First Friday In St. Pete Is Back After Almost Indefinitely Cancelling
Good news for our St. Pete partygoers. The monthly tradition of the First Friday block party was almost indefinitely canceled because of lack of sponsors. But thanks to local businesses, the party is back on! First Friday returns to St. Pete in January from 6pm-10pm. The block party has been happening down Central Ave since the 1990’s, so we would have hated to see it go.
We’ve had a lot of great memories at First Friday in St. Pete. We always enjoyed the live music, vendors, and seeing all the people having a great time. Some business owners around Central Ave noticed a 10-15% drop in business the month First Friday was canceled.
The future First Friday?
Nightlife Productions LLC is working to make First Friday even better in 2024 by including increased security and a new setup for foot traffic. The main sponsors include CMK Construction and My Florida Bath. We’re so happy to have the long tradition back!
After the organizer announced First Friday in @StPeteFL was canceled from lack of funding and support, a group of bar owners and businesses got together to make it happen.
— Angie Angers (@angie_angers) January 5, 2024
That means the decades-long tradition of First Friday is BACK tonight from 6-10 pm on Central Ave @BN9 pic.twitter.com/GP6U4SoFzf
Why was First Friday in St. Pete canceled for December?
The cost of putting on the event has gotten more expensive over the years, with seeing no profit. Organizers now say they are out of cash. Kristen Lee, Director of Operations for Nightlife Productions, LLC told the St. Pete Catalysyt “It costs $12,000, with no profit to us at all. It’s a lot of work”. Half of the money goes to the city (to pay for police presence and other fees), and the rest covers insurance, sanitation, live bands, and other city and state fees. Sponsors usually pay the bill but if they don’t have enough, the organizers end up paying out of pocket.
Even though they had a major sponsor this spring, the organizers and city agreed to postpone the summer First Friday dates. Because of the record heat wave we saw this summer, the July and August dates were postponed.
