Our Story as Told by Kelly

When people ask, how long has Cove been here? I usually smile because the answer isn't simple… it never is, right?

One could say it began across the street. Or one could say it began 30 years ago… but I'll just start with 14 years ago to start!

In 2012, the lot on Bridge Street where The Bazaar now stands, hosted small day and evening markets & events. At the time we had been showing my reclaimed wood artwork at the Sarasota Farmers Market when someone mentioned a night market on Anna Maria Island. Even growing up so close in Sarasota, I didn't know much about the island then, only that it sounded worth the drive. We signed up for a weekend, then another, and before long Bridge Street days were something to look forward to.

Back then my business was called Sky30, inspired by the landscapes that have always influenced my work, land, sea, and sky. Looking back, I realize it wasn't just about the artwork. I was quietly building toward something I couldn't quite name yet. I didn't know exactly what it would become, only that I wanted to build a life around creating art and sharing it with others.

I had just turned 30 and planting the seed of my dream of an art studio and what that reality would look like… with my mantra encouragingly echoing "excuse me, while I kiss the sky"

That first season brought one of the most important relationships in Cove's story. We met Amanda Escobio, owner of Sea-renity Beach Spa & Bou-tiki, who invited us to transform the front of her spa into a gallery. It became our first retail space. Amanda cared for clients in the treatment rooms while I spent three days a week in the front of the shop, selling artwork, booking massages, meeting visitors, and slowly introducing the work of other local artists into the space. She covered the other three days, and Sundays weren't even part of the schedule yet. Bridge Street was a much quieter place then.

Those five years taught me far more than how to run a gallery. They taught me that a beautiful space isn't created by walls or displays. It may sound cliché but it's created by the conversations that happen inside it, by the artists willing to share their work, by the friends who return year after year, and by the feeling someone carries with them when they leave.

When a storefront just four doors away became available, it felt like the natural next step.

So we got to work and built the 600 sq ft gallery from the ground up, staining the concrete floors to resemble the ocean and building nearly every display. What excited me most wasn't having a bigger space, it was having room for more artists. And we needed a name that matched that excitement and evoked an emotion… that feeling of entering a safe and treasured nook filled with comforts and wonder… So Cove was born and slowly became less about my own work and more about creating a home where many creative voices could exist together.

3 years later amidst the pandemic, the neighboring storefront became available. Expanding during such an uncertain time probably looked risky from the outside, but sometimes life quietly keeps pointing you in one direction until you decide to trust it. It was an easy, yet scary YES! Working with our landlord, Angela Rodocker of Bridgewalk Resort, we doubled the gallery space. What a gift and challenge and opportunity!

We welcomed more artists, and watched our little team grow alongside Bridge Street itself for the following 5 years.

Then the hurricanes came.

Like so many businesses on Anna Maria Island, we found ourselves rebuilding. It was heartbreaking, exhausting, and surprisingly illuminating. We rebuilt almost everything, but this time we were able to create the gallery exactly as I had imagined it over the years with an addition of 300 sq ft making a total of over 2,000 square feet of Cove! The reclaimed Australian pine tree installation in the front window, with the floor's gradual transition from shoreline to deeper water, to our suspended seaweed installation in the back created and woven by our crew while we waited to reopen. The space between became part of the same story I've always tried to tell through my artwork… between the land and sky, what do you see? Community? Love? Kindness?

Our tribe created so much magic during that time I will never forget it. A time of strife became FUN, as we came together to build something new.

Now, as you wander through Cove, I hope it feels less like shopping and more like the magic of discovering. Maybe something catches your eye. Maybe a painting reminds you of somewhere you've been. Maybe a poem, a handmade dish, or a piece of jewelry quietly asks you to slow down. Maybe a new dress makes you feel beautiful or a book ignites your soul. Whatever your modality of spirit, through nature, faith, creativity, meditation, science, or simple curiosity, there's space here for it all.

Today, Cove represents the work of more than thirty local and regional artisans and makers. It also feels especially meaningful to have come full circle by partnering once again with Amanda through her North End endeavor, UPSTAIRS, where a gallery wall and staircase now feature even more original work from our local artist community.

People often ask what they should expect when they visit Cove. My answer is usually a simple… I hope you leave with something.

And if that something is simply a smile, a moment of wonder, or a thought that stays with you a little longer than your visit to our coast, then we've helped you on your way. Did you find your happy place?

We know we did.

To me, that's always been what Cove is really about.