» downtown

• St. Petersburg Waterfront Parks Centennial

  Written by Connie Langhorst No Comments
  Last Updated: October 25, 2010

  Get ready to celebrate!

  A year-long 100th birthday party for the magnificent downtown waterfront parks, the defining feature of beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida is underway as part of the Downtown Saint Petersburg Waterfront Parks Centennial!
  Events planned for the Centennial will have something for everyone-from youngsters to the young-at-heart, from history buff to photography buff, from movie fan to sports fan.   Free activities in all of the downtown waterfront parks, with eight stages featuring music for every taste.  An events schedule is featured online at www.stpeteparks100.org.

  The Centennial Celebration honors the decisions of early civic and business leaders, acknowledges those who have fostered expansion of the waterfront parks, and looks at ways to preserve and enhance the parkland and open marine vistas for the next century.

  Let’s party . . . in Paradise Found!

  For more information about Party in the Parks, including where to park and get the shuttle, the entertainment schedule and the full list of participants, check out the below link or visit www.stpeteparks100.org.

  Volunteers are needed to help with Party in the Parks on November 6.  Volunteers will be expected to work at least a three-hour shift and attend a short training session.  Volunteers will receive a free t-shirt.  If you can help, go to the “volunteer application form” link on the above website for more information.

  HISTORY

  In early 2009, St. Petersburg Preservation president, Will Michaels, convened a community meeting to gauge the interest in organizing a celebration to commemorate the centennial of the creation and dedication of waterfront park in downtown St. Petersburg. Encouraged by the enthusiasm of the meeting participants, a steering committee was formed and soon ideas for events were being brought forward and discussed. Additional volunteers stepped forward, fundraising started and artist Carrie Jadus stepped up to create a beautiful centennial commemorative poster. Soon, a centennial celebration with multiple events to be held over the course of 2010 was in the works! In October 2009, City Council declared 2010 to be the waterfront parks centennial year, the centennial poster was unveiled and a kick-off reception was held at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, itself celebrating its centennial. The centennial celebration is for all to enjoy, visitors and residents alike, and to acknowledge the incredible foresight of William Straub, Perry Snell and the other city leaders who had the vision and commitment 100 years ago to turn the waterfront of a small but growing town into a beautiful green necklace open to all to use. Today, that vision remains and makes St. Petersburg special! Celebrate this city’s glorious waterfront!

  MISSION STATEMENT

  The Waterfront Centennial Committee has been formed to commemorate and to celebrate the decisions of our early civic and business leaders, which for a century have guided the expansion of the original downtown waterfront park to a green sweep of parkland, from North Shore to Albert Whitted. This unique string of waterfront parks defines the character of St. Petersburg, regularly serving as the scenic focus of city celebrations and events.

  The mission of the Waterfront Centennial Committee is:

  To commemorate the beginnings of our system of downtown waterfront parks through sponsorship and support of appropriate events in 2009 and 2010

  To honor those city leaders, both in government and private enterprise, who had the foresight to assemble the land for our first waterfront park and to establish a strong priority for using our downtown waterfront land for public purposes

  To promote awareness of the history of our waterfront parks, and to recognize on this Centennial the centrality of the waterfront parks in forming the character and charm of downtown St. Petersburg, and of the entire city

  To envision ways to preserve and enhance our downtown waterfront parks and open marine vistas for the next century.

  ABOUT THE ARTIST

  Carrie M. Jadus was born in Tampa, Florida in 1976 and grew up in the burgeoning city of Saint Petersburg. Hailing from many generations of artists, it was no surprise that Carrie had inherited the artist mind. Her family always encouraged her artistic ability and creativity and Carrie knew her destiny was to be an artist. In her teenage years, her parents encouraged her to attend Pinellas County Center for the Arts (PCCA) at Gibbs High School where her skills where honed and she was trained to work with a large variety of mediums. While attending Gibbs, she won several awards and her art was exhibited in several prominent bay area museums.

  After graduating from high school, Carrie traveled within the United States and to Europe, seeking adventure at each opportunity. It was in Europe that she developed a deep admiration for the impressionist and how they were able to capture the moment “like a glimpse of a dream.” She eventually returned to her home city of St. Petersburg, where she fell in love and married. Though Carrie continued to work on illustrations, portraiture and remained involved in the art community, she chose a different path for a time and attended a Tampa university, where she earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering. With a blossoming career as a young engineer, all seemed to be going as planned. However over the years, there was a growing sense that her life was moving in the wrong direction. As time ticked on, Carrie had a vivid realization that, if she stayed on the edge of the artist’s world and denied her true talent, her life would be one full of regrets. Equipped with an artist’s heart and the discipline of an engineer, she began to pursue her art full time. Today Carrie is working as a Tampa Bay Area Artist and her art is shown in galleries and belongs to private collections all over the world.  To see some of her work or to contact Carrie, go to www.carriejadus.com.

  

  CREDITS: www.stpeteparks100.org.  Waterfront Parks Centennial Celebration.

• New Home for American Stage

  Written by Bob Horn No Comments
  Last Updated: June 11, 2009

  

  Got live theater? In a great location? In a fantastic new building?

  We sure do! St. Petersburg now has a wonderful new theater facility located right in the heart of the city. Downtown St. Petersburg, version 2009, is a place that’s filled with activities, events, museums, entertainment, great restaurants, and more. It seems as though there are more fun things happening every time I take a few minutes to look around. One of the greatest treasures of our city, if you have any interest at all in live professional theater, is American Stage.

  The American Stage Theater Company has been hosting and producing top quality theater for over 30 years, dating back to 1977.  For the first two years, they were known as The Palisades Theater Company, and they were based at Eckerd College (then Florida Presbyterian College).  In 1979, the Junior League of St. Petersburg provided funding to convert an old downtown movie theater into a small playhouse, but in 1984, that building was condemned.  Florida Power/Progress Energy stepped up to the plate and sold them a former auction gallery building at less than half of its fair market value.  That building became the American Stage that has been American Stage’s home for the past 25 years.  It was a fairly old building on 3rd Street South, across the street from Dew Cadillac until a few years ago, and across from the new Publix in recent years.  The building was tired and cramped and certainly a bit cantankerous and uncooperative at times, but that never seemed to impact the enthusiasm of the American Stage staff or the actors or the theater-goers who continued to support them year after year.  In truth, American Stage did not just survive, they thrived and grew and gained even greater support over time.

  On Tuesday night, my wife and I attended the first production at American Stage’s new home at the corner of 3rd Street and 2nd Avenue North.  The facility is located in a portion of the new downtown St. Petersburg College building, directly across the street from Williams Park.  The building is spacious, open, airy, modern, and everything works!  There are plenty of restrooms, unlike the old American Stage home.  There are multiple levels – the lobby and box office are located on the ground floor, accessible via the main entrance on 3rd Street North.  From there, you can take an elevator or a large, open staircase to the second floor, where there is an open seating/waiting area with several tables and chairs, a bar/concession stand, and the Raymond James Theater.  The third floor houses the offices for the American Stage staff and administrators, a costume shop, and a rehearsal area.

  

  The new theater retains the very intimate feeling that the original American Stage always had, with all seats in fairly close proximity to the stage.  Seating capacity was only increased by 40 seats, so there is no sense of being lost in a giant space.  A very nice change is that the new seats are wider, have higher backs, and are much more comfortable than the seats at the old theater.  And there’s a great armrest feature – seats are grouped so that couples sitting together share an armrest between their two seats, but on the left and the right of each seat pair, there are double armrests with space in between, so you never have to battle with your neighbor for armrest rights!  That may not seem like a big deal, but it really is a nice touch, one which we appreciated.

  Since I’m writing about American Stage’s new home, and since I am certainly not qualified to write as a theater critic, I won’t go into any detail about the play that we saw, Tuesdays With Morrie.  But I will say that my wife and I both loved it, several friends who attended loved it, and the actors received a standing ovation with great enthusiasm from the audience.  If you are able to see it, I highly recommend it!

  If you love theater and you’ve lived in St. Petersburg for awhile, you already know about American Stage and I don’t need to encourage you.  But if you are new to the area and would like to experience great theater, head to downtown St. Petersburg and check it out!  In an era when professional theaters around the country are closing down because of the difficult economic climate, American Stage has again proven itself to be a standout, garnering  support  to open a wonderful new theater, and we are lucky to have it in our city.

  To learn more about American Stage or to view their schedule or purchase tickets, visit the American Stage website.

• St. Petersburg

  Written by MyPinellas.com No Comments
  Last Updated: May 5, 2009

  St. Petersburg has been named one of America’s most livable communities, much thanks to its parks and recreational amenities, a focus on the arts community, a vibrant downtown and active neighborhood associations.  It is also known for its world-famed, nearby beaches and a blessed climate where the sun shines some 360 days each year.

  Pinellas Largest City
  St. Petersburg’s nearly 250,000 residents live in more than 100 communities.  To say there is something for everyone in St. Pete is not hyperbole.  You could choose a Craftsman-style bungalow in friendly Historic Kenwood or a Mediterranean villa estate on Snell Isle.  Find a restored Colonial Revival along the tree-shaded streets of Old Northeast, or a more contemporary home along the famed “Pink Streets” of Pinellas Point, a luxury high-rise condo overlooking the downtown waterfront, or a rehabbed 1920s Tudor in charming Crescent Lake.

  A Vibrant City Center
  Downtown is a magnet to residents and visitors alike, with its phenomenal shopping and dining offerings, art galleries, antique shops and cultural and recreational facilities, ranging from the Museum of Fine Arts to the St. Petersburg Pier.

  Endless To Do List
   St. Pete residents tend to be quite active in their own communities, but have plenty of reason to get out and about.  Saturday morning at the outdoor market is a popular spot, in fact one of the nation’s largest of its kind. You may choose a night out on the town with live theater and find dining or maybe an afternoon with a glimpse of rare wildlife at Boyd Hill Nature Park. You can spend an afternoon with the kids at Great Explorations, an interactive museum, maybe followed by an evening of theater at American Stage, the Bay area’s oldest professional theater company. You can enjoy a stroll through a waterfront art festival or maybe attend a Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball game at Tropicana Field nearby.

  No where else
   St. Pete folks are especially proud of The Salvador Dali Museum, the world’s largest collection of Dali Art outside of Spain. Visible from downtown is the beautiful Sunshine Skyway Bridge, at 4.1 miles long and 19 stories high, the largest cable suspension bridge in the Western Hemisphere.
   
  Green Space
  St. Pete is also one of Florida’s greenest cities with 2,300 acres of public land dedicated to parks and recreation areas across 137 city parks.  Jewels include historic the Weedon Island Preserve, with a canoe trail taking you through a tunnel of native mangroves, and a portion of the Pinellas Trail.

  “What strikes me about our town is that in spite of lots of new construction, condos, office buildings, even a professional baseball stadium, St. Pete still feels like a small town. And with its many old buildings still preserved its evident the city has a rich history and didn’t just spring up in the last few years. Finally, I love the way our downtown waterfront has been preserved as it for the most part it is open and free for everyone to enjoy.” Pat Mason, 40-year resident.

  Property Search:
  Find a Home in this Community

  Photo Gallery:
  

  Powered by DM PhotoAlbums™

  Full Screen

  Factoids:
  Population: 248,232
  Land Area: 60.9 Sq. Miles
  Median Age: 39.9

  Statistics are an estimation only

  Points of Interest: Museum of Fine Arts, Saturday morning market, Boyd Hill Nature Park, American Stage, St. Petersburg Pier, Great Explorations, Tampa Bay Rays, The Salvador Dali Museum, Sunshine Skyway Bridge
• «
• « Newer
• 1
• Older »
• »