Fun in Paradise at Sarasota Bay Club

By Christy Pessemier | August 2023

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At Sarasota Bay Club, an array of activities from fun to educational help make retirement living some of the best years of your life.

“We’ll see you tomorrow for more fun.”

That’s what Joan McGarry, Lifestyle Director of Sarasota Bay Club (SBC), says to the smiling SBC residents at the end of each day before she heads home around 6 p.m.

A few years ago, while living in Pennsylvania and dreaming of moving to a warmer climate, McGarry would never have imagined she’d be planning events and activities for a vibrant and active luxury retirement community in beautiful Sarasota. Her background was in art museum education.

But when she saw the job opportunity for Lifestyle Director at Sarasota Bay Club come through her email, and the title read “Do You Want to Work in Paradise?”, it stopped her in her tracks. She thought, “Yes, I do.”

But McGarry wasn’t sure if it made sense for her to take such a big leap. It took two more emails in her inbox, and she finally asked herself, “What have I got to lose?” McGarry wrote a detailed cover letter, polished up her resume, and applied for the position. She got a call the next day, interviewed soon after, and it wasn’t long before she was moving to Sarasota. 

Today, she says there’s nothing else she would rather do. 

McGarry starts each day the same way, with a peaceful four and a half-mile walk through her neighborhood, taking in the fresh morning air and sorting out all the plans she’s developing at Sarasota Bay Club in her mind. This has been her routine since she moved to Sarasota. 

Once she starts her workday at 9:00 a.m., McGarry says she’s busy all day—but it’s a good kind of busy. With two buildings each 11 floors high and about 300 residents, McGarry is always working on finding a wide variety of activities, entertainment, and educational opportunities to engage everyone. 

Keeping a close eye on what gets the most attendance and positive feedback, she spends a lot of time carefully planning the upcoming weeks and months at SBC. 

“The calendar is completely full,” she says. “I can hardly fit anything else in, even if I tried.” 

Some of the most popular events are Saturday Happy Hour, Superbowl Sunday, Earth Day, Afternoon Tea, Bastille Day, and the Kentucky Derby Party, which was a tradition before McGarry started working at Sarasota Bay Club. 

There are also many one-time events that are a hit with the residents, like the Sunset on the Beach party, which was McGarry’s first planned event. Residents went all out with beach hats and gear, and a live band played beach-themed music. 

“Whenever we have a special event planned, we build up the excitement by having other events that build up to it, like our hat making workshop for the Kentucky Derby,” she said.

McGarry and her colleague Kathleen Rhem introduced an Earth Day celebration two years ago. The festivities lasted an entire day and included a drum circle, healthy eats, arts and crafts, terrarium building workshops, music with steel drums, yoga, meditation, and animal presentations. It was such a “roaring success” that Earth Day is now scheduled as a recurring annual event. McGarry is playing with more themed, daylong, immersive experiences, and she says a spa and wellness day will be the next introduction.

Between all the themed festivities, McGarry knows the residents also look forward to the endless enrichment opportunities she schedules. These include education, special speakers, a science and tech club, and other enrichment activities. 

She’s also responsible for scheduling live music bands for entertainment, which happens twice a week. 

Recently, after Hurricane Ian, she began writing on different topics that are sent out in the weekly SBC schedule and newsletter. She often provides background information on upcoming programs and writes about different topics she thinks will be useful or entertaining. 

“Residents tell me they appreciate what I’m writing about, and they’re learning that it’s important to be active, or spend time in nature.”

“Even though the newsletter writing is a lot of extra work, I have really come to love it. It’s fun for me to hear from folks that have read what I’ve written about,” she added.

During her day, McGarry keeps tabs on all the programs, making sure they’re running smoothly. Exercise classes are in the mornings, so she makes sure all instructors are there. She checks on the speaker programs for the morning along with the afternoon enrichments. These usually include a variety of topics like art appreciation, and science and technology. There’s also an afternoon tea at 3 p.m. with live music.

McGarry splits her time between planning and overseeing events. Mondays are heavy administrative days. That’s when she primes everything for the week ahead. But most days, she’s on the go. 

“I get a lot of exercise and I’m walking around the building a lot. It’s easy to get 10,000 steps in each day.”

Things start to wind down around 4:00 p.m. which is when McGarry heads back to her desk to catch up on things before the 5:30 dinner seating begins. She usually stays once a week for the live entertainment that goes on until around 9 p.m.

Although there are plenty of things to do at SBC, many residents head outside the campus to take advantage of Sarasota’s vibrant arts, music, and entertainment scene. Some residents choose to drive themselves or use SBC’s provided transportation to get them to and from the orchestra, theater, the opera house, and other local venues.

“I’ve canvassed to see what the residents prefer when it comes to music,” McGarry said. “Far and away, it’s classical.” 

So, classical is what she mostly plans for many of SBC’s music events. McGarry says they also enjoy jazz, so she incorporates that as well and she’s thankful there’s such a robust jazz scene from here to Tampa, making it easy to find entertainers. 

It doesn’t take long to see that both staff and residents at Sarasota Bay Club love spending their days there. 

“I can’t really speak to other luxury retirement communities because I’ve only experienced this one, but I think what makes us unique is our location. While SBC is on the water, residents don’t have to worry about getting on and off the Ringling Bridge,” she said. “The other is our diversity of programs.”

The residents appreciate what McGarry and the rest of the staff are doing to make things engaging and enjoyable for them. 

“The most stunning thing about moving to SBC was the opportunity to connect with other residents and the staff,” resident Fern Jaffe said. “Imagine leaving your home, leaving family and friends, and walking into a new home, with no family and no friends there. Thanks to the lifestyle department, headed by Joan and assisted by Kathleen Rhem, this newbie felt welcome. Their exciting programs opened new doors for me and allowed me to contribute ideas.”

Resident Carole Scutt agrees.

“My life at SBC has been like living in a friendly, caring neighborhood. Added to that is the satisfaction and joy of having access to opportunities to enjoy a wide variety of entertainment.”

Residents Betty and Marvin Morse are also thrilled.

“As older retirees, relocating to SBC from Longboat Key was the perfect move for us to maintain an active social life…enhanced beyond expectations by the dynamic, enthusiastic, and imaginative leadership of the lifestyle department.”

Resident and retired science professor Tony Salatto is thankful for the stimulation and entertainment the programs provide. 

“I have enjoyed the presentations in our Science and Technology Group,” he said. “The programs put on by the Lifestyle Department are addressed at enhancing cultural enjoyment so typical of the Sarasota area. Ranging from jazz and Broadway songs to symphonic and chamber music, SBC residents have regular high-quality concerts right here in our SBC auditorium.” 

Despite her popularity at SBC, McGarry doesn’t take this appreciation for granted. She’s always working on the next big thing. 

So, what’s next on her list of plans?

“I’m gearing up to start working on our 25th anniversary event,” she said. “It’s three years away, but it will be here before we know it. It’s in the back of my mind constantly, the color scheme, what to do for the entertainment, and everything else.” 

And like everything else at Sarasota Bay Club, we’re sure honoring 25 years of great living, loving, and learning will be quite a spectacular celebration!

To learn more about joining the fun at Sarasota Bay Club, call 941.366.7667 or visit sarasotabayclub.net.