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• Beach Goes Pops XX

  Written by Connie Langhorst No Comments
  Last Updated: April 23, 2010

  2010 represents a huge milestone for this year’s Beach Goes Pops.

  Organizers are extremely proud and happy to celebrate the event’s Twentieth exciting year.

  Beach Goes Pops XX is the result of the combined efforts of The City of St. Pete Beach, Pass-A-Grille Community & Vina Del Mar Island Associations and 150 plus volunteers who coordinate and help to produce free concerts on beautiful and historic Pass-A-Grille Beach in St. Pete Beach (FL).  

  The major sponsors are The City of St. Pete Beach and The TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach and ”Wind, Water and Energy Conservation” and “The Island Reporter.”  

  On Friday, April 23rd, the event welcomes three outstanding performing bands for your musical entertainment. Starting at 4:00pm, there will be live music, food and beverages till 10:30 pm.

  On Saturday, April 24th, there will be three performing bands starting at 5:00 pm with music, food and beverages till 10:00 pm. The event proudly welcomes back Robert Romanski, music director and conductor of the Beach Goes Pops Orchestra, with Orchestra music starting at 7:30 pm and continuing till 10:00 pm.

  Come join in the fun of an unforgettable Beach Goes Pops weekend with your family, friends and neighbors and enjoy the food, music and sunsets of Pass-A-Grille in a spectacular and unique beach setting.

  Music and an unforgettable sunset . . .  in Paradise Found! 

  For an entertainment schedule, press release, and images from past events, visit Beach Goes Pops online at www.BeachGoesPops.com.

  For information regarding table sales for Saturday’s catered dinner by Wayl of a Time or to learn more about sponsorship opportunities, contact Paula Beersdorf at 727-459-8057 or paulab@sunriskinc.com. For any other questions please contact David Zavac at 727-278-1884 or dzavac@tte.com.

   

  CREDITS:  Information and artwork courtesy of www.BeachGoesPops.com.

• Cajun Zydeco Crawfish Festival

  Written by Connie Langhorst No Comments
  Last Updated: March 8, 2010

  

  Visitors to Pinellas County and residents alike enjoy the annual Cajun Zydeco Crawfish Festival. 

  If you favor good music, and Creole and Cajun food, then you won’t want to miss it! 

  There will be live music performed by numerous bands, crawfish races, crawfish eating contests, activities for children, exhibits, art displays, food and beverage booths, and dancing . . . lots and lots of dancing! 

  The  family-friendly Festival attracts thousands of participants each year. And, more than ten thousand pounds of crawfish are consumed, although the event also features a variety of food specialties (not all of them hot and spicy). But if you like hot sauce, then this is the place to be!  Various purveyors will offer the concoction for sale. 

  It’s a hot . . . hot . . . hot . . . event!  A lively, foot-stomping and booty-shaking activity with some of the best live Zydeco music anywhere!

  Another spicy hot reason to enjoy a weekend . . . in Paradise Found! 

  EVENT DETAILS:

  The event will take place along the water’s edge at Vinoy Park, Fifth Avenue NE at North Shore Drive, in downtown St. Petersburg (FL).   The Festival begins at 4:30P on Friday (3/12) and picks up again at 12N on Saturday (3/13) and Sunday (3/14). 

  Admission is free for children aged 10 and younger.  The cost is $12 for Friday or Sunday admission, $15 for Saturday, and $35 for all three days.

  For more information about the Cajun Zydeco Crawfish Festival, call (727) 892-5798 or visit www.CajunConnection.org.

  CREDITS:  Photos courtesy of www.CajunConnection.org.

• First Friday in St. Petersburg

  Written by Bob Horn No Comments
  Last Updated: August 21, 2009

  I am telling you the absolute truth when I say this:  When I was a kid, downtown St. Petersburg was dead at night.  Not just slow.  Empty.

  When I hit 16 and got my little used Karman Ghia convertible, I did not drive downtown at night, except during Christmas season.  For a couple of weeks in mid December, stores were open at night and there were actually people there.  But, the rest of the year, downtown was still empty.

  

  Street Scene at First Friday

  A few years later, I rented a big old seven bedroom house on the corner of 4th Street South and 6th Avenue South, and shared the house with several other high income folks such as myself.  Yes, it’s true, I lived on Chicken Pot Pies for a time there.  Anyway, my cheap entertainment was my bicycle, and I loved to ride down by the water, over into Roser Park, and north into downtown.  But I had downtown to myself – streets, sidewalks, everything.  Empty and desolate.

  Not so in 2009!  There are always things going on downtown.  Great restaurants, concerts of every imaginable genre and for all ages, live theater, and more.  And on the first Friday of each month, the city closes off part of Central Avenue and downtown hosts the First Friday Get Downtown Street Party!  It starts before dark and runs ’til 2 AM.  Although it was raining early on Friday night, August 7th, and I wondered if it would even happen, the rains quit by about 7:30 and it was actually pretty cool out for a hot August night.  My wife and I drove downtown, parked in front of Starbucks, and walked a block to the party.  There were certainly fewer people attending than usual, likely because it had been raining.  But, still, they numbered in the hundreds, and everyone seemed to be having fun.

  As we approached the stage set up in the middle of Central Avenue, we heard some Santana riffs drifting through the air. As we got closer, the music sounded better and better. It was coming from Suzette Jennings and the Moodswingz, a local band with a wide-ranging repertoire. They covered contemporary jazz, some soul, some R&B, and even a very nice rendition of  “Ode to Billie Joe”.  Plenty of people focused intently on the band, including lots of folks who had brought chairs with them and set them up in front of the stage. It’s worth mentioning that this was a crowd of all ages, from Gen Y/Millennials to Gen Xers to Boomers, and everybody was having a great time. We saw friends running into one another, couples dancing, women dressed to kill, maybe hoping for something fun to happen, guys dressed as guys dress, maybe hoping for a miracle…

  

  Suzette Jennings and Moodswingz

  There were several bars and restaurants open in the area, but there’s also beer and wine sold on the street, with profits going to local charities. You can do a little drinking and feel good about it, too! So, next time it’s the first Friday night of the month and you’re wondering how you’re going to spend your evening, why not Get Downtown and hit the First Friday party? It’s a fun diversion and a nice change from everyday routine.
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