June 23, 2025 • 25 mins
Today, Jim digs deep into what makes downtown Bradenton feel so welcoming with Andrea Knies from Realize Bradenton — the nonprofit that’s turned a master plan into vibrant markets, free concerts, and local pride you can feel on every block.
Andrea shares how this grassroots group bridges city government, local businesses, and artists — keeping the Riverwalk beautiful, supporting small biz dreams, and giving families reasons to stay, play, and smile together year-round.
💡 What you’ll discover:
✅ A quick history: Born from a 2007 Cultural Master Plan, Realize Bradenton became the flexible, people-focused nonprofit that connects the city’s creative energy with local needs.
✅ Beloved events:
- Bradenton Public Market: Every Saturday, October–May, 35 weeks of local produce, handmade art, fresh food, shaded garages & free parking. A market family where locals bring out-of-town guests just to show it off!
- Music in the Park: Free spring concerts on the Riverwalk — families on blankets, boaters dancing from the water, sunsets closing the show.
- Winter Wonderland: Main Street transforms with “snow,” Santa and Mrs. Claus (who compete for the longest line!), holiday games, treats & local gifts.
✅ The Riverwalk rebirth: Once an empty “sand pile,” now a vibrant mile of playgrounds, volleyball courts, skate park, open lawns, and community events — exactly how residents imagined it.
✅ Hidden local treasures: Village of the Arts, the Historical Records Library, the Manatee Village Historical Park — and why these living pieces of history matter.
✅ How Bradenton lifts up small businesses:
- Startup Circle: A free 8-week course helping locals craft real business plans with local bankers, experts & mentors.
- Flexible vendor stalls: New makers can rent space at the market for just one Saturday or an entire season — test ideas, meet shoppers, grow step by step.
✅ What’s next: BAM Fest is already big — now the team plans to expand with more partners, creative zones, and spin-off events as Bradenton grows.
✅ Want to help? Sign up to volunteer for BAM Fest or Winter Wonderland at realizebradenton.com or follow @RealizeBradenton on socials.
✨ Bradenton isn’t just another Gulf Coast town — it’s a place where your neighbors become friends and you feel proud to show off your community.
👉 Have questions about moving to Bradenton or the Suncoast? Want to make this lifestyle yours? Connect with Jim anytime at JimSellsTheSuncoast.com!
A Personal Note from Jim:
Hey there, I’m Jim Ahearn, your go-to real estate guide and host of Jim Sells The Suncoast podcast! 🎙️✨ Dreaming of Florida life? I’ve got you covered! As your dedicated buyer's agent, I’ll handle everything from walk-throughs to closing, making your home-buying journey as smooth as a Florida breeze.
Whether you're local or tuning in from afar, I’ll bring the Suncoast to you with virtual tours and expert advice. Let’s chat about your dream home and I'll connect you with all the right people to make it happen.
Ready to move to paradise? Drop me a line – I can’t wait to help! 🌴🏡
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jim (00:00):
welcome to Jim Sells the Suncoast.
(00:01):
Today I'm really excited to haveAndrea Kise here from Realized
Bradington.
We've talked a lot on Jim sellsthe Suncoast about different
developments and places to live.
Now we're gonna talk about whyyou want to come here.
What's going on in the area,what's going on in Bradenton.
She is, intimately tied into thedowntown and what's going on,
and we're gonna talk a lot aboutthat.
(00:21):
So Andrea, I know you've beenwith realize Braden for about
four and a half years, and inthe same vein for a little
while.
Welcome.
Andrea (00:28):
Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Jim (00:31):
Fantastic.
So maybe we could talk a littlebit about realized Bradenton and
its background.
I know it formed a little whileago 15, 16 years ago.
And how does the cultural Masterplan guide your guys' work
today?
What are you doing?
Andrea (00:44):
Yeah, so what's really interesting realized Bradon is a
nonprofit and we have beenaround since 2010, but really
the seed of realized Bradon camefrom, there was a cultural
master plan that the city wasdoing and they were conducting
that 2007, I believe is whenthey began.
And from that.
They actually realized thatthere was a need to develop a
(01:07):
master plan about how to utilizethe arts culture and heritage of
Bradenton to bring the communitytogether.
And that plan initially was justcalled Realize Bradenton.
So it was the name of the planthey put together.
And so that was completed in2009.
And part of that plan was, youknow what?
We need an organization to dothis.
(01:27):
This isn't just going to happenon its own.
Somebody has to put theintention and the time behind
it.
And so that came together andthey formed the nonprofit, our
founding director, John Isha,who a lot of people know, she
was intimately into thiscreation of such an amazing
organization.
So we were founded officially in2010, and we've been really
(01:48):
moving forward to bring peopletogether for exactly that
reason, arts, culture, andheritage.
Since then.
Jim (01:54):
Fantastic.
How does your collaboration withthe city downtown partners and
sponsors.
strengthening the community aswell as economic development
down there?
Andrea (02:03):
We 100% believe in the old saying that high tides rise
all ships.
We truly believe that is trueand we've seen it happen over
and over.
And another one of the things wesay is working together works.
And that is another one of ourfavorite little sayings.
So we work closely with the citythat is definitely one of our
partners.
We wanna make sure that we'renot.
(02:24):
Duplicating efforts.
It's about letting everyone dowhat they do best and then we
fill in the holes, and that'sone of the things that makes.
Being a nonprofit so amazing isthat we're actually flexible and
we're able to change and pivotin a way that a municipality
can't just be, they have so manyother things they have to worry
about and things that they haveto do, and systems and processes
(02:47):
that we're able to adapt to thechanges and the changing needs
of the community, which isagain, why It was decided that
we'd be a nonprofit.
It's amazing.
And so with that, we work withall of our, we have cultural
partners that we work with.
We meet them on a regular basisto find out what they are doing,
what they're planning and areasof collaboration.
(03:08):
Not only between us and acultural partner, but between
the cultural partners as well.
I think one of my favoriteexamples, we had a cultural
partners meeting and the BishopMuseum of Science Nature.
Was going to have a stargazingevent and the person at the
library said, oh, did you knowyou could check out telescopes?
And all of a sudden now there'sthis great collaboration that
(03:29):
happens.
So things are starting to becomeright, synergistic.
So not only are we partneringwith our sponsors and with our
cultural partners and with thecity, we are creating avenues
for them to partner with eachother as well.
Jim (03:42):
You have the ability to tap into each one and make those
connections to
Andrea (03:46):
absolutely
Jim (03:47):
synergistic, as you said, make it a little bit bigger than
it would've been.
So you run some signatureevents, band Fest, winter
Wonderland, Brandon BluesFestival.
So what roles do these have inbuilding community, in local
pride?
Andrea (04:00):
So we have, I think the event that people often don't
think about,'cause it's actually35 events, is the Bradon public
market that we do every week.
And so that is every Saturday,October through May.
And there's so much pride inthat market.
And it comes not only from ourvendors who refer to each other
as family and a community, butyou have people who come every
(04:22):
week.
We see people bringing out oftown guests, and they
specifically are bringing themto the market because they feel
like the market is the showcaseof our city Bradenton is
referred to as the friendlycity.
And the number of times peoplesay, we are bringing our guests
here because this is what thefriendly city embodies.
And so I think that is sign.
(04:43):
that people are proud of it whenthey bring other people to show
them.
So we see that with the downtownBradon public market.
We see it with.
Our music in the park series,which are free concerts on the
river walk.
And then we also have an eventWinter Wonderland, which is
incredible, families add it intotheir holiday traditions.
(05:04):
That's an amazing testament forhow important it is to them.
It's part of their familyholiday traditions to attend
this event and see it snow onMain Street.
So we do believe it builds civicpride and unfortunately civic
pride is one of those thingsthat's tricky to measure.
But I think you really do seeit.
If you walk down Main StreetBradon, you can feel it.
(05:25):
You can feel it in the peoplewho are smiling and saying
hello.
You can see it in the streets byhow clean it is.
We had one of our concerts atthe park on the river walk and
city of Bradon has incrediblepublic works.
Employees and the gentleman thatwas there that night to take
care of the solid waste, hestopped at the end of the night.
He said, look at that.
And I said, what are we lookingat?
He said, there is not a singlepiece of trash on this lawn
(05:47):
right now.
I was like, you're right.
I didn't pick any up.
cared everyone.
We had thousands of people herefor a concert, and they cared so
much about this concert in thisplace that they threw all their
trash away.
That says something.
So again, civic pride is hard tomeasure, but those are the
moments when you can see it inaction.
Jim (06:04):
Absolutely.
They have pride because theywanna do it again.
You don't wanna bring a friendto something that's, not in
great shape.
Yeah.
And you know what, I know wetalked a little bit the last
time we touched base about thefarmer's market.
And yes, the fact that there areso many ways to actually attend
it with the parking andeverything going on there, that
it's not a typical, you knowwhat, I'm gonna park seven
(06:26):
blocks away and then hoof itover there.
The free parking is there tohelp facilitate it.
Andrea (06:31):
Yes, and Bradenton does.
On the weekends, we have threeparking structures that are
free.
So during the week all the time,the city has the city center
garage right downtown that isalways free.
And then on the weekends, thecounty garage is also free in
the judicial center garage isfree.
Two of those garages are in ourfootprint for our market, and
one is just a beautiful twoblock.
(06:52):
Walk away.
So we have three parkingstructures free on the weekends
that you can use, and not onlydoes it mean you can find
parking and it's free, it's alsoshaded.
Jim (07:01):
Yeah.
Then you don't mind going backto your car afterwards.
I love the downtown.
I had the fortune to live rightnear River Walk for two years
and it's amazing.
So let's talk about the riverwalk.
Community gathering spot, itwalks right along the river.
You've got volleyball and beachand kids playground and water
park and amphitheater.
(07:21):
How much has that reallytransformed and made what we're
doing able to do it
Andrea (07:26):
well, what I love about the story of the Riverwalk, you
had a river walk that was, it'sdredged land, so what we're
talking about is land that wasdredged from the bottom of the
river, shoring up the banks.
There were a lot of reasons whythey did it, and it was dredged
in the fifties and then it wasjust.
Empty, and it was locally knownas the sand pile from the 1960s
all the way up into the twothousands for over 40 years.
(07:49):
And so many people had ideas,but nobody, it was one of those
things.
It was such valuable space andso beautiful that.
Everyone wanted to get it right.
You didn't wanna do somethingthere.
That wasn't appropriate for thatsite.
So when our organization wasfounded in 2010, that was
actually one of the first thingsthat our founding director
(08:11):
tackled and what she did.
We didn't build the Riverwalk,we didn't design the river walk.
We went into the community,realized, Bradenton went into
the community and asked themwhat they wanted.
And that's how this was created.
And then it became truly acommunity effort.
The city really listened andthey worked with a design firm
(08:31):
that really listened to what washappening and a local builder
that built it with NDCconstruction.
And so I think what's sowonderful and why that park is
so beloved is that it actuallywas what the community wanted.
And so that's why you do havethings like a skate park.
May, maybe a skate park on ariver isn't the first thing
you're gonna think of, right?
(08:51):
If you're a city official.
But it's used all the time andit's a fantastic space and we
have Olympic skateboarders whohave practiced and learned on
that skate park.
That's amazing.
You have the large green spacesand you're gonna see.
All kinds of activitieshappening there.
You'll find kids kicking soccerballs around, but you're also
gonna find a family having apicnic sometimes.
(09:13):
It just has become a space thatthe community owns as their own.
And I think that so much has todo with the way it was
developed.
And the thoughtfulness that wasput into it.
And so we use it for a lot ofour events.
We use it for music in the park,which are a free concert series
in the spring.
We use it for BAM Fest, which isBrayton Art Music Festival.
(09:36):
It'll be March 28th in 2026.
We take a mile of the river walkand we just add visual art and
demonstrations and music.
And everything you can think of.
And another great thing about usbeing a nonprofit and being able
to get sponsorships and grantsis that we do these things free
for the community, which wethink is really important as
(09:57):
well, because we don't ever wantto limit anyone.
If you have a family of five andyou're trying to go to an event
and there's a ticket price, itgets pretty pricey.
So we wanna make sure thateveryone is able to attend these
events as well.
Jim (10:11):
I think that's that plays a big part when you look at like
the farmer's market coming inthere, if you're paying, like a
weekend event to a baseball gameor a football game every
weekend, you're probably notcoming back.
But the fact that you can get inthere and walk around and
experience all the differentthings with the regular vendors
and the rotating vendors, hugepayoff for that.
Andrea (10:30):
Yeah.
we love and we do things that wecall market magic days where we
add a little extra something tothe market.
So for example, every year wecelebrate the city's birthday,
and we have cake for thebirthday.
We sing to the town.
But we just, do little extrathings in there.
Just to add to it, this last Maywhen we celebrated the town's
(10:51):
birthday, we had an open houseat the historical records
library as well, so they havesome things going on in there
and we just, we love addingthese little, like I said, we
call'em market magic daysbecause we have so many people
there.
Let's just add a little extrasomething every now and then for
the people that are attending
Jim (11:08):
And I love those little things that maybe wouldn't drive
down to go see a recordsbuilding, but it's there and
it's got the history and the funstuff that can go along with it.
Just puts that fun twist on it.
Andrea (11:19):
Yeah.
Jim (11:21):
How are you involved with the Village of the Arts?
Anything that goes on there withthe artist, home studios,
galleries.
Andrea (11:27):
So we are involved with them as a cultural partner like
we are with any of the others.
So with the Village of the Arts,for example, when we do Bam
Fest, so many of our artists arepart of the Village of the Arts
as well.
We work with themcollaboratively to make sure
we're working on a few thingsfor the next season.
But it's just, it's acollaboration to make sure that
we are able to work together andsupport each other through
(11:50):
everything.
Jim (11:53):
What historical or heritage experiences should someone new
to Bradenton explore?
Andrea (11:58):
The heritage.
So I do think the historicalrecords library it's absolutely
beautiful.
I think.
That in itself.
You can go to this old carnegieLibrary, just gorgeous building,
and they have all kinds of funthings.
They have a postcard collection,but the historical records
library is part of.
Overall historical museums thatwe have in the county.
(12:21):
And the way our historicalmuseums are set up is really
interesting because they fallunder the clerk's office.
So they're set up as for asrecords offices, basically.
But they're beautiful.
And so Manatee VillageHistorical Park.
Is a space.
It's a beautiful free space,free park.
And what has happened is throughthe years since it was founded
(12:42):
in 1976, any historicallysignificant building that was
possibly gonna be demolished andcould be moved, was moved to
this space.
So now.
It's interesting to think aboutbuildings as historical records,
but they are, and that's how theclerk has seen them.
So now you have these buildingsin one space that you can see.
We have a maritime museum thatgoes through and helps you
(13:04):
understand all of the fishing inthat industry of this area.
And then we also have, we havean agriculture museum and all of
these are free.
They are incredible to stop by.
So definitely look into thehistorical museums that are
owned by the Manatee CountyClerk's Office.
They're incredible.
Jim (13:24):
Cool.
So walk us through then, like atypical music in a park night.
Who shows up?
What's the vibe?
What's going on?
Andrea (13:32):
Music in the park.
So music in the park is, we geta local band, and so usually we
have different followings basedon who comes out that night.
Jim (13:41):
As the
Andrea (13:41):
band, we used to have it in the amphitheater.
Unfortunately that only seats400 people and we got way too
big.
So music in the park is now,it's in Rossi Park, which is
also known as the Pavilion.
So we still have an elevatedspace for the bands to play.
And it's a large grassy area, sopeople bring chairs, they bring
(14:01):
blankets, they bring coolers,they sit out.
We have a couple of food trucks.
When you come to music in thepark, it's always one like
dinner, truck, and one.
Dessert truck.
But they're there.
They are our local vendors.
Again, people that you're gonnasee.
Next door.
There are people that live herein the area and it starts
(14:22):
filling up pretty early.
the music starts at six and goestill eight, but sometimes people
will come out, five o'clock justbecause they wanna chit chat
with their friends before andpick their spot and have their
picnic before the music starts.
So it fills up.
We also have a lot of peoplewho, as you had mentioned, we
have condos and apartments alongthe Riverwalk.
So there are people who walkfrom their condos or apartments.
(14:45):
Down to it.
We have a lot of those.
And then you have people whojust were walking the river walk
and heard the music and stoppedby, which is another piece.
And then you also have peoplewho pull up on their boats.
So people pull their boats upalong'cause we're right on the
river and they can listen to themusic and hear it from there.
We see we know they hear it'cause we can see'em dancing to
it on their boats.
So we have all of these peoplegathering together and then of
(15:08):
course we time it so that it istime to the sunset so that you
get to watch the sunset over theriver as the concert is ending.
It's part of the essence, Ithink, of the entire event.
But one of my favorite things,obviously we have to work
closely with the city ofBradenton.
The Riverwalk is a city ofBradenton Park, and after the
hurricane Milton happened inOctober, we had our concert
(15:32):
scheduled, and we're like, we'regonna have to.
Just cancel these, and the citysaid, you know what?
This is really probably moreimportant now than ever.
Our community needs to get to betogether.
They need each other, they needthe support.
They need a place where they canrelax their nerves for a little
bit.
As they were working on thecleanup, that park became their
(15:54):
priority on the Riverwalk toclean up first so that we could
get a concert as soon aspossible because the city felt
that the community needed anddeserved that space.
And I think that says a lotabout the value of coming
together as we were.
We were able to bring peopletogether in a time when they
truly needed community.
Jim (16:14):
Nice.
Let's go to the other side then.
Winter Wonderland.
Andrea (16:18):
Yes.
Jim (16:19):
What's being set up and how's old Main Street working
for that,
Andrea (16:23):
Old Main Street and Winter Wonderland?
We make it snow on Old MainStreet.
I think that's the mostimportant part.
the snow machines are on timersand when it gets to.
five seconds before they go,they do a few beeps and you
actually see kids listening forthe beeps and they go running to
that snow machine to be under itwhen it starts, which is so
(16:45):
cute.
We have a winter carnival thatwe do, so it's a snowball toss
and ice hockey.
It's all with cute littleprizes.
And then we have, of course,Santa Claus has to be there.
Our Santa is actually Santa D,who is a very well known Santa
in the area.
He was the Santa at DeSotoSquare Mall for many years.
(17:06):
So we have parents who arebringing their children because
that is the Santa they know,which is.
Really sweet.
We added Mrs.
Claus last year.
It turns out Mrs.
Claus is also very popular.
So we had Mrs.
Claus and Santa and they havestarted their own little very
friendly rivalry of whose lineis longer.
(17:27):
So we have actually had to movetheir locations this year so
that they can have longer linesso that they can see whose line
gets longer.
Again.
It's just super sweet.
And then we have a.
Stage at one end that's gonnahave all kinds of holiday
festive performances, and thenvendors throughout.
So food vendors throughout, ifyou wanna stop and have crepes,
(17:49):
or if you just want somethinglike hot chocolate for the
night, those types of things.
And then some vendors as wellfor some last minute holiday
gifts.
Again, everything local,everything is, from people who
own their businesses here inBradenton.
Jim (18:03):
Yeah, I love it.
Some places have dueling pianos.
We've got dueling Santas, so wedo,
Andrea (18:08):
it's just, we had no idea.
Sometimes you have to just gowith what happens at the event.
We had no idea that we weregonna have a Santa rivalry, but
we're fine with it.
Yes.
We're gonna play up.
Jim (18:20):
So how does realize bradon support the small business and
entrepreneurs, things likeStartup Circle, the public
market?
What else do we have going on?
Andrea (18:28):
Yeah, so we really believe that.
Supporting local entrepreneursis a huge piece about CRE for
creating community.
And so we have a program calledthe Startup Circle
Entrepreneurship Program, and itis a free eight week program and
at the end, you leave with acompleted business plan.
(18:48):
And it is specifically designedfor people who either have a
small business or are wanting tostart a small business in
Bradenton What makes it sospecial is you have subject
matter experts and they come tothe classes, but it's not just a
general, this is how you get abusiness loan.
It is Jason who works at thebank down the street.
(19:10):
Who can tell you all about it.
And also he's your contact ifyou need a small business loan
and you get to meet him in thatenvironment.
So it's really amazing to buildthat with the people who can
support and help you and thenbeautifully.
They form a cohort, so they endup supporting each other.
The people who are in this classtogether, we've had people in
the class together that havefound ways to actually
(19:32):
collaborate in business.
With some of their things thatthey're doing, which is amazing.
And then we have our market.
So the Bradenton public market.
What makes us a little bitunique to some others is that we
do have part-time rental spaces.
So that is a logisticalnightmare, but we think it is
totally worth it for some of thevalue it.
(19:54):
And one of the things, inaddition to having a diverse
group of vendors, every time youcome to the market, it's gonna
be a little different.
But we also think it's importantto give small businesses a
chance to try out their product.
So you don't have to sign up for35 weeks.
You can sign up for one, you cansign up for a month, you can
(20:14):
sign up once a month it givesthose small businesses a chance
to see, okay, I have thisproduct, I'm trying it out.
This is what I'm thinking onpricing, does this work?
And we think it becomes its ownlittle small business incubator
in a way, which is amazing.
And then on the reverse side,we've seen people who have their
stands and their businesses atthe market What the startup
Circle has done for theirfriends.
(20:35):
now even though they have thatbusiness, they're going through
the startup circle and they'rerefining their business, right?
So now their business at themarket is even more successful.
So it just works all around andit's really, great the way it
all works together.
It compliments each other.
Jim (20:50):
Yeah, I think it's nice because it creates support
across all levels as opposed tostraight competition, right?
It's everybody wants to gettheir friend or their buddy or
their business in there andenjoy that, that camaraderie.
Andrea (21:03):
Again, high tide, it's rise all ships.
We really believe it.
Jim (21:08):
So looking ahead, what exciting projects or plans does
realized Springton have maybeover the next three to five
years?
Andrea (21:15):
Yeah, so our big thing, bam Fest in 2025 was our first
year for the festival and it's amile long and we had about
10,000 people attend.
So it was.
A big for a first festival forsure.
But we are really looking toexpand it in a variety of ways.
we want to expand it by gettingmore partners involved.
for example, one of our amazingpartners for this first Bat City
(21:35):
comic books.
I don't know if you're familiarwith them, but you should be.
They're nonprofit comicbookstore in Bradon.
They are incredible.
They came and they said, we wantthis space.
There was a little space, ameandering path.
okay, what do you wanna do withit?
And they said, we're gonnacreate a comic book creation
journey.
they created along that path,what it's like from start to
(21:56):
finish, from concept to printingto make comic book amazing.
Very popular, really cool.
We wanna get more of that typeof thing where we bring people
in and say, okay.
As a partner, here's a space.
What would you do with it fromyour point of view?
And get just new ideas likethat.
We're also looking at, can thatbe expanded?
this was an eight hour event,which is a lot.
(22:17):
Again, one mile, eight hours.
But are there things that couldbe, kickoff types of events that
could happen before or closingsafter?
Because that was the first yearof the event we're doing a big
focus on figuring out.
What worked, what didn't work,how we can collaborate more and
expand and what that can reallybe for our community to meet the
needs.
Because we have a lot of peoplemoving to downtown Bradon, a lot
(22:40):
of apartments that are beingbuilt, and it's really important
for us to continue to serve thepeople who are in our area.
Jim (22:49):
If anybody wanted to volunteer, what can they do or
how can they reach out?
Andrea (22:54):
Yeah, so we have two major volunteer opportunities
each year which are WinterWonderland and Bam Fest.
Bam Fest, like I said, it's.
A mile and eight hours.
So we have about 150 volunteerswe need for that one event,
which is not easy.
So the easiest thing to do youeither can follow realize
Brayton on social media, we haveFacebook and Instagram, or go to
(23:15):
realize brayton.com and sign upfor our newsletter, and we will
send out our calls forvolunteers when we have them for
those two events.
Jim (23:24):
That's fantastic.
Andrea, I want to thank you somuch.
I think I talked to a lot ofpeople, like I said about moving
here and now we wanna look athow do we make that move and
then open up their lives to whatwe have going on in Bradenton
and on the Sun Coast, right?
We have the beaches, we have thesun and here's a fantastic event
that has multiple eventsthroughout the year.
(23:45):
You can pretty much plan yourwhole year around each of the
different events and have afantastic time.
Andrea (23:50):
Yeah, we always say it's about the quality of life you
can have, affordable life, youcan have the necessities, but
what is the quality of life?
And that's what I think we bringto the table.
Jim (24:01):
Thank you.
Andrea (24:02):
You're welcome.
welcome to Jim Sells the Suncoast.
(00:01):
Today I'm really excited to haveAndrea Kise here from Realized
Bradington.
We've talked a lot on Jim sellsthe Suncoast about different
developments and places to live.
Now we're gonna talk about whyyou want to come here.
What's going on in the area,what's going on in Bradenton.
She is, intimately tied into thedowntown and what's going on,
and we're gonna talk a lot aboutthat.
(00:21):
So Andrea, I know you've beenwith realize Braden for about
four and a half years, and inthe same vein for a little
while.
Welcome.
Andrea (00:28):
Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Jim (00:31):
Fantastic.
So maybe we could talk a littlebit about realized Bradenton and
its background.
I know it formed a little whileago 15, 16 years ago.
And how does the cultural Masterplan guide your guys' work
today?
What are you doing?
Andrea (00:44):
Yeah, so what's really interesting realized Bradon is a
nonprofit and we have beenaround since 2010, but really
the seed of realized Bradon camefrom, there was a cultural
master plan that the city wasdoing and they were conducting
that 2007, I believe is whenthey began.
And from that.
They actually realized thatthere was a need to develop a
(01:07):
master plan about how to utilizethe arts culture and heritage of
Bradenton to bring the communitytogether.
And that plan initially was justcalled Realize Bradenton.
So it was the name of the planthey put together.
And so that was completed in2009.
And part of that plan was, youknow what?
We need an organization to dothis.
(01:27):
This isn't just going to happenon its own.
Somebody has to put theintention and the time behind
it.
And so that came together andthey formed the nonprofit, our
founding director, John Isha,who a lot of people know, she
was intimately into thiscreation of such an amazing
organization.
So we were founded officially in2010, and we've been really
(01:48):
moving forward to bring peopletogether for exactly that
reason, arts, culture, andheritage.
Since then.
Jim (01:54):
Fantastic.
How does your collaboration withthe city downtown partners and
sponsors.
strengthening the community aswell as economic development
down there?
Andrea (02:03):
We 100% believe in the old saying that high tides rise
all ships.
We truly believe that is trueand we've seen it happen over
and over.
And another one of the things wesay is working together works.
And that is another one of ourfavorite little sayings.
So we work closely with the citythat is definitely one of our
partners.
We wanna make sure that we'renot.
(02:24):
Duplicating efforts.
It's about letting everyone dowhat they do best and then we
fill in the holes, and that'sone of the things that makes.
Being a nonprofit so amazing isthat we're actually flexible and
we're able to change and pivotin a way that a municipality
can't just be, they have so manyother things they have to worry
about and things that they haveto do, and systems and processes
(02:47):
that we're able to adapt to thechanges and the changing needs
of the community, which isagain, why It was decided that
we'd be a nonprofit.
It's amazing.
And so with that, we work withall of our, we have cultural
partners that we work with.
We meet them on a regular basisto find out what they are doing,
what they're planning and areasof collaboration.
(03:08):
Not only between us and acultural partner, but between
the cultural partners as well.
I think one of my favoriteexamples, we had a cultural
partners meeting and the BishopMuseum of Science Nature.
Was going to have a stargazingevent and the person at the
library said, oh, did you knowyou could check out telescopes?
And all of a sudden now there'sthis great collaboration that
(03:29):
happens.
So things are starting to becomeright, synergistic.
So not only are we partneringwith our sponsors and with our
cultural partners and with thecity, we are creating avenues
for them to partner with eachother as well.
Jim (03:42):
You have the ability to tap into each one and make those
connections to
Andrea (03:46):
absolutely
Jim (03:47):
synergistic, as you said, make it a little bit bigger than
it would've been.
So you run some signatureevents, band Fest, winter
Wonderland, Brandon BluesFestival.
So what roles do these have inbuilding community, in local
pride?
Andrea (04:00):
So we have, I think the event that people often don't
think about,'cause it's actually35 events, is the Bradon public
market that we do every week.
And so that is every Saturday,October through May.
And there's so much pride inthat market.
And it comes not only from ourvendors who refer to each other
as family and a community, butyou have people who come every
(04:22):
week.
We see people bringing out oftown guests, and they
specifically are bringing themto the market because they feel
like the market is the showcaseof our city Bradenton is
referred to as the friendlycity.
And the number of times peoplesay, we are bringing our guests
here because this is what thefriendly city embodies.
And so I think that is sign.
(04:43):
that people are proud of it whenthey bring other people to show
them.
So we see that with the downtownBradon public market.
We see it with.
Our music in the park series,which are free concerts on the
river walk.
And then we also have an eventWinter Wonderland, which is
incredible, families add it intotheir holiday traditions.
(05:04):
That's an amazing testament forhow important it is to them.
It's part of their familyholiday traditions to attend
this event and see it snow onMain Street.
So we do believe it builds civicpride and unfortunately civic
pride is one of those thingsthat's tricky to measure.
But I think you really do seeit.
If you walk down Main StreetBradon, you can feel it.
(05:25):
You can feel it in the peoplewho are smiling and saying
hello.
You can see it in the streets byhow clean it is.
We had one of our concerts atthe park on the river walk and
city of Bradon has incrediblepublic works.
Employees and the gentleman thatwas there that night to take
care of the solid waste, hestopped at the end of the night.
He said, look at that.
And I said, what are we lookingat?
He said, there is not a singlepiece of trash on this lawn
(05:47):
right now.
I was like, you're right.
I didn't pick any up.
cared everyone.
We had thousands of people herefor a concert, and they cared so
much about this concert in thisplace that they threw all their
trash away.
That says something.
So again, civic pride is hard tomeasure, but those are the
moments when you can see it inaction.
Jim (06:04):
Absolutely.
They have pride because theywanna do it again.
You don't wanna bring a friendto something that's, not in
great shape.
Yeah.
And you know what, I know wetalked a little bit the last
time we touched base about thefarmer's market.
And yes, the fact that there areso many ways to actually attend
it with the parking andeverything going on there, that
it's not a typical, you knowwhat, I'm gonna park seven
(06:26):
blocks away and then hoof itover there.
The free parking is there tohelp facilitate it.
Andrea (06:31):
Yes, and Bradenton does.
On the weekends, we have threeparking structures that are
free.
So during the week all the time,the city has the city center
garage right downtown that isalways free.
And then on the weekends, thecounty garage is also free in
the judicial center garage isfree.
Two of those garages are in ourfootprint for our market, and
one is just a beautiful twoblock.
(06:52):
Walk away.
So we have three parkingstructures free on the weekends
that you can use, and not onlydoes it mean you can find
parking and it's free, it's alsoshaded.
Jim (07:01):
Yeah.
Then you don't mind going backto your car afterwards.
I love the downtown.
I had the fortune to live rightnear River Walk for two years
and it's amazing.
So let's talk about the riverwalk.
Community gathering spot, itwalks right along the river.
You've got volleyball and beachand kids playground and water
park and amphitheater.
(07:21):
How much has that reallytransformed and made what we're
doing able to do it
Andrea (07:26):
well, what I love about the story of the Riverwalk, you
had a river walk that was, it'sdredged land, so what we're
talking about is land that wasdredged from the bottom of the
river, shoring up the banks.
There were a lot of reasons whythey did it, and it was dredged
in the fifties and then it wasjust.
Empty, and it was locally knownas the sand pile from the 1960s
all the way up into the twothousands for over 40 years.
(07:49):
And so many people had ideas,but nobody, it was one of those
things.
It was such valuable space andso beautiful that.
Everyone wanted to get it right.
You didn't wanna do somethingthere.
That wasn't appropriate for thatsite.
So when our organization wasfounded in 2010, that was
actually one of the first thingsthat our founding director
(08:11):
tackled and what she did.
We didn't build the Riverwalk,we didn't design the river walk.
We went into the community,realized, Bradenton went into
the community and asked themwhat they wanted.
And that's how this was created.
And then it became truly acommunity effort.
The city really listened andthey worked with a design firm
(08:31):
that really listened to what washappening and a local builder
that built it with NDCconstruction.
And so I think what's sowonderful and why that park is
so beloved is that it actuallywas what the community wanted.
And so that's why you do havethings like a skate park.
May, maybe a skate park on ariver isn't the first thing
you're gonna think of, right?
(08:51):
If you're a city official.
But it's used all the time andit's a fantastic space and we
have Olympic skateboarders whohave practiced and learned on
that skate park.
That's amazing.
You have the large green spacesand you're gonna see.
All kinds of activitieshappening there.
You'll find kids kicking soccerballs around, but you're also
gonna find a family having apicnic sometimes.
(09:13):
It just has become a space thatthe community owns as their own.
And I think that so much has todo with the way it was
developed.
And the thoughtfulness that wasput into it.
And so we use it for a lot ofour events.
We use it for music in the park,which are a free concert series
in the spring.
We use it for BAM Fest, which isBrayton Art Music Festival.
(09:36):
It'll be March 28th in 2026.
We take a mile of the river walkand we just add visual art and
demonstrations and music.
And everything you can think of.
And another great thing about usbeing a nonprofit and being able
to get sponsorships and grantsis that we do these things free
for the community, which wethink is really important as
(09:57):
well, because we don't ever wantto limit anyone.
If you have a family of five andyou're trying to go to an event
and there's a ticket price, itgets pretty pricey.
So we wanna make sure thateveryone is able to attend these
events as well.
Jim (10:11):
I think that's that plays a big part when you look at like
the farmer's market coming inthere, if you're paying, like a
weekend event to a baseball gameor a football game every
weekend, you're probably notcoming back.
But the fact that you can get inthere and walk around and
experience all the differentthings with the regular vendors
and the rotating vendors, hugepayoff for that.
Andrea (10:30):
Yeah.
we love and we do things that wecall market magic days where we
add a little extra something tothe market.
So for example, every year wecelebrate the city's birthday,
and we have cake for thebirthday.
We sing to the town.
But we just, do little extrathings in there.
Just to add to it, this last Maywhen we celebrated the town's
(10:51):
birthday, we had an open houseat the historical records
library as well, so they havesome things going on in there
and we just, we love addingthese little, like I said, we
call'em market magic daysbecause we have so many people
there.
Let's just add a little extrasomething every now and then for
the people that are attending
Jim (11:08):
And I love those little things that maybe wouldn't drive
down to go see a recordsbuilding, but it's there and
it's got the history and the funstuff that can go along with it.
Just puts that fun twist on it.
Andrea (11:19):
Yeah.
Jim (11:21):
How are you involved with the Village of the Arts?
Anything that goes on there withthe artist, home studios,
galleries.
Andrea (11:27):
So we are involved with them as a cultural partner like
we are with any of the others.
So with the Village of the Arts,for example, when we do Bam
Fest, so many of our artists arepart of the Village of the Arts
as well.
We work with themcollaboratively to make sure
we're working on a few thingsfor the next season.
But it's just, it's acollaboration to make sure that
we are able to work together andsupport each other through
(11:50):
everything.
Jim (11:53):
What historical or heritage experiences should someone new
to Bradenton explore?
Andrea (11:58):
The heritage.
So I do think the historicalrecords library it's absolutely
beautiful.
I think.
That in itself.
You can go to this old carnegieLibrary, just gorgeous building,
and they have all kinds of funthings.
They have a postcard collection,but the historical records
library is part of.
Overall historical museums thatwe have in the county.
(12:21):
And the way our historicalmuseums are set up is really
interesting because they fallunder the clerk's office.
So they're set up as for asrecords offices, basically.
But they're beautiful.
And so Manatee VillageHistorical Park.
Is a space.
It's a beautiful free space,free park.
And what has happened is throughthe years since it was founded
(12:42):
in 1976, any historicallysignificant building that was
possibly gonna be demolished andcould be moved, was moved to
this space.
So now.
It's interesting to think aboutbuildings as historical records,
but they are, and that's how theclerk has seen them.
So now you have these buildingsin one space that you can see.
We have a maritime museum thatgoes through and helps you
(13:04):
understand all of the fishing inthat industry of this area.
And then we also have, we havean agriculture museum and all of
these are free.
They are incredible to stop by.
So definitely look into thehistorical museums that are
owned by the Manatee CountyClerk's Office.
They're incredible.
Jim (13:24):
Cool.
So walk us through then, like atypical music in a park night.
Who shows up?
What's the vibe?
What's going on?
Andrea (13:32):
Music in the park.
So music in the park is, we geta local band, and so usually we
have different followings basedon who comes out that night.
Jim (13:41):
As the
Andrea (13:41):
band, we used to have it in the amphitheater.
Unfortunately that only seats400 people and we got way too
big.
So music in the park is now,it's in Rossi Park, which is
also known as the Pavilion.
So we still have an elevatedspace for the bands to play.
And it's a large grassy area, sopeople bring chairs, they bring
(14:01):
blankets, they bring coolers,they sit out.
We have a couple of food trucks.
When you come to music in thepark, it's always one like
dinner, truck, and one.
Dessert truck.
But they're there.
They are our local vendors.
Again, people that you're gonnasee.
Next door.
There are people that live herein the area and it starts
(14:22):
filling up pretty early.
the music starts at six and goestill eight, but sometimes people
will come out, five o'clock justbecause they wanna chit chat
with their friends before andpick their spot and have their
picnic before the music starts.
So it fills up.
We also have a lot of peoplewho, as you had mentioned, we
have condos and apartments alongthe Riverwalk.
So there are people who walkfrom their condos or apartments.
(14:45):
Down to it.
We have a lot of those.
And then you have people whojust were walking the river walk
and heard the music and stoppedby, which is another piece.
And then you also have peoplewho pull up on their boats.
So people pull their boats upalong'cause we're right on the
river and they can listen to themusic and hear it from there.
We see we know they hear it'cause we can see'em dancing to
it on their boats.
So we have all of these peoplegathering together and then of
(15:08):
course we time it so that it istime to the sunset so that you
get to watch the sunset over theriver as the concert is ending.
It's part of the essence, Ithink, of the entire event.
But one of my favorite things,obviously we have to work
closely with the city ofBradenton.
The Riverwalk is a city ofBradenton Park, and after the
hurricane Milton happened inOctober, we had our concert
(15:32):
scheduled, and we're like, we'regonna have to.
Just cancel these, and the citysaid, you know what?
This is really probably moreimportant now than ever.
Our community needs to get to betogether.
They need each other, they needthe support.
They need a place where they canrelax their nerves for a little
bit.
As they were working on thecleanup, that park became their
(15:54):
priority on the Riverwalk toclean up first so that we could
get a concert as soon aspossible because the city felt
that the community needed anddeserved that space.
And I think that says a lotabout the value of coming
together as we were.
We were able to bring peopletogether in a time when they
truly needed community.
Jim (16:14):
Nice.
Let's go to the other side then.
Winter Wonderland.
Andrea (16:18):
Yes.
Jim (16:19):
What's being set up and how's old Main Street working
for that,
Andrea (16:23):
Old Main Street and Winter Wonderland?
We make it snow on Old MainStreet.
I think that's the mostimportant part.
the snow machines are on timersand when it gets to.
five seconds before they go,they do a few beeps and you
actually see kids listening forthe beeps and they go running to
that snow machine to be under itwhen it starts, which is so
(16:45):
cute.
We have a winter carnival thatwe do, so it's a snowball toss
and ice hockey.
It's all with cute littleprizes.
And then we have, of course,Santa Claus has to be there.
Our Santa is actually Santa D,who is a very well known Santa
in the area.
He was the Santa at DeSotoSquare Mall for many years.
(17:06):
So we have parents who arebringing their children because
that is the Santa they know,which is.
Really sweet.
We added Mrs.
Claus last year.
It turns out Mrs.
Claus is also very popular.
So we had Mrs.
Claus and Santa and they havestarted their own little very
friendly rivalry of whose lineis longer.
(17:27):
So we have actually had to movetheir locations this year so
that they can have longer linesso that they can see whose line
gets longer.
Again.
It's just super sweet.
And then we have a.
Stage at one end that's gonnahave all kinds of holiday
festive performances, and thenvendors throughout.
So food vendors throughout, ifyou wanna stop and have crepes,
(17:49):
or if you just want somethinglike hot chocolate for the
night, those types of things.
And then some vendors as wellfor some last minute holiday
gifts.
Again, everything local,everything is, from people who
own their businesses here inBradenton.
Jim (18:03):
Yeah, I love it.
Some places have dueling pianos.
We've got dueling Santas, so wedo,
Andrea (18:08):
it's just, we had no idea.
Sometimes you have to just gowith what happens at the event.
We had no idea that we weregonna have a Santa rivalry, but
we're fine with it.
Yes.
We're gonna play up.
Jim (18:20):
So how does realize bradon support the small business and
entrepreneurs, things likeStartup Circle, the public
market?
What else do we have going on?
Andrea (18:28):
Yeah, so we really believe that.
Supporting local entrepreneursis a huge piece about CRE for
creating community.
And so we have a program calledthe Startup Circle
Entrepreneurship Program, and itis a free eight week program and
at the end, you leave with acompleted business plan.
(18:48):
And it is specifically designedfor people who either have a
small business or are wanting tostart a small business in
Bradenton What makes it sospecial is you have subject
matter experts and they come tothe classes, but it's not just a
general, this is how you get abusiness loan.
It is Jason who works at thebank down the street.
(19:10):
Who can tell you all about it.
And also he's your contact ifyou need a small business loan
and you get to meet him in thatenvironment.
So it's really amazing to buildthat with the people who can
support and help you and thenbeautifully.
They form a cohort, so they endup supporting each other.
The people who are in this classtogether, we've had people in
the class together that havefound ways to actually
(19:32):
collaborate in business.
With some of their things thatthey're doing, which is amazing.
And then we have our market.
So the Bradenton public market.
What makes us a little bitunique to some others is that we
do have part-time rental spaces.
So that is a logisticalnightmare, but we think it is
totally worth it for some of thevalue it.
(19:54):
And one of the things, inaddition to having a diverse
group of vendors, every time youcome to the market, it's gonna
be a little different.
But we also think it's importantto give small businesses a
chance to try out their product.
So you don't have to sign up for35 weeks.
You can sign up for one, you cansign up for a month, you can
(20:14):
sign up once a month it givesthose small businesses a chance
to see, okay, I have thisproduct, I'm trying it out.
This is what I'm thinking onpricing, does this work?
And we think it becomes its ownlittle small business incubator
in a way, which is amazing.
And then on the reverse side,we've seen people who have their
stands and their businesses atthe market What the startup
Circle has done for theirfriends.
(20:35):
now even though they have thatbusiness, they're going through
the startup circle and they'rerefining their business, right?
So now their business at themarket is even more successful.
So it just works all around andit's really, great the way it
all works together.
It compliments each other.
Jim (20:50):
Yeah, I think it's nice because it creates support
across all levels as opposed tostraight competition, right?
It's everybody wants to gettheir friend or their buddy or
their business in there andenjoy that, that camaraderie.
Andrea (21:03):
Again, high tide, it's rise all ships.
We really believe it.
Jim (21:08):
So looking ahead, what exciting projects or plans does
realized Springton have maybeover the next three to five
years?
Andrea (21:15):
Yeah, so our big thing, bam Fest in 2025 was our first
year for the festival and it's amile long and we had about
10,000 people attend.
So it was.
A big for a first festival forsure.
But we are really looking toexpand it in a variety of ways.
we want to expand it by gettingmore partners involved.
for example, one of our amazingpartners for this first Bat City
(21:35):
comic books.
I don't know if you're familiarwith them, but you should be.
They're nonprofit comicbookstore in Bradon.
They are incredible.
They came and they said, we wantthis space.
There was a little space, ameandering path.
okay, what do you wanna do withit?
And they said, we're gonnacreate a comic book creation
journey.
they created along that path,what it's like from start to
(21:56):
finish, from concept to printingto make comic book amazing.
Very popular, really cool.
We wanna get more of that typeof thing where we bring people
in and say, okay.
As a partner, here's a space.
What would you do with it fromyour point of view?
And get just new ideas likethat.
We're also looking at, can thatbe expanded?
this was an eight hour event,which is a lot.
(22:17):
Again, one mile, eight hours.
But are there things that couldbe, kickoff types of events that
could happen before or closingsafter?
Because that was the first yearof the event we're doing a big
focus on figuring out.
What worked, what didn't work,how we can collaborate more and
expand and what that can reallybe for our community to meet the
needs.
Because we have a lot of peoplemoving to downtown Bradon, a lot
(22:40):
of apartments that are beingbuilt, and it's really important
for us to continue to serve thepeople who are in our area.
Jim (22:49):
If anybody wanted to volunteer, what can they do or
how can they reach out?
Andrea (22:54):
Yeah, so we have two major volunteer opportunities
each year which are WinterWonderland and Bam Fest.
Bam Fest, like I said, it's.
A mile and eight hours.
So we have about 150 volunteerswe need for that one event,
which is not easy.
So the easiest thing to do youeither can follow realize
Brayton on social media, we haveFacebook and Instagram, or go to
(23:15):
realize brayton.com and sign upfor our newsletter, and we will
send out our calls forvolunteers when we have them for
those two events.
Jim (23:24):
That's fantastic.
Andrea, I want to thank you somuch.
I think I talked to a lot ofpeople, like I said about moving
here and now we wanna look athow do we make that move and
then open up their lives to whatwe have going on in Bradenton
and on the Sun Coast, right?
We have the beaches, we have thesun and here's a fantastic event
that has multiple eventsthroughout the year.
(23:45):
You can pretty much plan yourwhole year around each of the
different events and have afantastic time.
Andrea (23:50):
Yeah, we always say it's about the quality of life you
can have, affordable life, youcan have the necessities, but
what is the quality of life?
And that's what I think we bringto the table.
Jim (24:01):
Thank you.
Andrea (24:02):
You're welcome.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.