Carmen opens February 17th at the Sarasota Opera House.
Bill Brown, the Better than Buttons
chief chocolate
officer of William
Dean Chocolates,
42 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
Art Festival
Beth-El
The 45th annual Art Festival Beth-
El will be held from Saturday, January
27th through Monday, January 29th
at the temple, 400 Pasadena Ave. S.,
St. Petersburg. There will be more
than 170 award-winning artists
exhibiting and selling their work.
This juried art show is one of the best
in the country and features original
paintings, wood, sculpture, ceramics,
glass, photography and jewelry. For
more information, call (727) 347-6136.
BESTBets
s Glasswork, such as this piece
by Kenny Pieper, will be offered for
sale at this year’s Art Festival Beth-El
in St. Petersburg.
Sarasota Opera Stages Carmen
Sarasota Opera’s Winter Festival will bring back to its stage one of the most
famous and most produced operas of all time – Carmen by Georges Bizet – the story
of all-consuming, ill-fated passion that rules the tumultuous love of a gypsy and
a corporal. Carmen will take you on a journey through Seville, to the mountains
with the smugglers, and finally to the bullring where Carmen and Don José’s story
comes to its tragic end. Hear some of the most recognizable music in opera, like
the “Habanera” and the “Seguidilla,” the exhilarating “Chanson Bohémienne,” and feel
the excitement of the famous “Toreador Song.” Performances start February 17th at
the William E. Schmidt Opera Theatre, Sarasota Opera House. For tickets or more
information, visit sarasotaopera.org or call (941) 328-1300.
DAVID RAMSEY
ROD MILLINGTON
A lack of finger dexterity can be a problem when
buttoning or unbuttoning your shirt. That’s why Magna
Ready Stress Free Shirting has created patented dress
shirts that feature magnets instead of buttons, but appear
to be fastened by traditional buttons. Maura Horton
originally developed the product to help her husband,
who struggles with
Parkinson’s disease,
before realizing
the large demand
for this type of
product. These
fashionable shirts
work perfectly and
open and close easily
while appearing
to be classic shirts
with buttons. To
learn more, visit
magnaready.com.
worked with
Big Storm
Brewery’s head
brewer Joel Moore
to create Cocoa
Convergence,
a great new
beer taste.
NORAA
Big Storm’s Cocoa Convergence
Big Storm Brewery has teamed up with world-famous William
Dean Chocolates of Belleair Bluffs to create a new chocolate beer, a
toffee chocolate stout. This artisan brew named Cocoa Convergence
is available exclusively at Big Storm’s Pinellas and Pasco County
taprooms at 12707 49th St. in Clearwater and at 2330 Success Drive in
Odessa. The intriguing taste of this stout, which pours black with deep
garnet highlights, blends sweet toffee with the indulgent pleasure of
chocolate. It was unveiled by Big Storm’s head brewer Joel Moore and
William Dean Chocolates’ founder Bill Brown at a recent preview party.