When the Amish go south in the winter, it’s often to Sarasota’s Pinecraft community

On a sunny 75-degree Tuesday in February, Clara Yoder, her adult daughter and the daughter’s four fidgety pre-teens sit together on white-plank benches in front of Big Olaf Creamery in Sarasota, Florida. A Pioneer Trails bus has just dropped Yoder’s family in the Amish/Mennonite snowbird village known as Pinecraft.

That’s right, an Amish/Mennonite snowbird village. It’s hard to imagine the simple folk from quiet communities such as Middlefield, Ohio, doing winter break in Florida. But they do. Some visit for a week, and some stay the entire winter season — just like folks from other religions and cultures.