It’s the Old Northeast’s best-kept secret that’s not really a secret. The Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association’s (HONNA) Garden Tour was a smash from its start in 2023, when it sold out its 500 tickets almost immediately. 

This year’s tour on Saturday, April 12, from 11 am to 3 pm, returns to its popular roots as it winds through home gardens in the ONE, with each stop featuring local artists in the makeshift outdoor galleries. In total, 15 artists will participate as a part of this biannual grassroots fundraising event. 

The $50 ticket price benefits the HONNA Street Tree Replenishment Program, a local effort to keep the neighborhood’s tree canopy strong by planting trees, maintaining existing trees, and educating residents about tree care. It’s… Read More

Babe Ruth Day and the centennial of Ruth’s first year of spring training in St. Petersburg was celebrated with great gusto last month. George Herman “Babe” Ruth, Jr. played baseball during spring training in St. Pete with the New York Yankees from 1925 to 1934, and again with the Boston Braves in 1935.

Festivities began with Mayor Ken Welch issuing a proclamation at the city council meeting on February 6 declaring Saturday, February 8, “Babe Ruth Day,” honoring how Ruth’s presence in our city greatly magnified St. Petersburg’s profile as a town of sport, outdoor leisure, “and just plain fun,” and greatly contributed to the city’s sense of place.… Read More

Feature photo: Julia Ruth Stevens and her son Tom remembering her father’s famous “call shot” at Wrigley Field in Chicago, 1932. Courtesy of Julia Ruth Stevens Family

The year 2025 is the Centennial of Babe Ruth playing baseball in St. Petersburg. It was in 1925 that the New York Yankees relocated their spring training headquarters to Florida and St. Petersburg, and along with the deal came Babe Ruth, the world’s foremost baseball athlete. To celebrate the occasion, the Kids and Kubs Senior Softball Club and the “City Hall Stars,” led by Mayor Ken Welch, will dedicate their annual Mayor’s Game to Babe Ruth, and Ruth’s grandson, Tom Stevens, will throw out the first pitch.… Read More

Many new things are coming in 2025, including a new director at the St. Pete Museum of Fine Arts. I recently caught up with Klaudio Rodriguez after his return from Art Basel to learn more about him and the future of the MFA.

Rodriguez is a good fit for a multicultural encyclopedic museum like the MFA. “My mother is Croatian, and my dad is Nicaraguan. They met in Rome, Italy and after they married, returned to Nicaragua. However, during the political turmoil there, we came to Miami. I was six years old and the only things we had, came in the suitcases that we brought with us.” … Read More

Monica Kile is a household name for many in St. Pete. You may know her from her time as Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Eckerd College, or perhaps for her work as Executive Director of Preserve the ‘Burg. As a reader you likely have enjoyed her articles in Green Bench Monthly, I Love the ‘Burg, and our own Northeast Journal. You might have seen her running along the waterfront as she trains for yet another marathon, or possibly you know her as Mangrove Bay Middle’s newest librarian. But, most likely, you know her face from the many historic tours she has led within this city over the past 20 years.… Read More

Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend area on September 26, one of the strongest and deadliest storms ever to hit the southeastern United States. A once-in-a-lifetime storm.

Less than two weeks later, the second strongest hurricane ever recorded in Gulf of Mexico hit just south of Sarasota, near Siesta Key.  

Few of us in the Bay Area were completely untouched. If it wasn’t our family or our home, it was someone we love or work alongside. It was the shared hurt of knowing a block, a neighborhood, a business, a community, that would simply never be the same.  

It is amazing that in just the last edition of the Northeast Journal we explored the impact of Tropical Storm Debby on St. Petersburg and the state of city flood control planning. We ended that article with the observation that “while the storm served as a good test of the extensive city storm and wastewater improvements to date, it also served as another warning of the urgent need to fully implement the Stormwater Master Plan with all deliberate speed, and to accelerate planning for mitigation of major storm surge.”

Little did we know how soon the next tests would come. 

Tropical Storm Debby impacted St.… Read More

What is the antithesis of last-minute scrambling to buy your family Starbucks and Amazon gift cards for the holidays? Shopapalooza. 

Shopapalooza is a giant, two-day outdoor market in Vinoy Park, packed with local vendors, artists, and cuisine. This year it runs from Saturday, November 30 and Sunday, December 1, 10 am to 5 pm. 

Just a few days after Thanksgiving, Shopapalooza is a chance to support local businesses, and get holiday shopping under wraps, but the very best part? Partial proceeds benefit non-profits for kids in Pinellas. 

This fall, the Northeast Journal celebrates its 20th anniversary of bringing readers the “good news” stories that make St. Petersburg such a special place. It’s a remarkable accomplishment.  What’s been the secret to success? It’s the NEJ’s mission – the celebration of community and connection, with stories about friends, neighbors, colleagues, and acquaintances who are making a difference.  

“When the personal story can be told and readers can feel the common humanity, that’s what makes the NEJ successful,” said publisher Jen MacMillen. “With every story, we can’t just take the obvious top layer. We have to go deep. Why does that person volunteer at CASA?… Read More

We are again in the thick of the hurricane season and, while St. Petersburg has not had direct hit since the devastating Tarpon Springs Hurricane in October 1921, there have been many near misses: Hurricane Irma (Cat 5) in 2017, Hurricane Ian (Cat 5) in 2022, Hurricane Idalia (Cat 4) in 2023, and already this season Tropical Storm Debby, which evolved into a Category 1 after its center passed approximately 100 miles west of St. Pete. Even glancing blows from these storms caused significant damage to our city, particularly Hurricane Idalia, which flooded approximately 1400 homes though it made landfall 150 miles north. … Read More