St. Pete First Fridays

Written by Ashley:

We have been in Florida for a few weeks now, but I feel that we only just started seeing what a true Florida summer is. During the first couple weeks, it rained, it poured, and it rained some more. Although the sun came out every now and then for us to enjoy the beach, for the most part however, the skies were gray, the waves were high, and the roads were flooded. Then, the sun came out, and with it came the people. The Floridians came crawling out of their holes and sprawled out on the beach to soak up the sun. Since the weather was finally nice, we decided to check out some outdoor events, and luckily for us, it was the first Friday of August. On the first Friday of every month, St. Petersburg holds a block party aptly called “First Friday” in the downtown area. According to their website, it is “St. Pete’s biggest block party,” but for that to be true, I think it would have to be their only block party. It only takes up one block of one street… but, it was a lot of fun nonetheless, and I will definitely be back for the next first Friday. You can park for free in the nearby neighborhoods (where we met up with a friend), and the entrance to the event is also free, so really have nothing to loose. Bars line the street and they let you take your drinks on the street to listen to local bands performing on a small stage. If you want to sit outside, I’d recommend that you bring your own chair or get there early and grab one of the outside bar seats. We went to the Five Bucks Drinkery (since that’s where our group was sitting) and enjoyed some very tasty yet very cheap drinks. As the name implies, my rum and coke was approximately $5. Nisheet got a gigantic jar of beer (I’m talking 32oz) for around $10! The food was also tasty and cheap. Definitely try their Mac-N-Cheese Melt which is a grilled cheese with bbq pulled pork and mac-n-cheese (obviously). The sandwich was also only $5.

Afterwards, we decided to check out a different area of town and ended up at The Ale and the Witch…which happens to be my current favorite place in St. Pete. They only serve American small craft beers, and we were delighted to see they had Founders Porter from Grand Rapids, MI on tap! They also have live music in the courtyard area almost every evening. The atmosphere was laid back, the people were friendly, and good music was in the air.