Bradenton Area Convention Center – Area Bucket List

With its 4,000-seat arena, conference wing, and prime location in the beautiful city of Palmetto, Florida, the Bradenton Area Convention Center is a bona fide meeting mecca. Other standout features include on-site catering services, ample parking, and state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment provided by Sarasota-based company CCAV. You’re bound to have a nice time there no matter what kind of event you’ll be attending.

Of course, the Bradenton Area Convention Center shouldn’t be the only place you go during your visit. Palmetto and the surrounding area, much like the rest of Florida, is a vacation destination with a lot to offer. Whether you want to sink your teeth into fresh-caught seafood, go on a trip back in time, learn a thing or two, or watch some baseball, this coastal city has got you covered. For some fun ideas on how you can spend your downtime in Palmetto, check out the bucket list below.

The Clam House

Let’s be honest, you can’t take a trip to Florida and not eat some seafood. That’d be like going to Texas and not eating barbecue or going to California and not eating at In-N-Out Burger. Lucky for you, one of the best seafood restaurants in Palmetto is located less than a half-mile walk from the Bradenton Area Convention Center. The restaurant I’m referring to is The Clam House, a popular seafood joint started by Kyle Brinkley, a local fisherman with almost 40 years of experience.

Seafood doesn’t get much fresher and tastier than what they’re serving up at The Clam House. That’s because they’ve got their own fishing boat and farm raise their own clams out in Tampa Bay. They then turn their catches into delicious, simple dishes like a fried combo platter and clam broth chowder.

The Clam House’s menu does feature some Asian influence as well, surprisingly enough. On it you’ll find a variety of sushi rolls along with more unconventional takes on the traditional Japanese dish, such as spicy tuna nachos and a Volcano roll, which consists of a spicy tuna roll topped with avocado, baked crab dynamite, Sriracha, and eel sauce. Even their most well-known dish, the signature Thai Fry, is Asian inspired!

Manatee Village Historical Park

With its collection of restored and replica buildings, Manatee Village Historical Park is like a page from a history textbook come to life. So if you’re someone with a passion for history and want to learn about what life was like in Florida back in the 1800s, a visit to Manatee Village History Park is a must. It’s also worth mentioning that admission is free and its located right across the Manatee River from the Bradenton Area Convention Center.

There are 14 points of interest at Manatee Village Historical Park, ranging from a courthouse and a one-room schoolhouse to a church and a general store. Some of the other highlights include a 1913 Baldwin locomotive nicknamed “Old Cabbage Head” because of its rounded smokestack and the oldest established cemetery in Manatee County, which dates back to 1850. Special tours of the cemetery are offered in the fall.

Before you go, stop by Manatee Village Historical Park’s gift shop to look for a souvenir and maybe some gifts for your friends and family back home. The gift shop is located in the park’s general store and features a wide variety of merchandise. Snacks and beverages are also available for purchase there.

LECOM Park

If you’re a big baseball fan, you’ll be glad to hear that you’re only three miles from a ballpark while at the Bradenton Area Convention Center. And this isn’t just any old ballpark either. It’s LECOM Park, a ballpark that’s been the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates since 1969.

LECOM Park had been around long before the Pirates started spending their springs there, however. It originally opened in 1923 as City Park, and since then, has undergone extensive renovations, as well as some name changes.

Updates to LECOM Park have included everything from increasing the park’s capacity to over 8,500 with the addition of covered bleachers to expanding the restroom facilities and adding more concession stands. Lights were installed in 2008, allowing for night games to be played at the ballpark for the first time in its then-85-year history. The ballpark still retains plenty of old-school charm, though, with its Mission-style façade and towering palm trees.

In addition to serving as the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, LECOM Park also hosts minor league games for the Bradenton Marauders. They’re the Pirates’ High-A club in the Florida State League. That’s good news for you if you won’t be around at the same time the Pirates are in town but still want to catch a great game of baseball.

The Ringling

If the name “Ringling” rings a bell, that’s probably because you recognize it from the name of what was once billed as “The Greatest Show on Earth”: the now-defunct Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It’s also in the name of one of the world’s most extraordinary art museums, The Ringling.

The reason behind the shared name is because The Ringling is located on the 66 acres that make up what used to be the winter estate of John Ringling, one of the circus’s founders, and his wife, Mabel. In 1927, Ringling requested that upon his death, the property, along with his art collection and a $1.2 million endowment, would be donated to the people of the State of Florida.

With 66 acres to explore, The Ringling obviously isn’t the only point of interest on the estate. Other standout sights include the Ringling’s waterfront mansion, Ca’ d’Zan; the whimsical Circus Museum; the Historic Asolo Theater; Mable Ringling’s Rose Garden; and the Tibbals Learning Center, which is home to the “world’s largest miniature circus.”

Getting to The Ringling from the Bradenton Area Convention Center takes a little over 20 minutes, and admission costs $25 for adults. That might sound like a lot, but it’s actually quite a bargain considering all there is to see at The Ringling. Standard admission does not include entry into Ca’ d’Zan, however. That will cost you between $10 and $40 extra, depending on how much of the mansion you’d like to see.