A film crew from the Travel Channel was on Siesta Key April 6 to shoot footage for a one-hour television show called America's Best Beaches that will air at a future date. Siesta Key was chosen for the elite list by a panel of beach experts reviewing criteria such as cleanliness, sand quality and surrounding areas. In addition to filming Siesta Key's dazzling white sand, the crew asked beach-goers why Siesta's sand should be rated America's very best. Their answers echoed what every local beach lover knows -- that Siesta Key's sugar-fine sand is clean, powder-soft to the touch, free of shell particles and cool on the feet.
John McCarthy, Sarasota County's manager of Parks and Recreation, described the ancient quartz crystals that make up the sand, adding "This beautiful, wide beach has something for beach lovers of all ages -- the greatest sand anywhere leading to the clean blue water of the Gulf of Mexico, with shade trees and recreational areas nearby."
Also interviewed was professional sand sculptor Mark Mason of Team Sandtastic. "Of all the places in the world I've worked and competed, Siesta Key is the absolute best for creating works of art in the sand," he said.
The Travel Channel is an international television network that is part of the Discovery Networks. It is seen in nearly 50 million homes in the U.S. alone.
This isn't the first time Siesta Key beach has been ranked among the best. Last year, the Travel Channel rated Siesta Key Beach as one of Florida's top 10. In a recent readership poll by USA Today, more than 3,000 people across the country named Siesta Key as one of the top three U.S. beaches. In 1987, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution named Siesta Key Beach "the whitest, finest beach sand in the world" out of more than 30 entries worldwide, a title that still stands today. Conde Nast Traveler Magazine also ranked Siesta Key Beach "The Best of the Best Sand" in 1999.