As a recent implant from Orlando I am learning and eating my way through Venice. I came down this weekend and set up the Mainstreet tents for the craft show. The weather was hot but that did not deter the crowds from coming out and shopping.

It's always difficult to come into a new position and learn someone else's  filing system and computer and though I trained several days with Mindy, yesterday was no exception, but things are moving along and I am finding my way.

It is fun getting to know the merchants and restaurant owners of Venice and I have to admit I am quite enjoying eating my way through this town. I've yet to have a bad meal and have to admit the Cutie Pie at Scamotz is kind of addicting, and whenever I am in The Soda Fountain, I expect to see Marty McFly and Biff.

Last nights promotion committee meeting was full of merchants, friendly faces and lots of good ideas. It's encouraging to have so many business owners willing to participate in the process of making their shops more accessible to visitors and local residents.

The sidewalk sale is this Friday and Saturday from 10am - 5pm on all of our avenues, Miami, Tampa and Venice.

Our Fifth Annual Iron Chef and Bartender competition is October 7, 4:30pm to 7pm at the Yacht Club.

If you see me walking around town, please stop me and say hello and tell me something about the Venice you love.

Welcome to the first blog from the Voice of Venice. The Voice will be presenting information on downtown Venice and Venice MainStreet. Venice MainStreet is a 501c3 non profit organization dedicated to the Beautification, Historic Preservation, Economic and Community Vitality of our beautiful, downtown area. We will be covering community events that happen downtown, historic preservation activities and community improvements. Expect to hear about businesses opening, closing, moving or expanding. There will be some community profiles done on persons of interest to us. Business stories on new projects or merchandise lines may be profiled. Plus I hope to be sharing many photographs, not only ours, but some of yours. This will be the place to share wonderful stories and photographs. We hope to become a Voice you’ll want to share and enjoy.

Read more: The Voice of Venice

Greetings from the Voice of Venice. Our new website has been up for a while, but there was a challenge with the Blog. It is now go go go. This will be the place for pretty pictures, reminders and info on upcoming events and the background scoop on downtown Venice. If you missed the VMS Arts & Crafts Festival this past week end, it was a great show. The humidity was down and the crowds were up. The rains held off, so everybody was happy. This was the first two days at work for Venice MainStreet's new Executive Director Cat. Yes, she has a last name which I keep forgetting. She has promised to post something soon telling about herself and posting a picture so we can all recognize her to call out a how-de-doo, welcome neighbor. VMS and Cat have all kinds of ideas for VMS downtown. If you're looking for a good place to volunteer, now is the time. If you have info to share about downtown, please send to Cat at Venice MainStreet. I'll be back real soon.