Most Sarasota residents who show up for Hometown Fest have no idea the nonprofit behind it is named for its mission, Sertoma standing for Service to Mankind. Jennifer Bash, the organization's former president, says that disconnect is exactly what her chapter is trying to fix as it works to fold Sertoma's name more visibly into its own signature event's branding. The Sarasota chapter dates to 1956, but the national organization is more than a century old, and its local flagship work centers on the Sertoma Kids Clinic, a speech and language clinic the chapter finally paid off its own building for this year after years operating out of a church basement and a YMCA.
Bash's personal connection to the mission started in Pittsburgh, where she managed distribution of speech-generating devices for children with conditions like cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injuries. She recalls a five-year-old Utah client named Molly whose mother emailed days after receiving her device to say she had heard her daughter say I love you for the first time, a moment Bash calls the most rewarding of her career and the reason she sought out Sertoma when she relocated to Sarasota thirteen years ago.
Hometown Fest Goes to Two Days Bash drops news on air that Hometown Fest, marking its tenth year in 2025, is planning to expand into a two-day event with an added 5K run, though the chapter is still recruiting volunteers with race experience to help pull it off. The chapter's other major fundraiser, its 32nd annual golf tournament, moves to Laurel Oak Country Club on October 28 with a $100,000 hole-in-one shootout and a $10,000 prize for three additional players, alongside sponsors including Oak and Stone and Mission BBQ. Sertoma also runs a December bachelor auction at Marie Selby, where last year's winning bachelor brought in $3,900, a fact the hosts seize on to needle the hosts about volunteering.
On roundabouts, Bash says she does not mind them given how bad Sarasota traffic has become, joking that after a few red lights on Tuttle and Fruitville, drivers start begging for a roundabout instead. She closes by pointing to Suncoast View host Linda Carson, whose stories include dinner with Martin Luther King Jr. and a marriage to former Steelers defensive coordinator Bud Carson, as a guest the show has somehow never booked.
What you'll take away
- Sertoma stands for Service to Mankind, a detail Bash says most people, even longtime Sarasota residents, do not know
- The Sertoma Kids Clinic building was paid off this year after decades of operating out of a church basement and a YMCA
- Hometown Fest, celebrating its 10th year in 2025, is expanding into a two-day event with a planned 5K
- Sertoma's 32nd annual golf tournament moves to Laurel Oak Country Club on October 28 with a $100,000 hole-in-one shootout
- A December bachelor auction at Marie Selby raised $3,900 for last year's winning bachelor
“I heard my daughter say I love you for the first time.”
“Give me a roundabout, give me a roundabout, give me a roundabout.”
Places mentioned: Laurel Oak Country Club, Tuttle Avenue, Fruitville Road