Myakka City is known for its rural nature — and its salt-of-the-earth people

There’s not much “city” in Myakka City. Blink and you might miss it.

This modest commercial hub, about 20 miles from Lakewood Ranch, boasts a lone convenience store, a scattering of small businesses and the Silver Star East Restaurant, where pickup trucks fill the parking lot and regulars fill the booths. At chow time, you’ll find a spirited cross-section of locals — ranchers, farmers, business owners, teachers, horse and goat whisperers and back-to-the-landers — all tucking into heaping plates of country-fried steak, meatloaf and burgers.

It’s a place where stories are traded over sweet tea and the pace of life is in sync with the heartbeat of the land…

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