Chambers Break Out the Blues and Barbecue at USF

It may have been another sweltering afternoon in Southwest Florida, but the sweet and tangy scent of barbecue on the grill brought out nearly 400 people to the Bulls, Blues & BBQ event on Thursday at the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus picnic area.

The inaugural barbecue, organized by the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce and USF, was a way to say "thank you" to chamber members and bring the three organizations together, John Horne, chairman of the board of the Manatee Chamber, told Patch. 

"We just said let's put the two counties together, and what better way than a barbecue?" Horne said. "We wanted to come up with something we could do to bring both the chambers together with no agendas. Just something fun."

The joint effort is symbolic of how the two chambers are working more together, Brittany Lamont, communications manager at the Sarasota Chamber told Patch.

Over the past couple of years,  "there's been more collaboration regionally," Lamont said. "Like USF and the airport being on the county line, Lakewood Ranch being what it is today, it's really merging the two counties ... and business stretches so much over the two counties, so that kind of relationship is vital."

Horne agreed, saying that for him, it's almost as if both counties have nearly become one. "People are working together so well, it's definitely becoming regionalized — and that's a good thing," he said.

Some chamber members at Thursday's "Bulls, Blues and BBQ" are members of both chambers, like Arthur Guilford, USF's vice president and regional chancellor who serves on both chamber boards. The partnering of the chambers with USF is "incredibly important," he told Patch.

"We place our students in internships, and if they're in an internship, they very likely get hired by that business, regardless if that's their major or not," he said. "It's a partnership between all of us."

During the event, five area restaurants served up barbecue and two companies supplied desserts. The RJ Howson Band brought the blues to round out this hot and spicy event.