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The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall will cancel performances through December because of flooding and damage from Hurricane Milton, while Selby Botanical Gardens has closed both its downtown Sarasota and Historic Spanish Point campuses because of downed trees, power issues and other problems.

Other Sarasota area arts and culture organizations reported little to no impacts from the storm, though some weekend performances were canceled at Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe and Venice Theatre.

Here is a look at some of the damage reported on Friday:

Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall suffered major water damage in the building, including the orchestra pit, which was completely flooded, Executive Director Mary Bensel reported Friday. The damage forced the cancellation of all performances at least through Jan. 1.

"We had water come in from the bay, knocking open two doors that went down to our lower levels, which sustained about four feet of sea water in different portions of the building. We did have the fire department come and turn off all power to the building," Bensel said. "The entire kitchen was destroyed. All our refrigerators, our coolers, the walk-in freezers, dressing rooms and production offices."

Bensel said the orchesetra pit was under several feet of water and will likely require replacement of the lift that brings an orchestra up to audience level.

There was no damage to the stage level, the fly tower or the audience seating areas, and the administrative offices were not impacted. There had been more limited flooding during Hurricane Helene.

"My heart is broken. This building is my life and the theater is my life," she said.

It means the cancelation or rescheduling of dozens of performances, including Billy Ocean, the Broadway musicals "Dear Evan Hansen" and "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," comedians Leslie Jones and Lewis Black, The Commodores, dancer Derek Hough, singer Debbie Gibson and more.

It will means the Sarasota Orchestra will have to move or reschedule several concerts, including the first concert led by music director designate Giancarlo Guerrero in November, and the Westcoast Black Theatre had planned its 25th anniversary celebration at the hall.

Bensel said she there was water intrusion into the parking lot, docks were damaged and equipment installed by The Bay is now in the parking lot.

"We're doing the best we can. I'm excited about moving forward with the second half of the season. We're troupers. The theater's motto is the show will go on and hopefully it will after Jan. 1."

Bensel said the hall staff will reach out to patrons about ticket refunds or exchanges.

Selby Botanical Gardens

Selby leaders have closed both its main downtown Sarasota campus and Historic Spanish Point in Osprey, which had earlier suffered significant damage to walkways and a seawall during Hurricane Helene.

President and CEO Jennifer Rominiecki said the entire run of Lights at Spooky Point at Spanish Point, which was due to run Oct. 12-31, has been canceled.

On Friday afternoon, she reported no power and some downed power lines at the Sarasota campus, where about 20% of the newly installed solar panels came loose and were damaged.

She said the new main campus buildings appear in good condition, as do the historic structures. But a portion of glass in the conservatory and in all the greenhouses is broken. There are numerous downed trees, but the significant Bunya Bunya, Banyans and Moreton Bay Fig are still standing. There are several shipwrecked boats that ran aground on the campus, and there was damage to the boardwalk in the Ann Goldstein Children’s Rainforest Garden.

At Spanish Point, she said about 20 major trees are down and blocking access and paths, along with significant debris. A chimney on the White Cottage came down, but other historic structures appear in good condition. There was major damage to Cock’s Footbridge.

Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe

The theater near downtown Sarasota lost an awning that crashed into the parking lot, taking down some electric equipment with it, said Executive Director Julie Leach. The theater didn’t have power as of Friday afternoon and expected to cancel all weekend performance of “Soul Crooners: Solid Gold Edition,” which was scheduled to open on Saturday night. Several cast members evacuated before the storm and not all have returned home, she said.

“The original awning was about $120,000 so that’s pretty expensive to replace, but it could have been a lot worse,” Leach said. “There was no damage to the interior of the building that we know of.”

Sarasota Opera

The historic opera house in downtown Sarasota suffered no damage, nor did the artist's wing behind the courtyard, But the roof came off the pavilion building adjacent to it on Pineapple Avenue.

"Some of the roofing came off and water came into that," said General Director Richard Russell. The Peterson Great Room, where the opera holds rehearsals and some social events, had some damage. "We're going to have to replace carpeting, remediate the water damage," he said.

He said the damage should not impact the fall season, which features a concert program instead of a fully staged opera, and he expects the work to be done for rehearsals to begin in January for the winter season.

Circus Arts Conservatory

For the fourth time this year, the Circus Arts Conservatory has dealt with flooding, but the three previous experiences helped the staff mitigate the problem before Milton arrived, said Executive Vice President and COO Jennifer Mitchell.

“We had Debby, Helene, Milton and the random rain event in June that was the first and most extreme,” she said. “We had at least three feet of water on the entire campus in June. We expected it to be worse this time because of what was predicted, but this time we only had inches in some of the buildings. We did some flood mitigation and had flooding only outside the arena.”

Flooding issues were worse in the administrative offices and other buildings on the campus on Bahia Vista Street near Sarasota High School.

The arena itself “fared very well, especially considering what you see from Tropicana Field,” which lost its roof in downtown St. Petersburg. “The design of the arena building and the structure is very different from Tropicana Field and we’ve been very confident in the construction we’ve been doing since we took over the campus,” Mitchell said.

She said the organization plans to move its administrative offices to a second-floor office building location in the next few weeks to avoid future flooding issues in what she described as the basin of Bahia Vista Street near Hudson Bayou.

The organization also plans to erect its circus tent at Benderson Park at the end of October for the holiday season production of “Wonderland,” produced by the Circus Arts Conservatory and Nik Wallenda. “We will look at upcoming weather patterns and projections to make sure we’re doing that as safely as possible,” Mitchell said.

Florida Studio Theatre

Managing Director Rebecca Hopkins said the five-theater campus in downtown Sarasota suffered no significant damage and required only minimal cleanup. Performances were set to resume Friday night and the theater was offering buy one-get one free offers for performances of “Off the Charts” and the FST Improv show “Out of Bounds” during the weekend.

The theater had to move some of its artists out of apartments that didn’t have power, and is monitoring the situation before the cast for the November production of “Waitress” is due to arrive on Monday.

Hopkins said she anticipated a more dire situation because of the projected storm surge, particularly in its Keating and Goldstein Theatres. “We moved every table, chair and piece of equipment out of the way and we’ve been moving it all back in place so we can restart,” she said.

Hopkins said it was important “that we open as soon as possible and, just like the restaurants, provide a place for people to get out, get some air conditioning, see a nice show and have a nice meal. Our staff has been great.”

Urbanite Theatre

Producing Artistic Director Summer Wallace, who hoped to make it to run in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, said the theater will move forward with the opening of the play “Jennifer Who Is Leaving” on Friday.

“We are losing our director and designers on Oct. 18 because of other commitments so we’re going to open the play.” Wallace plays the title character in the play.

She said the theater suffered no damage, but did have a little water in the lobby, and the theater has power.

Urbanite also is offering free tickets for early performances around the opening to get as many people as possible to see it. “There’s a Milton ticket option for anybody who might need a laugh, a sense of community. We have air conditioning, and we’ll have water and extra snacks,” she said.

Venice Theatre

The theater that is still recovering from the millions of dollars in damage it sustained during Hurricane Ian two years, canceled Friday night performances of “Agnes of God” and “The Torch Bearers,” not long after power was restored to the building. The rest of the weekend schedule was not determined by Friday afternoon.

A spokeswoman said she was not aware of any major damage from the winds and rain that hit the Venice area during the storm.

Venice Theatre is in the midst of a multi-million repair and restoration of its mainstage Jervey Theatre and is trying to raise more than $16 million to help complete the project.

Nine Joann stores in Florida are closing their doors for good on Monday, April 28. Eleven more closed during the previous week. The rest will be closed by the end of May, the company announced.

Most stores from the 82-year-old fabric and craft retailer began going-out-of-business sales after the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2025 and all of the chain's assets were won by retail liquidator GA Group and Joann's term lenders in a February 2025 auction.

That includes all of Florida's 48 Joann locations.

Monday, April 28, marks the end of 112 Joann locations around the country, the last portion of 255 total stores that were shuttered during the month, according to Jo Anne McCusker, a GA Group spokesperson.

Which Florida Joann stores closed in April?

Which Joann stores in Florida are still open?

The following Joann locations have not yet been listed as closing. However, all stores will be closed by the end of May as they run out of stock, according to the company.

Is Joann accepting Joann gift cards? Can I return purchases?

According to the restructuring site, Joann is not accepting gift cards at this time. Discounts for Girl Scouts, teachers, military and healthcare are also paused.

Joann is not accepting returns.

(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)

Joann, the fabric and craft store that became ubiquitous across the United States, is now about to close more than half of its locations and Florida will be among the states hit hardest.

According to the list the retailer posted on its restructuring website, Joann is closing 500 of its 800 locations and 36 of them are in the Sunshine State. (California is losing more, with 61 stores on the list.) That leaves us 12 Joanns left in Florida.

The struggling retailer filed for bankruptcy in March 2024 after securing around $132 million in new financing to put towards its $1 billion debt. The company stayed afloat then by choosing to go private. However, a rash of store closures followed before the company again filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January to "facilitate a sale process to maximize the value of its business."

"This was a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our Team Members, our customers and all of the communities we serve," Joann said in a statement to USA TODAY on Wednesday. "A careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the Company determined which stores should remain operating as usual at this time."

When are the Joann stores closing?

On Wednesday, Joann filed a motion seeking court authority to close approximately 500 stores.

"If the motion is approved by the court, sales would start Saturday, February 15," Joann spokesperson Amanda Hayes told TCPalm.com, "but we do not know how long they will run. Additionally, any timelines are subject to change and could shift on a store-by-store basis."

Which Joann stores are closing in Florida?

According to Joann's restructuring website, the following locations will be closing:

How many Joann stores will Florida have left?

Of the 47 locations in the state currently listed on the Joann website, only 12 were not named on the restructuring list: Brandon, Destin, Gainesville, one of the two Jacksonville locations, Jensen Beach, Panama City, Pensacola, Tallahassee, Tavares, University Park, West Melbourne and Winter Haven

Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY, contributed to this story.

(This story was updated with new information.)

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