News Releases

Vigilantes, Veterans & Victories! Discover Sarasota Tours launches a fun new way to explore the city’s colorful history at 10 AM Fridays and 2 PM Sundays during May: The Memorial Trolley Tour: Vigilantes, Veterans & Victories. Hear stories of Sarasota’s military history and the booms that followed each conflict, from the Seminole Wars of the early…

Belly up to the bar! Discover Sarasota Tours launches a fun new way to explore the city’s colorful history on Friday nights: “Infamous Sarasota” — The Throwback Happy Hour Tour. Relive the glory days of Sarasota’s sunny and scandalous 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s with tour guide Jonny Mac! Hear stories of Sarasota’s growth boom, its legendary bars, and the fascinating people who frequented them. Tickets include complimentary beer or wine at the Trolley Cottage Tiki Bar before boarding. The tour visits the arts district and other historic neighborhoods, the site of the old Sawmill Inn, and places like St Armands Circle, downtown Sarasota, the Southside neighborhood, the Bahi Hut, and North Trail. Tour guide Jonny Mac has proudly lived in Sarasota since December 1972. With ties to Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, he worked at the iconic Sawmill Inn Restaurant…

Saint Patrick’s Week Party Discover Sarasota Tours launches a fun new way to celebrate Ireland’s patron saint—with a Saint Patrick’s Irish “Hooley” on the Trolley Tour! Guests will enjoy complimentary wine or beer at the trolley depot while browsing through the Vintage Sarasota Gift Shop full of fun old-time treasures. Then they’ll join guide Steve McAllister aboard the air-conditioned trolley to hear Irish jokes, songs & stories as they visit the Irish pubs in Sarasota and hear about their history. Includes a stop at Lynches Pub on St. Armands for a sample of Irish beer and sing-along with Steve. Tour guide Steve McAllister is a multi-talented artist. He can often be found playing music around town, and has recently performed in The Will Rogers Follies, The 1940s Radio Hour, Silence: The Musical, and his one-person show Will Rogers Revived. His sixth book, Money, Sex, Power &…

Discover Sarasota Tours launches a great new way to explore Sarasota Sports History, including major league baseball, golf, tennis, watersports and much more. Tour guide Jon MacDonald shares his love of sports and Sarasota sports history by showing some of the key places, important people and legendary events that shaped Sarasota’s sporting history. Tour-goers learn about John…

Discover Sarasota Tours Launches New Amish Experience Tour, February 21 – May 16 Sarasota is home to a unique 90-year-old Amish and Mennonite community—people who come from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere to winter on Florida’s beautiful sunny beaches. Guests on the new Discover Sarasota Tours Amish Experience Tour will multi-layered history of the Amish community in Sarasota from tour guide Kendra Cross. The tour visits the Pinecraft neighborhood at Bahia Vista Avenue and Beneva Road in Sarasota, where residents travel on three-wheeled bikes instead of the horse and buggy they might drive at home. Visitors will also stop at the authentic Der Dutchman Amish Kitchen Restaurant to do some shopping, and of course sample Der Dutchman’s delicious homemade pies! Tour guide Kendra Cross grew up in a Mennonite community in Ohio, with great-grandparents who were Amish—an experience that planted in her seeds of understanding, appreciation, and…

Discover Sarasota Tours Launches New Vintage Sarasota Gift Shop at Trolley Cottage

Get 2 tickets for $60 with promo code LOVE Looking for something new and special to do for Valentine’s Week? Celebrate with your sweetheart aboard our historic trolley on the LOVE STORIES OF SARASOTA trolley tour! Guests will enjoy complimentary wine or beer at the trolley depot while browsing through our Vintage Sarasota Gift Shop full of fun old-time treasures. Then they will board the trolley to travel around Sarasota as tour guide Kathryn Chesley shares the legendary love stories of John and Mable Ringling, William and Marie Selby, the Unconditional Surrender statue icons, Owen Burns and his wife Vernona, and many more. A stop at Peterbrooke Chocolatier for chocolate, prosecco and love songs performed by real-life couple Lilian Moore and Richard Caldwell complete the night of love. Love Stories of Sarasota runs from 7:30-9:00 PM on Wednesday Feb 13, Thursday…

Sculpture has long been an integral part of Sarasota’s cultural legacy. Guests on the new Discover Sarasota Tours Public Art Tour will visit some of the city’s 57+ public art sculptures, monuments, and murals during this 90-minute air-conditioned tour. Between Jorge Blanco’s Bravo! at Orange and Ringling, John Henry’s Complexus (in front of One Sarasota Tower) and Seward Johnson’s Bayfront sculpture Unconditional Surrender, you will get a better sense of the artists, the stories and the history of public art in Sarasota from painter and public art expert Jerome Chesley. Public Art Tours run Wednesdays—February 6, March 6, 13, & 27, and April 3 & 10, from 1-2:30 PM. $30 + tax and fees. All tours depart from the DST Trolley Depot located at 1826 Fourth Street—a cute 1930s cottage near downtown with a charming vintage gift shop. Tour tickets and…

Visitors and residents alike now have an engaging and informative NEW attraction in which to experience Sarasota’s multi-layered past. Discover Sarasota Tours, which offers four different daily and nightly sightseeing tours aboard an air-conditioned trolley opened near downtown in October. In addition to the City Sightseeing Tours, Happy Hour Sightseeing Tours, Circus Tours and the Ghost Tour of Sarasota, Discover Sarasota Tours also offers special monthly tours. These tours include: Public Art of Sarasota, Psychic Sundays and The Amish Experience. New specialty tours will be added in each month. All tours depart from the DST Trolley Depot located in a cute 1930s cottage near downtown with a charming vintage gift shop. The 90-minute tours are led by  tour guides most of whom have acting or entertainment backgrounds. Early daytime tours run at 10 AM, afternoon tours begin at 1 PM,…