Get ready for another weekend in St. Pete’s fantastic downtown! This weekend brings on all the fun, from the start of the annual SHINE mural festival to Pops in the Park and more! Highlights include – Thursday: October Movies in the Park (Groundhog Day!), Cocktails and Collections at the MFA, and Opera at the Dali. Friday: Italian food and wine at Albert Whitted, Hymn for Her at the Ale and the Witch, and the SHINE kickoff. Saturday: free yoga at the Sundial, a 90s Nickelodeon costume party, and Pops in the Park (and lots more!). Sunday: yoga and brunch at the Dali, a movie at Green Bench, and Open Streets St. Pete. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

THURSDAY 10/17

Fine Art after 5PM: reduced admission to The Dali Museum, MFA & Imagine Museum

Fine art can be pricey. Thursdays after 5PM, visit the Dali for just $10, the Imagine Museum for $5, and the MFA for $10. Have a glass of wine and stroll the museums for the perfect Happy Hour.

More Dali Museum information can be found here.

Museum of Fine Arts information can be found here.

Imagine Museum information can be found here.

Royal Palm Market

Enjoy live music, food, shopping and craft cocktails every Thursday at 6PM under the royal palms of St. Pete! This weekly night market is located right next to Intermezzo Coffee & Cocktails and features local artists, boutiques, handmade goods, leather goods, wood burning, clothing & accessories, specialty dog treat vendors, soaps, candles and so much more! Bring the whole family including your pets to this free, weekly event.

Art Show at the Vinoy

Admire the works of local artists in the Vinoy lobby from 5:30PM to 7:30PM. Free admission – just head inside the hotel. Check the Facebook page for this week’s featured artist!

October Movies in the Park

Movies in the Park started ten years ago with the Waterfront Parks Centennial Celebration. Over the past decade, Preserve the ‘Burg has presented more than 80 FREE movies on Thursdays in May and October in what has become one of the city’s most beloved traditions. Buy food and drinks from a variety of local vendors or pack your own picnic. Blankets and low-profile chairs are recommended. Secure on-site bicycle valet is available thanks to Coast Bike Share. Arrive early to enjoy the music. Pay-what-you-can donations are accepted to support Preserve the ‘Burg’s mission to protect and celebrate the things that make St. Pete special. Music starts at 7, movies at dusk. This event takes place at North Straub Park.

This week’s movie is Groundhog Day. Full movie list here.

Cocktails & Collections at the Museum of Fine Arts

Cocktails & Collections, held on the third Thursday of each month, is a series of themed events focusing on one of the MFA galleries or special exhibitions. Enjoy live music, a customized docent tour, light bites and art-inspired signature cocktails, all inspired by the different works & artists.

Free for MFA Members, $20 For Not-Yet Members – (members must register and log in to receive discount).

Cash bar after first cocktail.

Opera at the Dali

Experience Opera at The Dali, as singers from The St. Petersburg Opera Company perform on the helical staircase. The performance runs from 6PM to 6:30PM. Learn more here.

FRIDAY 10/18

Friday Night Clay at Morean Center for Clay

Spend your Friday evening playing in clay at the Morean Center for Clay! Be prepared to get dirty for two hours from 7-9PM. of wheel throwing and hand building. Bring a towel, your favorite beverage, and a group of friends or a date for a fun get-together. You’ll get to select your favorite piece at the end of the night and they will bisque and glaze it for you to bring home. Purchase your tickets for $25 online today.

Friday Nights at the St. Pete Shuffleboard Club

It’s not just for the older generation anymore! Join the fun at the world’s largest shuffleboard club to see why this pastime has regained its popularity in the Sunshine City. Free every Friday night from 7PM-11PM, locals and visitors alike flock to this private recreational club. If you’re not sure how to play, have no fear as volunteers are on hand to give you a lesson or two. Bring your own snacks and beverages – local craft beers tend to be a popular choice. There’s often live music or a DJ on-site to keep you shufflin’. Children are welcome and so are well behaved dogs.

Inaugural Italian Food and Wine Fest

Join Gulf to Bay for Food, Fun, Live Music & all the pasta, pizza, cannolis and wine you can eat and drink! This event runs from 6PM to 10PM in Albert Whitted Park.

Hymn for Her at the Ale and the Witch

Head to the Ale and the Witch courtyard for another night of free live music and great drink options! The show happens from 8PM to 11PM. Check out Hymn for Her here.

SATURDAY 10/19

Saturday Morning Market

The Saturday Morning Market is the largest weekly fresh market in the Southeast US, serving around 10,000 customers a week. The market includes 130 vendors, offering everything from fresh produce to homemade soaps to ready-to-eat food from 15 different cultures. The free-to-enter market runs from 9AM to 2PM every Saturday at Al Lang Stadium in downtown St. Pete.

St. Pete Walking Mural Tour

Hear the inside stories of the making of more than 30 murals found in the Central Arts District in downtown St. Petersburg. The four-block tour begins at Florida CraftArt, 501 Central Ave., each Saturday morning at 10AM and concludes at 11:30AM. Call 727-821-7391 or email gallery@FloridaCraftsmen.net to book a tour, which costs $19 for adults and $11 for children. A portion of the proceeds from the tours will be used to fund future murals.

Poolside Yoga and Brunch

If there weren’t enough yoga options for you already, here’s another: poolside yoga at the Hollander Hotel at 8:30 followed by brunch. Salute the sun with Allison Moonbeam Archer then cool off in the Hollander Hotel Downtown St Petersburg’s beautiful pool. All levels are welcome for this slow flow class and mats will be provided as needed. $5 Body Electric monthly and annual members; $10 pre-registered; $15 at the door.

Drag Brunch

Head to the Iberian Rooster’s SubCentral for a morning of food and entertainment! This weekly event starts at 11AM. Drag queens Adriana Sparkle, Nicole T. Lane, and Juno Vibranz bring the fun while you bring your appetite. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.

SUNDAY 10/20

Yoga at The Dali

Come with your yoga mat and get ready to be inspired! Join Lucky Cat Yoga at 10:30 AM every Sunday at The Dali Museum for yoga. Classes are held in the Raymond James Community Room or outside in the Avant-garden, both with incredible views of the waterfront. The cost to participate is $10 for members and $15 for non-members. Tickets can be purchased at the Member’s desk.

Mimosas & Masterpieces: Brunch at the Dali

Raise a glass to an artistic take on Sunday Fundays at Café Gala with Mimosas & Masterpieces! Enjoy a Catalan-inspired brunch, visit the galleries, stroll the grounds, contemplate the Avant-garden, browse the Museum Store and soak in all the brilliance of the world-famous Dali Museum. Enjoy this inspired brunch between 11AM to 4PM. Visit the Facebook event page here.

Movie Night at Green Bench

Movie Night at Green Bench Brewing Co. Showing of the 2012 film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel of the same title. This event is free and open to the public. Bust out the pop-corn, bring your own chair, blanket or pillow and join the fun! Event starts at 6:30PM.

Open Streets St. Pete

Check out Bayshore Drive for a free, car-free event in Downtown St. Pete! Bike, walk, run, skate, hop, dance, stroll – the opportunities are endless – on the streets of St. Pete. There will be music, food, and fun for all.

Throughout the country and the world, cities are hosting “Ciclovia” or “Open Streets” events. Streets in unique parts of the city are shut down to automotive traffic for an afternoon, or a day, and opened up to the general public, free of charge, for a safe and fun opportunity to walk, stroll, skate, bike, skateboard, wheelchair, or just hang out.

The intent is to take one of the city’s largest open spaces (the streets) and make a safe and creative space for people to participate in healthy and fun activities while also gaining a unique perspective of the city in which they live.

This event runs from 11AM to 4PM.

MUSEUMS

Before Dali: Goya – Visions and Inventions

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) is one of the most important Spanish artists of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, celebrated for his revolutionary paintings, drawings and engravings. Goya’s life and works deeply influenced Salvador Dali in his early years, and are considered by many scholars to be the basis for “modern” art, bridging Classicism and Romanticism. Before Dali: Goya – Visions & Inventions, sponsored by Tampa International Airport,  features two alternating suites of first-edition prints, published in Goya’s lifetime, alongside three significant paintings representing unique themes of Goya’s works. The works are on loan from the Meadows Museum, Dallas, TX, home of one of the most substantial collections of Goya. This exhibit runs through November 3rd.

This exhibit now includes a second component: La Tauromaquia. “La Tauromaquia” (1816) is a suite of prints depicting the evolution and history of bullfighting on the Iberian Peninsula. Goya created “La Tauromaquia” between 1815 and 1816, at the age of 69. “Los Caprichos”, a series he had created previously, served as visual criticism on subjects concerning war, superstition, and contemporary Spanish society generally, including anticlerical scenes. Because of their sensitive subjects, few people had seen these works during Goya’s lifetime. Bullfighting was not politically sensitive, and the series was published in an edition of 320—for sale individually or in sets—without incident. It did not meet with critical or commercial success. The artist focuses on the violent scenes that take place in the bullring and the daring movements of the bullfighters. The events are not presented as they are viewed by a viewer in the stands, but in a more direct way.

Flavors of Spain: Photos by Chef Chuck Bandel

The Dalí Museum presents an exhibition featuring food photography and behind-the-scenes looks at restaurant life by Café Gala Chef Chuck Bandel. Bandel’s trips to northern Spain in the summers of 2017 and 2018 allowed him to study in Catalonia at Chef Paco Pérez’s 2 Michelin star restaurant, Miramar, and in the outskirts of the Basque town of San Sebastian at the Restaurante Martin Berasategui. Find this exhibit in the Raymond James Community Room.

Imagined Realities – Virtual Reality at the Imagine Museum

Check out the newest addition to the Imagine Museum: virtual reality exhibits. With five fun, educational options (Google Tilt Brush, Google Earth VR, The Body VR, Apollo 11 VR, and Overview VR), visitors can create stunning 3D artwork, explore the solar system, or visit studio glass hotspots. Make 20 minute reservations online or at the front desk. The Apollo 11 exhibit is available at a reduced $5 price for the month of July and all other exhibits are available for $10 each. This runs from 5PM to 7:40PM on Thursdays and 10:30AM to 4:30PM on Saturdays.

Beaches, Benches and Boycotts

Beaches, Benches and Boycotts” is an original exhibition of The Florida Holocaust Museum. The focus of most Civil Rights history is written about places like Alabama and Mississippi, as if few challenges occurred elsewhere. Tampa Bay remained racially segregated at the dawn of the Civil Rights era and many local institutions and establishments held out on integration for several years after Brown vs. the Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Under “Jim Crow” every aspect of African American life in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and their surrounding cities was segregated. Restricted covenants were in place that segregated residential neighborhoods. African American children had to attend segregated schools that were under-funded and often in disrepair. Blacks could only be cared for at “Black only” hospitals, and other public and private establishments like restaurants and beaches were often segregated – if blacks were allowed in at all. The Civil Rights Movement in Tampa Bay may have had characteristics similar to other areas of the South but its stories are its own. This exhibition will illuminate our region’s struggle with racial equality and shine a light on the local leaders who changed our cities.

The Grasshopper and The Ant and Other Stories: A New Installation By Jennifer Angus at the Museum of Fine Arts

Jennifer Angus (b. 1961), one of the most important installation artists working in contemporary art today, challenges our perceptions and expectations by working in an unusual medium: dried, exotic insects. She creates dramatic and startlingly beautiful effects by incorporating large, brilliantly-colored insects into elaborate patterns inspired by Victorian wallpaper and nineteenth-century book illustration. For this immersive, MFA-commissioned project, Angus will use Aesop’s fable ‘The Grasshopper and the Ant’ as its starting point. This exhibition will run through January 5th.