Do Siesta Beach’s accolades come at a cost?

On Siesta Key, it’s not lonely at the top.

This year, TripAdvisor ranked Siesta Key Beach No. 1 in the country and No. 5 in the world. Siesta was on top of the travel site’s ranking of the best beaches in the U.S. in 2015, too. (The beach fell all the way to No. 3 in 2016.)

The accolades aren’t anything new. The fine, white sand makes it one of the most iconic shorelines in the nation. Anyone who’s driven around Siesta Key has seen the road signs touting the No. 1 ranking Siesta Beach got from Stephen Leatherman — better known as Dr. Beach — in 2011.

County and tourism officials are eager to tout these rankings as a success story.

“I think what it really shows is the enduring love that visitors have for Siesta Beach and how much people really like all the new enhancements,” said Visit Sarasota County President Virginia Haley, referring to the $21.5 million beach improvement project the county completed last year.

But for longtime Siesta Key residents, success comes at a price. Every evening, a large group gathers at Sunset Point near Beach Access 2 to take in the sights as the day comes to a close. Once the sun has descended below the horizon, most people leave — but those who stick around are mostly year-round residents.

These residents obviously enjoy the natural beauty of Siesta Key. They like it enough to keep living there. But as the beach has garnered more national attention, the character of the island has changed, they say.

The traffic is the big problem. It goes beyond just congestion. People come from out of town and don’t know how to drive in Sarasota — either they’re too aggressive, or they don’t go fast enough.

There are other issues residents bring up. People leave their trash behind on the beach, which is also too crowded. The bars in the village are too rowdy. The island is too built-out. The county doesn’t do enough to address the needs of the average Siesta Key citizen.

Ed Sturm, a 25-year resident of Siesta, sums up his feelings about the No. 1 rankings bluntly.

“I wish Dr. Beach never heard of this place,” Sturm said.

It’s not fair to say all Siesta Key residents are this blasé about the honors bestowed to the beach. When Siesta Isles resident Tony Romanus saw the news about the most recent TripAdvisor ranking, it brought him back to his family’s original decision to move to the area.

“My wife and I fell in love with Siesta Key the very first time we were here when we walked on that beach,” Romanus said. “It was a February day, and it was incredible. Here we are — we ended up buying a house.”

“There’s eight weeks or so of really tough traffic. That’s the price we pay.” — Tony Romanus

He said there’s a natural instinct for residents to want to keep Siesta Key somewhat of a hidden treasure. At the same time, Romanus said, the tourism keeps the local businesses on the Key afloat.

“There’s pros and cons,” he said. “There’s eight weeks or so of really tough traffic. That’s the price we pay.”

Siesta resident Nora Patterson was on the County Commission when Dr. Beach ranked Siesta Key No. 1. She thinks the TripAdvisor rankings — which are based on user reviews and have come after the county improvement project — reflect increased satisfaction from tourists to the area.

The renovations included a new pavilion, enhanced landscaping and the addition of parking spaces. Patterson said the improvements were long overdue, and might only add to the outside interest in Siesta Beach moving forward.

“If you think of a gorgeous painting and it’s in a frame that’s not very attractive, it doesn’t get appreciated quite as much,” Patterson said.

She acknowledged the character of the island has changed during the past five decades, but said it would be impossible to keep such a high-quality beach under wraps today. Change may come with some less desirable side effects, but that doesn’t necessarily make change bad.

“I’ve lived here since 1970,” Patterson said. “When we first moved there, when you went, you could go to the beach in the summer and you might be the only person you could actually see on either side of you. That’s changed. It certainly is charming to be the only person on the beach, but our folks need jobs. Tourism is a big producer of jobs.”

“It certainly is charming to be the only person on the beach, but our folks need jobs.” — Nora Patterson

Brett Amundson is a new resident on Siesta Key, and the beach played a big role in his decision to make his home there. He planned to come down on a temporary basis as he helped a friend repair a house. He took to the area almost immediately.

He recalled a night in his first month in the area. There was a full moon, and he was walking along the beach. The reflection of the moonlight against the sand illuminated his surroundings. He marveled at the scene — and vowed to buy a phone with a better camera.

With or without the No. 1 rankings, it’d be hard to scare off people like Amundson, or like Romanus years before him, who fall in love with the natural beauty of Siesta Beach.

“Having lived on the other coast of Florida, the beaches over here are so pristine,” Amundson said. “It’s something you just don’t find anywhere else.”

For Haley, success begets more success. Marketing Siesta Beach isn’t the most challenging job in the world, but the No. 1 rankings are an opportunity to make an even more convincing sell to prospective visitors. Haley is determined to keep making that pitch.

“We blew it out of the water with promotion and we’ll be doing that again,” she said. “Because people can’t rank Siesta No. 1 until they visit.”

Whether you think the attention is good or bad, Siesta Beach seems fated to remain in the spotlight.