April 20, 2003
SIESTA NAMED "BEST SAND
BEACH IN
AMERICA"
A film crew from the Travel Channel was on Siesta Key on April 6 to shoot
footage for a one-hour television show called "America's Best Beaches," which
will air on a future date.
Siesta Key was chosen to the elite
list by a panel of beach experts reviewing criteria such as cleanliness, sand
quality and surrounding areas.
In addition to filming Siesta Key's dazzling white
sand - made up of ancient quartz crystals worn smooth by time - the cable
television crew asked beachgoers why Siesta's sand should be rated America's
very best. Their answers echoed what every local beach lover knows:
Siesta Key's sugar-fine sand is clean, powder-soft to the touch, free of shell
particles and cool on the feet.
"This beautiful, wide beach has something for
beach lovers of all ages," said John McCarthy, manager of Sarasota County Parks
and Recreation Department. "[It boasts] the greatest sand anywhere,
leading to the clear blue water of the Gulf of Mexico, with shade trees and
creational areas nearby."
Also interviewed was professional sand sculptor
Mark Mason of Team Sandtastic, "Of all the places in the world I've worked and
competed, Siesta Key is the absolute best for creating works of art in the
sand," Mason said.
Students from the Ringling School of Art and
Design were filmed creating sand sculptures for the segment, along with
volleyball players, children, musicians and dancers from Siesta Key's popular
Sunday night Drum Circle, and scenes of Siesta Village via the Siesta Key Island
Trolley.
The Travel Channel is an international television
network that is part of the Discovery Networks. It is seen in nearly 50
million homes in the United States alone.
This isn't the first time Siesta Key Beach has
been ranked among the best. Last year, the Travel Channel rated it as one
of Florida's top 10 beaches. In a recent readership poll by USA Today,
more than 3,000 people across the country named Siesta Key as one of the top
three U.S. beaches. In 1987, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution gave
Siesta Beach the designation of having "the whitest, finest beach sand in the
world" out of more than 30 entries worldwide, a title that still stands today.
Conde Nast Traveler Magazine also ranked Siesta
Key Beach's sand being "the best of the best" in 1999.
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