Featured image: Prescribed burning has myriad benefits for the landscape and ecology, but also helps to mitigate larger, unplanned fires.

Smokey Bear famously taught us that we can prevent forest fires. But what if your forest needs fire to survive? 

Many of Florida’s natural communities, including scrub and pine flatwoods, are fire-dependent, meaning they rely on periodic fires to stay healthy. Our state’s long, wet summers produce heavy vegetation growth – ample fire fuel – and our spectacular thunderstorms supply the igniting spark. The result, for much of Florida’s post-Pleistocene history, has been regular, low-intensity fires across much of the region.… Read More

The motto of The Salvation Army is “Doing the Most Good,” which is ever-apparent during the holiday season – perhaps the iconic organization’s busiest time. 

The Salvation Army of Greater St. Petersburg (SAGSP) has an on-site food pantry stocked through donations and community partnerships that operate throughout the year. In the fall, a major food drive helps secure more donations for the winter holidays in addition to its usual stock of non-perishables, plus fresh, seasonal produce and vegetables.

“Our holiday season kicks off with the Holiday Food Drive, which helps families throughout Southern Pinellas County,” says Kim Duncan, development coordinator for The Salvation Army’s Florida Division, St.… Read More

It’s Saturday night. Dozens of things are vying for your attention, your leisure time, and your money. But you want to cut through the noise – get beyond the influencers and the biggest advertising budgets – to find the most up-to-date offerings that align with you: your vibes, your companions, and your budget. Where can you access all this for an arts and culture scene as dense as St. Pete’s?

The Warehouse Arts District Association (WADA), led by Executive Director Markus Gottschlich, is launching a vanguard technological solution: an interactive map and unified events calendar. This free-to-use, community-oriented guide is accessible and always live – aimed to help residents and visitors alike explore places they may not know about.     … Read More

Featured image: Florida Native Landscape and Design won the Home of the Year Award for a project on an historic home in the Historic Old Northeast.

City leaders, community members, and local visionaries joined the City Beautiful Commission for their 58th annual City Beautification Awards ceremony on October 23. Held at Sunken Gardens, the ceremony honored the projects that make St. Petersburg shine, including unique and remarkable work to improve our community and make our city greener. 

Projects included an initiative to develop a community pollinator corridor; an urban farming initiative that transforms empty lots into garden spaces; a volunteer community garden that focuses on sustainable regenerative farming practices to produce free fruits and vegetables for the community; as well as a local business’s preservation of the beautiful and established large oak trees on its property. … Read More

Featured image: Founder Michelle Sasha, left, and artist Jazzy Erickson are helping to lead the Love Thy Neighbor Project.

While street murals highlighting diversity and inclusion have been removed from the roadways around the region, those who still believe in that sentiment are finding new ways to express it. From flags to art to hand-painted signs in windows, neighbors are showing that love and tolerance still have a public face in our city. And at least one artist-driven movement, Love Thy Neighbor Project, is working to bring murals of empowerment and diversity to homes across Pinellas County.

Driveways, mailboxes, and doorsteps are being altered to host murals designed to, according to the project’s website, “celebrate inclusivity and honor marginalized communities.” The… Read More

St. Pete’s Historic Old Northeast neighborhood is a bland suburban HOA’s worst nightmare – in the best way possible. Few houses are alike. Many feature personalized touches like lawn ornaments, large artworks, fountains, or lush gardens – every block seems to have its own character.

One thing many residents do share: Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association (HONNA) flags hanging proudly from porches. The flags, and all HONNA branding, come in varying colors and designs, but with no unified theme – until now.

“We’re the oldest neighborhood in the city, and everyone knows who we are, so that made us a little lazy [about branding],” HONNA President Nick Bell said, laughing.… Read More

Ever since Lincoln declared an annual day of Thanksgiving in 1863, it became customary for presidents to issue a Proclamation of Thanksgiving each year. And in 1925, Calvin Coolidge did so on October 26th. His proclamation spoke to a year of national prosperity, noting that the nation was blessed with “resources whose potentiality in wealth is almost incalculable” and that the nation’s people “should set ourselves against evil and strive for righteousness in living, and observing the Golden Rule we should from our abundance help and serve those less fortunately placed.” (Coolidge incidentally made a visit to St. Pete with his wife Grace after he left office and stayed at the Vinoy Hotel.… Read More

Pictured: Very little was burned in Reeser’s Old Northeast apartment. Officials sent a box of evidence to the FBI.

Every year for our September-October issue, the Northeast Journal likes to get a little spooky. We’ve peeked into haunted spaces, marveled at glowing orbs, and shivered with otherworldly sensations, but this year I thought we’d examine something different: Spontaneous Human Combustion. A word of caution, however: tales of SHC are not for the faint of heart. (Seriously, content warning: gory details ahead!)

Spontaneous human combustion is the term applied to mysterious, often fatal, fires that appear to originate from the victims themselves. There have been approximately 300 cases of SHC documented over the past 200 years, with the first introduction of the term dating to 1746. Studies… Read More

Pictured: Curator Jenipher Chandley, artist Aaron Corbitt, artist John Taormina at the exhibit’s opening party.

There are over 30 galleries that participate each month in St. Petersburg’s long-established Second Saturday Art Walk, spanning seven arts districts and representing all disciplines. But not representing all artists. 

New and up-and-coming artists, artists who don’t fit neatly into a category, artists who just want to create and aren’t interested in the hustle… where can they find a place to exhibit? Beyond the dozens of galleries and museums in St. Pete, art finds a home in countless nontraditional spaces like bars and breweries, coffee shops, and restaurants.… Read More

Pictured: Asianna Lotito, center with board members Lisa Davis and Samantha Ghezelbash, founded The Sweet Friend, which provides school supplies, clothing, popsicles, and more for local students. Courtesy of The Sweet Friend Foundation

For some kids at Mount Vernon Elementary, the popsicles they receive for free each month are the only sweet treat they can count on. But popsicles don’t grow on trees. The popsicles, and the mountains of donated bookbags, school supplies, and even seasonal pumpkins, come from The Sweet Friend Foundation, a nonprofit founded by St. Petersburg resident Asianna Lotito.

“It’s a labor of love,” says Lotito. Mount Vernon Elementary in St.… Read More