The DeSoto Heritage Festival Grand Parade is one of the largest of its kind in the South and a longstanding tradition in Bradenton. More than 150 entries featuring floats, high school marching bands, dancers and other colorful characters marched through the streets of Bradenton last Saturday for the 72nd year.

In an attempt to raise $150,000 for the families of the fallen St. Petersburg Police officers, Jim Surrett, general manager at Lokey Automotive in Clearwater, is living on the roof of the car dealership for the month of April.

The children of Bradenton were treated to a visit from the Easter Bunny at the 17th annual Easter egg hunt on Saturday at G.T. Bray park. This longtime local tradition, hosted by Manatee County Parks and Recreation in conjunction with the DeSoto Heritage Festival, included a search for 36,000 colorful eggs, plus carnival games, bounce houses and slides, face painting and concessions.

Hillsborough County’s 28th Annual Tiny Tot Olympics featured approximately 200 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in the Parks, Recreation and Conservation Tiny Tot program. Participants competed in events such as the basketball toss, bean bag toss, bucket relay, football throw, hula hoop relay, obstacle course, parachute games, sack race and soccer dribble. Scores were not kept and all participants received ribbons. Tiny Tots is a social/recreation program held during the school year for ages 3 to 5 that helps prepare the kids for pre-school. This program is held at various locations in the Parks, …

We The Kings, the platinum-selling, power-pop band from Bradenton with a growing legion of followers, returned to its hometown last week for a good cause. The Kings — who take their name from Bradenton's King Middle School — joined five other bands for the Rock Out For a Cause concert last Friday at Lakewood Ranch High School. The event was hosted by the Lakewood Ranch International Key Club and Taking Back Lives, a Bradenton-based charity organization who raises money to provide educational opportunities for underprivileged youth in Malawi, Africa. Other local charities took part in the …

Last night, the third annual Vinyl Music Festival kicked off in downtown Sarasota at Ivory Lounge. The VIP/Press party last night was just the beginning to a weekend where more than 40 DJs will be playing throughout SRQ.   Event organizer Matt Orr said each year Vinyl has grown and this year is no different. By moving from the summer to April this year, VMF has been able to collaborate with the Sarasota Film Festival.   The two festivals run separately but operate with the same idea in mind, bring people to Sarasota.   “Leveraging each other’s strengths, we can make something even better,” …

The Dunedin Military Tattoo, the city’s premier annual Scottish pipe and drum event, kicked off a week of festivities leading up to its main event— the 45th annual Dunedin Highland Games. April 2 to 9 marks the city’s Highland Games Week, which is celebrated annually around International Tartan Day, a worldwide celebration of Scottish tradition. Dunedin takes pride in its rich cultural heritage. Scots settled the city, named for Scotland’s capital of Edinbugh, during the 1800s, and it has preserved its cultural identity through musical education and events like the Highland Games. Saturday (…

The "stingray shuffle" It sounds like a really bad name for a country line dance. And aside from being the title of a book by local author Tim Dorsey, it's the descriptive name for the courtesy (or sting-preventative) footwork beach-goers give to warn lurking stingrays in shallow water. If you get caught forgetting to shuffle, here's how you can treat your injury.

Dunedin's Relay for Life event is May 6 and 7 at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. The event begins at 6 p.m. on Friday and it continues through the night and into the following day, culminating at 8 a.m. As the evening sun goes down, luminarias (candle-lit bags) bearing the name of a person touched with cancer are lit for a lap walked in silence.  The fundraiser event has been called life-changing for those who've been touched in any way by cancer. Those interested in donating or signing up for the event can visit Dunedin's Relay for Life website.

Most fitness instructors frown upon working out in high-heeled shoes, but not Brittany Rohr. Then again, Brittany Rohr is not exactly a typical fitness instructor. “Well, you certainly don’t have to wear heels if you don’t want to,” said the owner of Inspired By Dance, a pole fitness center in Bradenton. “But they are strength building, not to mention fun. Believe it or not, the taller they are, the easier they are to walk in – and when you’re only five feet tall like I am, it’s nice to get some extra height!” Inspired By Dance is a fitness center geared predominantly toward women that offers…