Sawgrass Grove Issues
 

Went to Sawgrass Grove last night. There were a few things that were unexpected.

First I got change back at the bar. Do they charge a sales tax on a $3.99 beer? Different county I know but why couldn't they build the sales tax into the cost of the beer to make things easier? I got a drawer full of change that I never use and don't really want. We don't get change back in Spanish Springs. A minor complaint I know.

We went for the Happy Hour and were surprised that the Happy Hour ended not started at 5 PM! Wouldn't it make more sense to standardize the times at all "squares"? Wasn't that the excuse for shortening the two hour Happy Hour at Spanish Springs? The beers are one size only BTW (small). Semi-major complaint.

But biggest surprise of all was the simple orientation of the square. It was impossible to watch the entertainment without having the setting sun burn your eyes out. They built these enormous sun and rain sails to protect the audience but they do not. You pretty much look into the sun during the entire performance. The sails are too far back and there is a huge gap over the boxcar and the stage roof.

So my thoughts are if you have an absolutely blank sheet of paper to build your brand new entertainment venue you should be able to easily orient the structures to take advantage of the physical laws of nature. The Druids did it. Why can't the Villages? Have the stage on the NE side not the SW side. This is March. In the summer it is going to get really miserable.

A drawer full? Shoot me your address and I'll stop by later to pick it up.

:jester:

My advice would be, stay away from Sawgrass Grove.
Non of these changes will happen.

Sawgrass is not a Square. It is an outside venue with music, at 2 different times on some days, with a food court, like Edna’s, but they have food trucks.

Interesting observation.

Maybe it will get better as the sun sets later and further south.

Wow, talked about serious first world problems.

Why not go, grab a pizza and a drink, enjoy and smile?

I agree on the happy hour. At Spanish Springs, Lake Sumter, and Brownwood, the entertainment runs from 5-9 and Happy Hour is from 5-6 - so the first hour of entertainment is Happy Hour. At Sawgrass, the entertainment starts at 6 (5 on Saturday and Sunday) but Happy Hour ends at 5 PM. It would be nice if you had the first hour of music be Happy Hour at all of the venues.

And I agree that designing a stage so that people look almost directly into the sunset is a poor design.

I believe the original poster was talking about the outside entertainment area when he referred to the 'square'. Would you have preferred he called it a rectangle? Calling it 'an outside venue with music' would have been an awkward sentence construction. I think we all understood what he meant the way he wrote it.

From the developer.

It also has a restaurant and ProShop like a Villages "Country Club."

Plus regional recreation facilities.

The future appears to be more of these hybrid "Lifestyle" centers.

Has a good point particularly the sun and it's relationship to the stage.

They could have easily put the stage where the bar is and put the bar where the stage is. Would have been so much better. Hard to believe they didn't consider this.

- Could be oriented that way so the sun is not in the performer's eyes
- Could be oriented that way to give a view of the nice Florida sunsets
- Could be oriented that way so the sound travels into the parking lot rather than towards neighboring homes

Just leave the change on the bar, why even pick it up ? Especially when you really don't want to use drawer space for it. Do NOT mean this to be sarcastic, just seemed strange, don't see many people picking up a few coins from a liquor or coffee bar ! ?

Are the pizzas any good? Do they equal Marco's very high standards?
Are the tables and chairs comfortable?

If the answers to any of these questions is No, then I doubt people will "enjoy and smile".