Featured image: Positive Impact Santa Claus Joe Strickler with Mrs. Claus, Antoinette Taylor.

After his homeowner’s insurance increased by $150 a month, a 65-year-old man started driving for Uber to cover basic expenses. Rising costs made it even harder to make ends meet. He thought about getting a roommate to help out because he needed money for groceries. Another woman, over 55, had never eaten fresh blueberries or a whole fresh peach; canned fruit was all she could afford.

Both these neighbors benefit from Positive Impact ST. PETE, a nonprofit known for its free, weekly distribution of groceries and household items that is open to anyone in need.… Read More

Featured Image: An organizer’s rendering of Winter Wonder highlights the ice-skating rink as part of the seasonal attraction

Williams Park will undergo a much-anticipated evolution this month. From November 20 through January, Winter Wonder will transform the space into a magical seasonal wonderland complete with an ice-skating rink, a marketplace, and food service.

“This will be a showcase of what Williams Park can be,” said Shaun Drinkard, CEO of the St. Petersburg Downtown Improvement District.

Williams Park will showcase Tampa Bay’s only open-air skating rink, designed and installed by Ice Rink Events. The company runs rinks all around the country and uses a technology that can survive the Gulf Coast’s wind, humidity, and warmer winter temps, Drinkard explained.… Read More

Featured image: Santa Parade float in 1958. Courtesy of St. Petersburg Museum of History

This year, Santa Claus will once again lead the holiday parade along St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront. The Santa Parade traces its origins back 98 years – to 1928 – and while not exactly a parade as we know it today, the very first celebration was truly spectacular. 

That year someone dreamed up a trip by Santa from the North Pole to sunny St. Pete. The idea may have originated at the St. Petersburg Times (predecessor of the Tampa Bay Times), or someone may have pitched it to them – the prime suspect being City Publicity Director John Lodwick.… Read More

Featured photo: Beauty and the Burg Cindy Stovall with Terri Lipsey Scott.

RadioStPete.com Sunshine 96.7 FM has big plans to see you this fall! Check out the RSP crew at these events: October 25 is Halloween on Central, November 13 is Runfest, November 14-15 is the new Booker Creek Festival, and December 9 is the Holiday Happy Hour fundraiser (Tom Petty live tribute at BayBoro Brewing). 

John McEuen Joins The Florida Folk Show This just in from Music Director J Kolb: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder and international American folklore star John McEuen has recently upped and moved from Nashville to the St. Petersburg area, joining Pete Gallagher and Tim Valle as a co-host for the Saturday morning LIVE Radio St Pete Florida Folk Show.… Read More

When Bryan and Robin Van Vranken moved to the Old Northeast, they didn’t know that every October, their house would become the “Monster Mash” house on 17th Avenue NE. 

They were warned about the holiday, though. 

“Our realtor had said, ‘Hey, it’s a big Halloween here,’ but that was okay with us; we’re festive people,” Robin said. “We knew people had themed houses, and we had a set of turntables, so we were prepared in that way, but what we weren’t prepared for were the trick-or-treaters.” 

In 2018, Robin got the disco ball that would be a staple of the event, a giant Frankenstein, the “Monster Mash” letters, and the Halloween lights and took charge.… Read More

The Tampa Bay estuary encompasses over 400 square miles of open water and 2,300 square miles of highly developed watershed. In1993, two things happened to address the restoration of these marine and wetland environments: Tampa Bay Watch was founded, and it hosted the inaugural Great Bay Scallop Search.

“Our annual Great Bay Scallop Search is a way for citizens to get involved with the scientific portion of our environment,” said Richard Radigan, oyster shell program manager at Tampa Bay Watch. “This is a way for everyone to feel good about what they’re doing – get out into the water, snorkel, see what’s under the waves, and have that sense of stewardship in learning what it takes to conduct science.… Read More

During the 2024 hurricanes 20 inches of intense rainfall and a seven-foot surge flooded between 10,000 and 15,000 homes, many businesses, and city critical facilities. Damage estimates from Hurricanes Helene and Milton exceeded $2 billion. The lion’s share of this, between $1.3 and $1.5 billion, impacted neighborhood homes. And some $500 to $700 million is still under construction or awaiting repair. Many residents lost or have not yet returned to their homes. 

Sadly, such devastation was not a “one off” but part of a pattern of accelerating extreme weather. The 2024 hurricanes highlighted infrastructure vulnerabilities and water service disruptions. The storms threatened two of St.… Read More

Featured image: Portrait of MB Welch that mentions his buildings and his hobbies. All photos courtesy of Amy (Welch) Walker.

During the 1920s land boom, St. Petersburg expanded at a pace that reshaped the city almost overnight. Across that growing landscape, contractor M. B. Welch was at work, building not just in one area but throughout the city, converting plans into places people would live, gather, and invest in. The Old Northeast holds one important concentration of his surviving homes, but his reach extended well beyond it – to Downtown St. Pete, Grenada Terrace, and Crescent Heights, to St. Pete Beach, Disston Heights, Crescent Lake, and the Pink Streets.… Read More

Featured image: Murawski lab members spent a lot of time organizing samples post-fire. Courtesy of Layne Leggett.

As smoke rose over downtown on Saturday, May 2, marine science graduate student Layne Leggett stood in the Al Lang stadium watching a fire she didn’t yet realize would change her future.

By the end of the night, the University of South Florida’s Marine Science Laboratory in downtown St. Petersburg was destroyed.

Two months later, the community has come together to raise more than $400,000 and relocate the people and samples displaced in the fire. 

What Happened? 

On Saturday, May 2, dozens of media outlets documented the massive fire at the Marine Science Laboratory at USFSP.… Read More

Following the red brick roads, most paved with Augusta Block, will not get you to the land of Oz. But it will lead to an enchanting walk in time back to early St. Petersburg. That’s what Polita Glynn does with her recent film, The Brick Roads of St. Petersburg.

Glynn is a documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, and creative storyteller, with a background in American studies and history. Glynn says she has “always been drawn to the past,” and is “enthusiastic about storytelling as a way to get people to see our community and city with different perspective.” She studied film and television as a way to tell those stories. … Read More