove on, in the dark! Eldo tried to capture Sparky on camera doin' her thing and boogying down, but it didn't turn out....Which was probably a good thing...But Sparky DOES have rhythm, that's for sure! She could have stayed and danced a lot longer, but it was time to head for home before she injured anything....We'll be back next Sunday....