A film crew from the Travel Channel was on Siesta Key on April 6 to shoot footage for a one-hour television show called "America's Best Beaches," which will air on a future date.  Siesta Key was chosen to 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 - made up of ancient quartz crystals worn smooth by time - the cable television crew asked beachgoers why Siesta's sand should be rated America's very best.  Their answers echoed what every local beach lover knows:  Siesta Key's sugar-fine sand is clean, powder-soft to the touch, free of shell particles and cool on the feet.

"This beautiful, wide beach has something for beach lovers of all ages," said John McCarthy, manager of Sarasota County Parks and Recreation Department.  "[It boasts] the greatest sand anywhere, leading to the clear blue water of the Gulf of Mexico, with shade trees and creational 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," Mason said.

Students from the Ringling School of Art and Design were filmed creating sand sculptures for the segment, along with volleyball players, children, musicians and dancers from Siesta Key's popular Sunday night Crum Circle, and scenes of Siesta Village via the Siesta Key Island Trolley.

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 United States alone.

This isn't the first time Siesta Key Beach has been ranked among the best.  Last year, the Travel Channel rated it as one of Florida's top 10 beaches.  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 gave Siesta Beach the designation of having "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's sand being "the best of the best" in 1999.