ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — It’s going to be a sandy Thanksgiving for a lot of people hitting the beach this holiday season. It’s a stark contrast from last year when two back-to-back storms hit the Tampa Bay area, destroying a lot of homes on the coast and businesses.

At the beginning of this year, “paradise” and “Thanksgiving” were two things a lot of business owners on St. Pete Beach weren’t sure they would be able to offer. But after some cleanup and rebuilding, many of them are back open.

A new building in a larger location on St. Pete Beach isn’t where Ted Stice thought his business, Category 36 Taphouse, would be a year ago.

“We basically were displaced for almost nine months before we got moved into here,” Stice said.

Stice is one of the owners of Category 36 Taphouse. He said their original restaurant location was hit hard by Hurricane Helene last year.

“We took on quite a bit of water at our old location, just like everybody else did. We got the place gutted out and cleaned up pretty good and we’re able to reopen shortly, and then the landlord decided that they were not going to invest in the property, so they terminated everybody’s lease in the plaza,” he said.

But after some hard work and a new location a block away, where they are now is exactly where Stice and his business partner Craig DeBernardo say they should be. The credit a large part of their successful move to help from the community.

“There were so many individuals that helped make this happen. from volunteer of painting the restaurant. To redoing the bar top. To just every little thing you can think of. Cleaning the windows. Just regulars and locals that just stopped by to see if we needed help,” DeBernardo said.

They were known for their 36 draft beers, which is where they got their name from. Now they have a little less now but their specialty meals in their kitchen are still on the menu.

Down the street on St. Pete Beach at Taverna on the Bay, they prepared for a larger Thanksgiving and holiday crowd, too.

“I would say the biggest difference is now we have our community back. It’s nice to see people moving back to St. Pete Beach. Our snowbirds coming back for the winter. We really had none of that last year,” said Taverna on the Bay Manager Chris Donovan.

To make people feel even more welcome, Donovan said the first Thanksgiving after hurricane recovery, they’re offering up something special. It’s something they also tried last year.

“It wasn’t so much confidence as it was just really a need. People needed a place to congregate and celebrate family and life, and we could provide that. Last year, it was much more of that. This year we feel like it’s much more of a celebration of success and the community coming back together,” he said.

It’s something both businesses are hoping will continue throughout the holidays.