Sarasota’s Pinecraft In Prime Time

If the past 12 months was the year of Siesta Key, this upcoming one could be the year of Pinecraft.

The unique Amish and Mennonite village along Bahia Vista Street has received a fair amount of coverage from The New York Times, Miami Herald and the latest is in prime time on the National Geographic Channel’s Amish: Out of Order.

“We do live in one of the best villages in the entire world,” said Sherry Gore, a Pinecraft cookbook author and one of the “It shows uniqueness and how we’re different from any other Amish community in the world, and National Geographic was able to capture the essence of that.”

The village and Gore and the family of John and Ruth Gingerich and Bishop Lester Gingerich were predominantly featured during this week’s episode, Family Affairs. The show will re-air several times, and is scheduled to rerun at 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 12.

The main subject in the documentary series is Mose Gingerich, a 32-year-old ex-Amish man who lives in Columbia, Missouri, where he helps other ex-Amish adjust to life outside the order. 

Pinecraft will also be featured on the season finale, "A Very Ex-Amish Christmas," which airs at 9 p.m. June 19. In that episode, Pinecraft residents — Gore, her son Tyler Gore and friend 15-year-old Mary Grable and the Gingerich family — are flown to Missouri for a cast wrap party that led to a weekend of filming for the show.

The exposure could continue as the production company that filmed the series, Stick Figure Productions, has an interest in Gore where they will develop and pitch a documentary centered in Pinecraft, Gore said.

The village is already a bustling snowbird destination for Amish and Mennonites as groups come by the busload and visit Troyer’s Dutch Heritage Restaurant or Yoder’s Amish Village during tourist season and beeline for the beach. It’s estimated by the county that 50 to 60 percent of Pinecraft residents are snowbirds.

When Stick Figure visited Sarasota during Thanksgiving weekend, they filmed more about 120 hours, Gore said. That storyline had to be condensed to fit in another Missouri-based storyline in the episode, and was given about 23 minutes worth, but that was enough for people to take notice of Pinecraft. 

Emails poured into Gore’s inbox after the show. Gore’s website was featured on screen when Michaela found her site and wrote Gore a letter, which is how new folks are reaching Gore. 

Some of the letters are emotional telling Gore “I wish I had someone like you in my life,”and young girls wishing they could meet Gore. 

“It really blesses me, it really does,” Gore said. “I didn’t expect that.” 

Village Upgrades

Sarasota County has improved the area, installing street-embedded crosswalk lights, Park and has plans to add a bus stop in addition to developing a long-range plan to preserve and promote the village, but funding needs to be figured out for several projects. 

The village has reached a critical point because the once rural community has turned urban and needs to find a way to balance their lives with the rest of the world, and county staff has held a series of workshops with the village to plan for the future, even the possibility of creating its own distinct district. Planning is still in its infancy. 

“I don’t think anyone in the United States has ever tried to do what we’re trying to do,” said Teresa Mast, project manager for Pinecraft who works with the county’s community outreach department.

“I think it’s a unique opportunity to work with some very private people who like privacy and like to go about their lives in a private fashion.” 

But the main reason to preserve the culture while making sure visitors and residents can get around safely, she said. 

However, the county government will avoid exploiting Pinecraft four tourism.

“We’re not here to promote putting them on display. That’s not our intention and that’s not our goal. I don’t think I have the magic wand to say people aren’t going to be drawn to the area because they already are,” Mast said.

Give the improvements to the village and the national attention, Mast said it’s safe to say “it’s going to be a big couple of years for Pinecraft.”

Cutting Room Floor

Gore was pleased with how the show turned out, and said given that there aren’t exactly a lot of televisions in Pinecraft, she had to scramble to find someone with one so she could watch the show. 

One part that didn’t make the cut was a moment between Gore and Michaela where Gore provides some advice in the teenager’s outlook. In the show, Michaela considers becoming Amish as part of a new life after problems back home in Missouri. 

“The hurt in her heart will never be healed from joining any certain church,” Gore said she told her. “That’s just between her and God.”

The experience of seeing Michaela — or any teenager from the outside —wanting to join the Beachy Amish was a surprise, Gore said. Especially because the show is mainly about Amish teens and adults adjusting to life after they leave their order. 

“I can't remember any other youth coming to Sarasota to join a plain church,” she said. “I don’t know that it's ever happened before.”  

Michaela wound up spending eight days in Pinecraft, attending school there, before returning home to Missouri. During this past week’s episode, the teen tells her mother that she wants to move to Pinecraft and become Beachy Amish. Gore said it’s anticipated that she will come to Sarasota during the summer. 

As for cameras coming back to Pinecraft? It’s not 100 percent yet, but all eyes appear to be fixed on this tiny village.