Are you one of the many people who grew up with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Manatee County?
The community institution will be celebrating its 80th anniversary Saturday with a free Alumni and Friends Reunion and Wing Fest from 2-6 p.m. at the DeSoto Boys and Girls Club, 5236 30th St. W., Bradenton.
The event is expected to bring together generations of folks to commemorate the organization’s eight decades of service to Manatee County.
“This celebration is about coming home to the place, the people and the experiences that helped shape so many lives,” said the Boys and Girls Clubs' Kim Jenkins. “Whether your Club days were here in Manatee County or somewhere else, we want you to join us. Once a Club kid, always a Club kid.”
There will be wings from
area restaurants, beverages, games, a DJ and a college football tailgate atmosphere with the day’s college games on multiple big screens.
Anyone who attended a Boys and Girls Club beyond Manatee County, or on a U.S. military base overseas and now calls here home, is also invited.
Admission is free, but advance registration is encouraged. Visit bgcmanatee.org/events
· Padre Fausto Stampiglia of St. Martha’s Catholic Church is 91 years young.
· A dozen young men at Manatee High will be vying for the title of Mr. Sugar Cane at the dance team’s annual fundraising soiree Friday at 7 p.m. They are Dutch Anderson, Finn Bonser, Brydon Cox, Tristan Cassidy, Thomas Emmrich, Joseph Fonseca, Brennen Gunter, Tristan Lindner, Cade Marechek, Louis Ortiz, Kenny Piveger and Kane Richardson.
· Speaking of Sugar ‘Canes, former captain Kiernan Wilkins is 39. Again.
· Props to Braden River High’s Emely Chen and Addison Hartley, recognized as Commended Students in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program.
· Uh, oh! Southeast High AD Matt Kitchie is one year shy of the Big 5-0!
· Christina Wuerzberger is Manatee County Public Safety’s new Emergency Communications Center Compliance Specialist.
· Popi’s Place Too’s Michael Ameres is 46.
· Model Manatee is a new civics education program for high school students to give them an inside look at how government works.
(Now THAT should be educational.)
The program’s inaugural class includes Lakewood Ranch High’s Carter Bagshaw, Aiden Forson, Olivia Kruse, Kate Kitcher and Wilda Kuang; Parrish Community’s Cole Arrant, Katherine Bradshaw, Yovannya Benavides and Blaine Smith; Braden River’s Madelyn Gabriel and Olivia Showers; Southeast’s Diana Godinez-Lopez and Nohemi Teresa; Manatee’s Haoheng Huang; and Team Success South’s Daisy Mendoza.
· Bradenton Beach Police Lieutenant Lenard Diaz has been promoted to Chief.
· LRHS seniors Ed Grayson, Kelsi Scott and Faith Finnegan finished 1-2-3, respectively, in the Bradenton Rotary Club’s Constitution Day Essay competition. Those essays will now be considered for the George S. and Stella M. Knight Essay Contest, the national competition held by the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: VIN'S PEOPLE: Manatee County club hosts 80th anniversary party
