TREASURE ISLAND , Fla. – A few hours before sunset , a circle of people begins taking shape around a stick spiked into the sand. It’s a fringe gathering on the fringe of the state, just before the endless-seeming Gulf.

Close to 400 people congregate there behind the public parking lot, “spontaneously” for the purposes of not needing a city permit, though this gathering has somehow happened every Sunday for decades.

There are tourists, curious beach-walkers and locals who wanted their out-of-town visitors to see something memorable. Then there’s the large core of regulars, drawn week after week to the place they call church and the people they call family.

Most importantly at the Treasure Island drum circle , there are drums, big like trash cans, small like pie pans, sideways across

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