Before we start the new month, with next week of course featuring numerous Fourth of July festivities, we have one more weekend in June full of other fun local events.
In Sarasota, Motors & Moorings Weekend will feature a luau-themed party and Big Kahuna Dice Run. Summer cookout staples will be represented at an annual Hot Dog Day at a local indie market, and a brewery food truck rally featuring a barbecue purveyor that was recently named one of the best food trucks in Florida.
In Manatee County, Anna Maria Island will host a street party that also serves as an early celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton will continue its summer series of laser light shows set to music, with this week’s lineup featuring a variety of rock artists, including one with ties to Sarasota.
Looking for even more options? Sarasota Opera House will continue its Classic Movies series on 7p.m. Friday with “Silent Movie,” Mel Brooks’ 1976 comedy that turns 50 this year, with Brooks himself set to celebrate his 100th birthday Sunday. Tickets are $12.
The Atlanta Braves’ North Port spring training home CoolToday Park will continue its own Summer Movie Nights series on 5 p.m. Sunday with “Hoppers,” the film that Pixar released earlier this year prior to its currently-in-theaters “Toy Story 5.” Tickets are $7 ages 10 and up, $3 ages 4-9, and free ages 3 and under.
And not quite on the weekend but also noteworthy, Discover Sarasota Tours branches into Bradenton with a Bar Bites trolley on 4 p.m. Thursday, offering complimentary beer or wine at the Trolley Cottage Tiki Bar before heading to enRich Bistro and Oak & Stone for three bar bites at each. Tickets are around $89 including taxes and fees.
1. Motors & Moorings Weekend in Sarasota
It used to be this time of year that the Powerboat Grand Prix took place in Sarasota, organized by local nonprofit Suncoast Charities for Children before it transitioned out of being primary organizer of the race, which moved dates to September in 2024 and has skipped Sarasota entirely in 2025 and 2026.
Yet Suncoast Charities for Children, which also hosts the annual Thunder by the Bay Music & Motors Festival, has continued to hold events around this time of year including Suncoast Summer Fest and Waves & Wheels, and now Motors & Moorings Weekend.
The luau-themed party Lei’d Back for a Great Cause will feature tropical light bites, a welcome cocktail, live music, limbo contest and best Hawaiian outfit competition. The Big Kahuna Dice Run lets participants join by car, boat or motorcycle, starting at Marina Jack and traveling to multiple stops, where participants roll a set of three dice at each location before scores are tallied and cash prizes are awarded to the top three scorers.
6 p.m. Friday; Sarasota Event Center, 600 N. Beneva Road, Sarasota (party); 10 a.m. Saturday; Marina Jack, 2 Marina Plaza, Sarasota (dice run); $30 each event, $50 both events; 941-487-7904; suncoastcharitiesforchildren.org
2. Hot Dog Day at The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime in Sarasota
Sarasota indie market The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime will once again host this tribute to the summer cookout staple of the hot dog.
The Bazaar — which has a permanent onsite food truck, Hamlet’s Eatery, whose slogan is “to meat, or not to meat” — will offer traditional and vegan hot dogs with numerous topping options, as well as $4 beers and free samples of iced tea and lemonade vodka canned cocktail Surfside.
There will also be another kind of wiener dog represented with Low Rider Dachshund Rescue onsite, as well as local vendors and artisans and live music by Bill Vinhage.
11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday; The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime, 821 Apricot Ave., Sarasota; free admission; 941-445-1938; bazaaronapricotandlime.com
3. Food Truck Rally at Big Top Brewing Company in Sarasota
Sarasota brewery Big Top Brewing Company will host another food truck rally in partnership with a barbecue purveyor that USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida recently named one of the state’s best food trucks.
Smokin Momma Lora’s BBQ will be there along with Chasin’ Chicken, Windy City Chowdown, Pierogi R Us, Go Stuff Urself, The Vintage Ice Shop, and Dirty Sara-Soda. Big Top will have cold brews to wash that food down with, while other offerings will include live music by Mumbo Jumbo, local vendors and axe-throwing.
5-10 p.m. Friday; Big Top Brewing Company, 3045 Fruitville Commons Blvd., Sarasota; free admission; 941-225-8438; bigtopbrewing.com
4. 250 Years of America Celebration on Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island’s Sundown Get Down street party series, held at Historic Bridge Street on Bradenton Beach, will return for an installment that also serves as a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
Presented by Bradenton Beach Merchants Association and AMI South End, built around the idea of “Less Traffic. More Magic,” the walkable event will feature live entertainment including Imagine Circus, local vendors, food and drink offerings, merchant specials, a kids zone and more.
2-8 p.m. Saturday; Bridge Street, Bradenton Beach; free admission; facebook.com/amisouthend
5. Laser Light Nights at The Bishop Museum in Bradenton
The summer series of laser light shows set to pop and rock music, held in the planetarium of The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton, will continue this weekend with the songs of multiple rock bands, including one with ties to Sarasota.
The music of AC/DC, whose frontman Brian Johnson is a Sarasota resident, will soundtrack one of Friday’s shows, with That ’70s Laser Show featuring songs from numerous rock and pop acts from the 1970s making up the other. Led Zeppelin on Thursday, and David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix on Saturday, will round out this week’s lineup.
6 p.m. Thursday and 6 and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, 201 10th St. W., Bradenton; $15 per show; 941-746-4131; bishopscience.org
Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: 5 fun things to do in Sarasota area this weekend
Reporting by Jimmy Geurts, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jimmy Geurts, Sarasota Herald-Tribune | USA TODAY Network
