SRQ DAILY May 9, 2022
Monday Business Edition
"It started getting attention on the beach. People had never seen anything thing like this before."
As a freshman in high school, Brittanie Hervas already took shark tooth hunting seriously. Her family regularly vacationed in Venice, where they would scour the sound with sifters, crouching over and digging through the dirt. But she wanted a better way to find this treasure— and she made one. As part of a school project, she invented a device with a greater sifting area specifically designed for finding teeth, and soon, she and her father Roy flew it to Venice to take the new device to the sands.
But then the two learned of a public hunger they didn’t quite anticipate. Not only did the pair start cleaning up on collecting. Strangers stopped them on the beach to ask about Brittanie’s invention. “It started getting attention on the beach,” she said. “People had never seen anything thing like this before.”
Suddenly, Shark Frenzy was born.
The Hervas family obtained a patent on the new sifter device and started manufacturing the product to sell from Illinois to tooth-loving beachcombers. Pretty soon, the devices were selling, but not with the level of consumer education on the best places to hunt, so the family decided to set up a dedicated shop in Venice near the beach.
In 2019, Brittanie earned her associate’s degree and was working toward a bachelor’s in Zoology at Southern Illinois University. She was operating the business from afar when the pandemic hit in early 2020, dealing a blow to the business and the entire tourism sector.
She decided in May 2020 to leave school and run the business full time. She realized there wasn’t an end goal she was pursuing with the degree, and she was learning more vital information in her business. “I learned a lot more from meeting people off the street, from paleontologists to fellow shark tooth hunters,” she said. “I’m happily nourished.”
She took much of the retail operation for the company online and stopped her entrepreneurial vision from becoming a casualty of the pandemic. Now, the company is doing well and she’s become a full time resident of the Gulf Coast. Shark Frenzy has sold thousands of sifters, while also branching out to sell shark’s teeth directly to the public.
At this point, she’s managing the business, which she co-owns with Roy and mother Lynda. The company includes a manufacturing component run by Roy that employs six and a retail shop employing another six people selling sifters, shells and other beach goods. The business runs seven days a week, operating from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and closing at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. 
Photo courtesy Shark Frenzy
Tomorrow’s Voices Today will take place on May 9, 2022 7:30pm-9pm. Celebrate the power of choral music through an inspired performance by more than 200 singers of all ages, from high school students to seniors. This intergenerational choral festival has inspired countless high school students by encouraging music-making at the highest level. Hear the very best repertoire of the season from Booker, Riverview and Sarasota High School choirs performing separately and alongside Key Chorale.
Asolo Repertory Theatre proudly presents the timely new comedy EUREKA DAY, written by New College of Florida alumnus Jonathan Spector. Directed by Bianca LaVerne Jones, EUREKA DAY begins previews on May 11, opens on May 13 and runs through June 4, in the intimate Cook Theatre, located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts.
An illness is spreading through the progressive and painstakingly accepting Eureka Day School–and it’s more than the mumps. When the outbreak threatens to become an epidemic, it’s a race to see what will destroy this community first: the disease or each other. Despite the safe-space mentality, gluten-free scones from the local bakery, and open marriages that have moved beyond monogamy, secrets and lies still run rampant and childhood vaccinations ignite fury. An explosive comedy that skewers sanctimony and the nature of our politics, Eureka Day asks: when does “us” become “them”? Contains mature themes and language. Recommended for age 16+. Eureka Day will show May 13 - June 4, 2022 with Previews May 11-12, 2022.
"SCDE Spring Showcase" Featuring works choreographed by SCDE Co-Directors Melissa Rummel and Xiao-Xuan Yang Dancigers, as well as guest artists Kathleen Candales and SCD Company Member Monessa Salley. This performance will take place on Friday May 13th at 7pm and Saturday May 14th at 3pm and 7pm and its Virtual Stream will take place on Saturday May 14th at 7pm.
Musical prodigies have always fascinated. Britten wrote his Sinfonietta No. 1 at age 18, dedicating the ingenious work to his teacher. Mozart's highly dramatic Symphony No. 25, composed at 17, shows extraordinary musical maturity. Teen cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing makes her Sarasota debut playing Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations, proving that young people of rare talent are not just the stuff of legend and will take place on Saturday, May 14 at 7:30pm at the Sarasota Opera House.
Fogartyville will present the final event in their “Poets Unplugged” Spoken Word series on Saturday, May 14. Doors will open at 7pm as DJ Rozay sets the mood with his musical mix. At 8pm there will be a curated Open Mic featuring some of the best poets from the previous spoken word events. The featured poet this month will be local spoken word artist and series host Melanie Lavender. Tickets are $5 and are available online at www.Fogartyville.org. Food will be available for purchase from C&D’s Sandwich Shop.
The world premiere of Knoxville is made possible by a generous grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation. This moving and innovative new musical reunites the dynamic Tony Award-winning creative team behind Ragtime, one of the most beloved musicals of all time. Based on James Agee’s autobiographical, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family, the story begins as Agee struggles to write his greatest work—about the event that touched his young life and the effect it had on his mother, his town, and his own future. A powerful illumination of the forces that shape who we are, Knoxville is a universal coming-of-age story about family, faith, and love—and about the boy who will grow up to write it. With a sweeping musical score and an extraordinary creative team and cast, this world premiere is a must-see event. Contains mature themes. Recommended for age 10+. Knoxville will show April 23 - May 11, 2022 with Previews April 15-22, 2022.
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