This September, a group of 30 female musicians flew from Ukraine to Tampa for a Florida tour to donate its profits to humanitarian causes in Ukraine. They are the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, a nonprofit, Ukraine-based spiritual group that is touring the Sunshine State as part of their Southeastern United States tour. They often travel to raise money through spiritual concerts, and their members are graduates of the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Several host churches are on the list, including St. Pete’s First Presbyterian Church at 701 Beach Drive.

The Ukrainian group normally consists of 52 members, but they are leave behind their male counterparts.… Read More

Ask most folks about their favorite neighborhood wildlife and you’ll probably hear about birds, butterflies, or adorable squirrel antics. One critter you probably won’t hear much about is the bat. Legends swirl around these nocturnal mammals: that they’ll flap blindly into your hair, drink your blood, give you rabies, or even destroy your home. On reflection, maybe we’ve all been watching a bit too many horror movies. 

Whatever the source of these frightful fantasies, says Shari Blisset-Clark, president of Florida Bat Conservancy, they unfortunately mask the true value of a remarkable animal – one we should welcome into our communities. “I think bats make wonderful neighbors!”… Read More

Katherine Bell Tippetts was certainly one of the most remarkable woman leaders St. Petersburg has produced. She grew up in Somerset County, Maryland. She married an international newspaper correspondent and newspaper owner, Col. William H. Tippetts, and arrived in St. Petersburg with her husband in 1902. She lived here until her death in 1950.

Following the death of her husband in 1909, Tippetts took control of her husband’s business interests, including the Belmont Hotel, located at 575 Central Avenue. Financially successful, she sent two sons to Princeton, a third son to the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a daughter to Florida State College for Women.… Read More

You’re walking through St. Pete’s Crescent Lake Park on a Wednesday afternoon and you see a particularly colorful rock. Unable to resist, you pick it up. This is no ordinary glittery stone. It’s painted orange and pink and blue with a goofy cartoon bird winking at you from its smooth surface. Is it game piece? A lost toy? You flip it over and there’s a message: Go to St Pete Rocks Facebook page.

Before you can even pocket the stone, you’ve got your phone out. That’s when you learn that there’s a whole community – a seemingly secret world – of “painters, hiders, and posters” of painted rocks sharing their art and telling stories about their finds. … Read More

In “Exploring St. Pete’s Jewish History, Part 1” historian Monica Kile introduced many of St. Petersburg’s early Jewish families and how they helped to shape the culture and economy of the city. In part two, we take a closer look at their challenges and successes. Read part one here.

In the last issue, we met Old Northeast resident Jay Miller, and learned about how his and other Jewish families came to live and build successful businesses alongside each other in St. Petersburg in the first half of the 20th century. But, particularly in the early years, they also faced widespread antisemitism. … Read More

We are now well into the 2023 hurricane season, though St. Petersburg thankfully has not seen a direct hit since 1921. Known as the Tarpon Springs Hurricane, the 1921 hurricane was a Category 4 while over the Gulf, with winds declining to a Category 3 by landfall. A six-to-eleven-foot storm surge flooded low-lying areas throughout Pinellas County, including St. Petersburg. Since then, there have been many near misses, two of the most recent being Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Ian just last year. Irma, a Category 5 over water, brushed St. Petersburg with a negative surge that emptied the bay.… Read More

St. Petersburg has honored many of its citizens with the title of “Mr. Baseball.” There was of course the first Mr. Baseball, Mayor Al Lang, after whom Al Lang Stadium is named. It was Al who mostly started it all by bringing Major League Spring Training to the city beginning with the St. Louis Browns and their manager Branch Ricky in 1914. Much later there was Mr. Baseball Bob Stewart and Mr. Baseball Rick Dodge, both of whom piloted the building of Tropicana Stadium, which led to securing the Tampa Bay Rays in 1995 (their opening season was 1998). Stewart was chairperson of the St.… Read More

The real magic happens right here in St. Petersburg – and the spark that ignites it emanates from long-time Old Northeast resident Roger Barganier, owner of Creative Arts Unlimited. Barganier conjures his magic from clients’ ideas that come to fruition through far-reaching concepts of design, building, and installation.

“We are more a service than a product,” says Barganier. The jaw-dropping results of Creative Arts Unlimited “services” enthrall those who experience them in the museums, healthcare facilities, corporate headquarters, hospitality venues, education settings, libraries, theme parks, nature centers, and retail environs where they’re featured.

When Old Northeast resident Jay Miller told his parents that he was buying a house in the neighborhood 22 years ago, his mother Sonya gave a wry laugh. When he asked why, she had to remind him that when she was growing up in St. Petersburg, the Old Northeast was off limits to their family – in its early years, the neighborhood, like much of the city, was not welcoming to Jews. 

Jay’s aunt, his mother’s sister, Marilyn Benjamin, recalled a similar story over a recent lunch at the Helm Restaurant in St. Pete Beach. “I remember when the Vinoy Hotel had its grand re-opening in 1992, after being closed for many years.… Read More

It took a master falconer from Georgia to open my eyes to the natural gem just four miles from my home in the Old Northeast. It was one of those glorious winter days that makes you realize why everyone moves to Florida; a deep freeze had struck much of the nation, while St. Pete enjoyed blue skies and low 70-degree temperatures. Our family decided to go to Raptor Fest at the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, an event we’d heard rave reviews of over the years, but never attended. After strolling past volunteers holding all manner of curious birds, we hurried to a set of grandstands set up for a “free flight” demonstration.… Read More