Cathryn Sweatt has lived in her house on Sixth Avenue North for over 70 years. She moved into her two-story home with her mother, Thelma Cleo, her father, Pearley, and her brother, Paul Wayne in 1946. Cathryn was born in Inverness, Florida, and then moved with the family to the south side of St. Petersburg in 1943 where she attended Southside Junior High School before finally settling in the Old Northeast three years later.

When the Sweatt family moved into the neighborhood in 1946, the block the house is on didn’t look too much different than it does now. “The apartment building on Sixth Avenue and Second Street wasn’t there, but most of the homes and bungalows were already there,” said Cathryn.… Read More

March marks the beginning of Baseball Spring Training, and there is nowhere that has more of a spring training history than St. Petersburg. Beginning with the St. Louis Browns in 1914, some nine major league teams made their spring training home in St. Petersburg. The New York Yankees played here from 1925 to 1961 with a few breaks in between. Babe Ruth played for the Yankees from 1925 to 1934. Ruth’s presence in St. Petersburg was huge. When The Babe and the Yankees were in town, the population of the city would swell with tourists and fans. It has recently been documented that Ruth likely hit his longest home run here, and perhaps the longest hit ever off of major league pitching.… Read More

There is a group of citizens who love St. Petersburg so much that they volunteer their time to approach, guide, and assist complete strangers while out strolling their beloved downtown streets. These friendly and knowledgeable residents are part of the Sunshine Street Team (SST), a program that the Downtown Business Association (DBA) launched just this past October. It is quickly growing and proving to be mutually beneficial to the visitors, local businesses, and volunteers alike.

This volunteer program is designed to help everyone have a positive experience while visiting downtown St. Petersburg. Metrics collected from reports focused on the volunteers’ encounters will also help the DBA and the City to understand why people are choosing to come to downtown and what they’re looking to do while here.… Read More

After 58 years, The Granddaddy of all Sailboat Regattas Returns

Snell Isle resident Bill Ballard was 16 and a junior in high school when he sailed into Havana, Cuba, as part of the six-man crew on the Celia, the late George Pearson’s 39-foot sailing yacht. It was 1954, during the heyday of the classic St. Petersburg Yacht Club-sponsored “St. Petersburg to Habana” Sailboat Regatta. First launched in 1930, the regatta was widely recognized as the premier “granddaddy of all sailboat races.”

“Havana was an off-the-charts good destination for a sailing race,” says Bill. “It had a wide natural harbor with a protected entrance.… Read More