In 2012, Nancy Ballard and Kelly Townshend put their worldly possessions in storage, rented out their home in Houston, Texas, got their two dogs vet-approved for sea travel, and set sail for Florida, the Caribbean, and the Chesapeake Bay on their CT-56′ sailboat. After sailing for three years, they decided their boat was too big, and it was time to downsize. This led them to downtown St. Petersburg which would turn out to be their ‘second act.’

Nancy had been sailing for 28 years, but after only two years in, Kelly said, “Let’s go cruising,” something that Nancy had always wanted to do.… Read More

Tucked between the Coast Guard Station on one side and the Army Reserve Training Center on the other, the Polish-American Society of St. Petersburg is a throwback to a different era. Monika Smolarczyk, the club’s secretary, tells me that at one time, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Italian, Hungarian, and Polish clubs were all located within a few blocks of each other on Beach Drive SE in St. Petersburg’s charming and eclectic Old Southeast neighborhood. That was back in the 1950s and ’60s, when from January through April, St. Petersburg was a mecca for snowbirds escaping the cold. The private social clubs offered camaraderie, networking, music, dancing, and great food.… Read More

In mid-January, I flew from Tampa to Havana on a trip that would introduce me to a country which has been off-limits for me (and most Americans) for most of my life. I participated in a one-week service program in Cuba with Global Volunteers, a non-profit non-governmental organization based in Minneapolis.

Along with 19 other volunteers ages 30-78, I spent a week on various work projects which included painting a fence at our base (The Cuba Council of Churches), spending time with elders at a senior care center, and working with students studying English in an evening program. Another team did crocheting with a women’s group for part of the day.… Read More

In our great city, you don’t need to look very far to find great things being done by great people. In fact, we have so many active do-good events that  sometimes  they are  overlooked. One of the world’s auto-racing greats, Sébastien Bourdais, lives in the Shore Acres area, and has quietly worked with a growing group of volunteers to create an amazing charitable event which has grown exponentially each year since beginning in 2012. Benefitting Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, the Kart 4 Kids Pro/Am Kart Race is an awesomely unusual opportunity to race 12hp competition karts against internationally known professional race car drivers.… Read More

A tale of three brothers

Once upon a time, there were three brothers who, like many, experienced a series of unfortunate events and found themselves part of our local foster care system. Separated from one another in different foster homes, they held onto hope that one day they would all be together in a ‘forever’ home, all one family again.

Their wish came true. A remarkable young woman by the name of Nicole Marchman began fostering Brent and Aaron when they were ages four and two, respectively, and later fostered Preston, and over the coming years, began the formal adoption process for all three boys.… Read More

Buying local takes on a whole new meaning at Brick Street Farms, St. Petersburg’s cool, new eco-friendly farm where exotic greens like Salanova escarole, Spretnak Bibb, purple kale, and tatsoi grow in an unusual, sheltered environment – shipping containers.

Like most transplanted northerners who come to Florida hoping to grow Big Boy tomatoes, green beans, and lettuce in the backyard, Shannon O’Malley was quickly frustrated at her lack of success. St. Petersburg might be proud of its reputation as the Sunshine City, but when it comes to growing produce, the sun, the heat, the humidity, and the sandy soil can be a bit too much.… Read More

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