Lido Key (LEE doh KEE) is a barrier island off the coast of Sarasota, Florida, in the United States.

[1] The island is well developed with a wide variety of luxury hotels and beach houses, and has a seasonal nightclub scene.

A casino would be proposed in 1936 as a way to improve the city's tourism by Roger Flory a member of the Sarasota chamber of congress.

[4] The Lido Beach Casino would be built in 1940 as a Works Progress Administration project with Ralph Twitchell being its architect.

On October 2, 1955, about 100 African American residents of the Newtown neighborhood in Sarasota went to Lido Beach to do a wade-in.

The wade-in protest was organized by the Sarasota NAACP president, Neil Humphrey Sr. and at the time less than two miles of beaches were allowed for use by black people in Florida.

The two primary reasons for this was that both the city government and the county could not agree on which party would responsible for it along with not being able to find a suitable location.