Annual Meeting 2026-27

The Longboat Key Garden Club closes its year the way it always has: books opened, money handed out. The annual meeting is the club's business session, where next year's officers are installed and the grants and scholarships funded by events like the home tour are announced to the students and nonprofits receiving them. In one recent year that meant $24,000 in scholarships to six students and $15,000 in grants to nine organizations; Mote Marine Laboratory and Sarasota Bay Watch have been among past recipients. Beautification awards for island residents' landscaping round out the agenda. In recent years the club, founded in 1969 and now about 270 members, has held the meeting over lunch at Joan M. Durante Park.