After a brief hiatus for the holidays, StoryCorps rolled into Sarasota, FL for our first stop of 2006. With great support from WUSF, our local NPR affiliate partner, we parked the booth on sunny St. Armands Circle, just a pretty drive across Sarasota Bay. St. Armands was first developed in the 1920′s by circus impresario John Ringling. Sarasota is the winter resting ground for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and home of the famous Clown College. Dotting the periphery of the Circle are plaques commemorating past circus legends.

Sarasota also marks the initiation of Facilitator Nelson Simon, who has taken the baton from outgoing Facilitator Nick Yulman. Here Nelson chats with a native Floridian whose son had come in to interview him about his days as a professional diver.