Downtown St. Pete brings back New Year's Eve event that focuses on art and artists

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A family-friendly New Year's Eve event was canceled last year due to lack of sponsorships after the pandemic but it's returning to Downtown St. Pete on Sunday evening. 

First Night St. Pete will host its 30th year in North Straub Park from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event is centered around local art and artists.

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"We have a very vibrant and amazing art community here. I feel like it's a little lesser known about here. St. Pete isn't quiet on the map. I think it will soon," Gaby Rosa said.

Board Member Leslie Curran said it was a difficult decision to cancel the event last year.

"You never want to cancel it because you don't know about bringing it back. After COVID, we lost a lot of our volunteers, and we can't do this without volunteers and sponsors," she explained.

Fortunately, The Rays and Hines group both stepped up as presenting sponsors along with Visit St. Pete-Clearwater.

"The other thing we did this year, we're not charging. It's a free event. Every other year, you'd purchase a button to get into all the venues, this year we were very, very pleased that the Rays-Hines group stepped up," Curran shared.

The event features everything from a literary village to urban-African ballet performances. There is also a "drum circle to the interactive arts village," according to Curran. 

The labyrinth is a fan-favorite where visitors can write down wishes for the next year and present them.

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The event concludes with a tradition, the bubble stomp, where kids stomp out bubble wrap to welcome the new year.

For more information, click here.