LONGBOAT
Observer Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 42, NO. 27
FREE
•
Savor the debut act
PAGE 4A
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2020
YOUR TOWN
Eric Garwood
Station 91 on the north end of the island is in line for about $800,000 in renovations,
Work blazes ahead
LOVE
LONGBOAT STYLE No need to stray from home on the most romantic day. PAGE 1B
Nat Kaemmerer
Jane Vargas and Arlene Skversky
Volunteers sign up voters If you want to vote in Florida’s primary elections (and the town’s beach-borrowing referendum) March 17, and you haven’t yet registered, you must by Feb. 18. At Centre Shops, there’s a nonpartisan set-up to help you take care of all your voting questions. Through Saturday, residents can stop by a table outside the Blue Dolphin Cafe. Volunteers are there to help register new voters, update voter registration or party affiliations and answer questions. “We’ll register anybody who wants to register,” Jane Vargas said.
Renovation and rebuilding projects for fire stations will begin soon. PAGE 3A Nat Kaemmerer
How many romantic places can be found on Longboat Key’s beaches? Plenty.
A+E Artists share common thread. INSIDE
Nat Kaemmerer
A turn for the better coming? Third lane likely to reopen in days at key junction, city leaders say. PAGE 4A
Special flowers for special man
File photo
Traffic backs up frequently over the Ringling Bridge’s eastbound span to Bird Key and St. Armands Circle.
For Monsignor Gerry Finegan’s memorial service and burial, members of the Women’s and Men’s Guilds of St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Catholic Church provided a beautiful tribute to the beloved priest who died Feb. 3. For his memorial and burial on Feb. 6 and 7, the guild members pitched in for a massive arrangement of flowers honoring Finegan’s Irish heritage. The bouquet dripped with lilies and bells of Ireland among hydrangeas and white roses.