Partners & Friends
DEBBIE TRICE
Mayor, City of Sarasota
Fulfilling its promise to be inclusive, welcoming and freely accessible to everyone in the community, The Bay park offers diverse free programming and notable environmental improvements.
The Bay Park is a gem! It’s always a pleasure to enjoy the fresh air and experience this remarkable public space with community members and visitors of all backgrounds and ages — engaging in healthy outdoor activities, socializing at The Nest, playing on the Ibis Playground, relaxing on Common Ground, or watching a sunset from the living Resilient Shoreline. This truly embodies the promise of “One Park for All.”
The Bay stands as a beacon of environmental stewardship as it conserves, preserves, restores and revitalizes mangroves, bayous and acres of green space, while it also improves water and air quality. This, in turn, creates a blue and green oasis that improves the health of both the natural habitat and the people.
With development of Phase 2 in process, it is evident that The Bay Park Conservancy, alongside the City of Sarasota and the community, is steadfast in its commitment to delivering a signature public park accessible to everyone.
I wholeheartedly endorse the City of Sarasota's ongoing partnership with The Bay Park Conservancy and its transparent, collaborative efforts with the community.
AG LAFLEY
Founding CEO, The Bay Park Conservancy
The Bay is a signature public park on Sarasota Bay that has become a community gathering place. “One Park for All.”
In 2025, The Bay welcomed nearly 330,000 guests — with the one millionth visit to the park on New Year’s Day 2026. 62,000 people attended one or more of the unparalleled 800 free events offered last year.
The key to becoming a community gathering place is to focus on what matters most:
The park guest experience, and,
The environmental restoration, resiliency and sustainability of the land and water in and around the park.
The park guest is at the heart of everything that happens at The Bay. A commitment to deliver every day on the promise of open and accessible, free and welcoming to everyone creates surprisingly delightful experiences. That’s why 97% of guests say they’ll return to the park and 92% rate their experience as excellent/ very good.
A commitment to keep the park looking as good as it did on opening day every day by providing meticulously manicured golf-course quality lawns, botanical gardens, Florida-friendly, native and natural green spaces and clean restrooms.
A commitment to use Best Management Practices in environmental restoration, resilience, sustainability, and improved water quality enables treatment of 40+ million gallons of polluted stormwater runoff before flowing into Sarasota Bay every year… with a goal of treating every single drop of stormwater once the entire 53-acre park is complete.
Finally, The Bay continued to receive recognition in 2025, including the Sarasota Chamber Community Impact and various design awards.
2025 Business Partners
125 local businesses have become Business Partners of The Bay — collectively providing more than $250K to support free park programming for everyone to enjoy.