Solstice Celebration, Free Museum Day Highlight SPFestival

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Back for its second year, the SPFestival has been celebrating, visual, performing and family arts throughout the City of St. Petersburg.

The month-long arts and culture festival features 57 events at more than 149 venues by more than 102 organizations and performers during September. This Saturday, Sept. 24, marks the unofficial end of SPFestival with a full day of events taking place.

Three of the major events taking place on Sept. 24 include the Central Avenue Solstice, the Family Arts Festival and Free Museum Day.

Central Avenue Solstice

One of the flagship events of SPFestival, the Central Avenue Solstice takes place from sunrise to sunset, 7:20 a.m. to 7:20 p.m. The event runs the whole seven-mile length of Central Avenue from Tampa Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.

Central Avenue is home to 14 percent of St. Petersburg’s businesses, a mix of retail, restaurants, galleries and more. Attendees can explore an eclectic mix of activities while the sun follows the same east-west path.

Activities begin on the east end of Central Avenue at sunrise with yoga, tai-chi and fitness booth camp. The event moves west with art demonstrations, family activities, markets, restaurant specials and several stages with music and other live performances at more than three dozen Central Avenue locations.

This year’s schedule includes contests, group activities and other features to increase public participation. Event activities are free and the Central Avenue Trolley will be running free all day.

For more information, visit CentralAvenueSolstice.com.

Family Arts Festival

The Family Arts Festival begins in downtown St. Petersburg at noon. The festival-within-a-festival features a diverse mix of activities and entertainment throughout the day, including:

• TBBCA Chalk Walk, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Ten commissioned chalk artists will make creations in South Straub Park. The walk is a free, family-friendly, accessible community event for people of all ages and levels of art appreciation.
• St. Pete Hotglass Workshop, noon to 4 p.m.: The Duncan McClellan Gallery will bring a portable Hot Shop to South Straub Park for free demonstrations and workshops.
• City-Wide Read and Write In, noon to 5 p.m.: Keep Saint Petersburg Local, Keep St. Pete Lit and Saint Petersburg Public Library System invite the public to bring picnic blankets, favorite books or notepads to relax and enjoy South Straub Park. All ages are welcome to the free event.
• Giving Tree Music, noon to 5 p.m.: Giving Tree Music will present a drumming circle in South Straub Park.
• World’s Greatest Kiting, noon to 5 p.m.: Make and fly your own kite with international kite enthusiasts in this free event in South Straub Park.

Arts Alive Free Museum Day

Nine St. Petersburg museums are offering free admission for the day:

• Creative Clay Cultural Arts Center, 1114 Central Ave.
• Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum, 2240 Ninth Ave. S.
• Florida CraftArt, 501 Central Ave.
• Florida Holocaust Museum, 55 Fifth St. S.
• Morean Arts Center, 719 Central Ave.
• Morean Center for Clay, 420 22nd St. S.
• Museum of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg, 255 Beach Dr. NE
• St. Petersburg Museum of History, 335 Second Ave. NE
• The Dali Museum (Pinellas County residents only), 1 Dali Blvd., St. Petersburg

For more information about SPFamily, visit http://spfestival.com/.

Image via Walter, Flickr, used under Creative Commons