St. Pete closing down part of Central Avenue for pedestrian-friendly Halloween festivities

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - One of the biggest Halloween parties in the Bay Area is happening in St. Petersburg this weekend.

Two miles of Central Avenue – between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street to 31st Street – will shut down for trick-or-treating, costume contests and a street fair. It will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Police will block off the roadways with large trucks.

The event is free to attend. Additional details can be found here.

City leaders are actually considering a long-term plan to turn parts of the road into a permanent pedestrian mall.

They said the weekend will be a good test-run.

The city recently ditched a program, sprouted from the COVID-19 pandemic, that allowed restaurants to extend dining out onto parking spaces. The issue was a lack of parking. 

However, the mayor said the city is looking at bringing it back in some areas.

"We still haven’t ruled out bringing that back," said Mayor Rick Kriseman. "We are still speaking with businesses in the community, but we certainly had a large segment who didn’t want it.