BuzzWorthyitems of note
Sammy Hagar & The Circle
rocked the Ruth Eckerd Hall Friends
of Music party at the Nancy and
David Bilheimer Capitol Theatre in
downtown Clearwater. The event
began with an over-the-top Mexican
street party on Cleveland Street with a
taco truck and tequila, and ended with
a great after party. To learn more about
Ruth Eckerd Hall’s Friends of Music,
contact Laura LeBlanc, director of
membership, (727) 712-2712.
Geoffrey Simon recently profiled
former Fintech CEO Scott Riley on
Suncoast Business Forum on WEDUTV3
(PBS). Riley is a longtime Tampa
Bay serial entrepreneur who is focused
on growing and strengthening our
region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Brent and Debbie Sembler have
been presented with a Lifetime
Achievement Award by Gulf Coast
Jewish Family and Community Services
in recognition of their commitment to
our community and the organization
through the years. Brent’s parents,
Ambassador Mel Sembler and Betty
Sembler, admire Brent and Debbie
for the numerous causes they support
and serve.
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick
Kriseman and his family attended
the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
in New York City, where his children
Jordan and Samuel marched with
the Tampa Bay area’s Original Second
Time Arounders Marching Band that
has been performing since 1982. The
band, one of nine selected from 120
applicants, last marched in the parade
in 2008. It has 450 members who once
participated in band in high school,
college or the military, and their ages
range from 20 to 80. The parade route
runs 2.25 miles from Central Park to
Macy’s Herald Square on 34th Street.
66 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020
Gail Sadler,
Florida Nurse
Practitioner Network
nurse practitioner
of the year, and
Sheila Aquino,
vice president of the
Tampa Bay Advanced
Practice Nurses
Council, attended
the Tampa group’s
Holiday Soiree at the
Florida Museum of
Photographic Arts
in Tampa. Part of
the event included a
“Symbols of Nursing”
display of medical
instruments and
nursing-related items.
KIM JEW
Peter Clark, president of Tampa Bay
Watch, whose mission is to restore and
protect the Tampa Bay habitat, has
appointed Dwayne Virgint, above,
to be executive director of the new
3,000-square-foot Tampa Bay Watch
Discovery Center at the new St. Pete
Pier. Tampa Bay Watch is dedicated to
restoring and protecting the marine and
wetland environments of the Tampa Bay
estuary, encompassing over 400 square
miles of open water and 2,300 square
miles of highly developed watershed.
GRAM
Isaac Arobas, who owns the
Poolside, Poolside Men, Onyx and
Star Beach stores in the Shoppes of
Sand Key in Clearwater with his wife
Mickie, greeted guests during their
second annual Holiday VIP Open
House Event raffle and silent auction
fundraiser, which this year raised funds
for 5-year-old Dean Crenshaw, who is
battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia.