Longboat Harbour residents host goodbye party for longtime friend

If you ask anyone at Longboat Harbour Condominiums who is an island icon, the answer would be Larry Bateman. 

After 25 years of residency on Longboat Key, Bateman is moving back to Chicago to be closer to family. Longboat residents threw Bateman a goodbye party to commemorate his involvement on the Key.

As someone who loved to be involved, Bateman is a former commodore of the Longboat Harbour Yacht Club, an avid kayaker and the toughest man in the gym, according to friends. Around 30 Longboat Harbour residents came to Chubby’s Lounge to celebrate Bateman on July 11.

Bateman and other men from the condominium have been coming to Chubby’s for happy hour every week for three years. Bateman, Sparky Pashkow and Turk McCardle started the weekly happy hour as a way to help their friend through the grief of losing his wife. 

The happy hour became a weekly tradition as more men joined. These weekly hangouts grew a brotherly bond between the men of Longboat Harbour. The three friends have matching Chubby’s shirts to show their dedication to the bar.

“I really didn’t expect this many people to be here,” said Bateman as he walked in the back door of Chubby’s. 

Pashkow and his wife Karen organized the party. People had drinks and pizza from Ventura's Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar while reminiscing about their good times with Bateman. 

"Larry is one of the nicest guys I have ever met," said resident Christina Filkins. "He would do anything for anybody. It is going to be a big change not having him around."