St. Pete Beach<\/a> tradition is returning \u2014 bringing with it a sense of normalcy, community, and economic relief.<\/p>\nThe Corey Avenue Art & Craft Festival is back this weekend, kicking off its 31st season and transforming the Corey Avenue district into a lively open-air gallery filled with handmade art, jewelry, ceramics, home d\u00e9cor, and wearable art from regional and national artisans.<\/p>\n
For organizers and local businesses, the festival\u2019s return carries special meaning.<\/p>\n
St. Pete Beach was among the hardest-hit communities during the 2024 hurricane season, when Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused storm-surge flooding that damaged storefronts, destroyed inventory, and forced some businesses to shut down for months.<\/p>\n
Festival organizers say events like this are critical to the area\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d said Ken Hautmann, president of the Corey Area Business Association. \u201cIt\u2019s such a financial boost for us to have these here. And we\u2019re excited \u2014 we\u2019re going to have five a year now of the art and craft festivals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local business owners say the renewed foot traffic has been both emotional and economic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate the notoriety from the customers that come in,\u201d said Sherri Talcott, a Corey Avenue business owner. \u201cThey say thank you for reopening. You know, we know this has been hard. Everybody tries to support the areas that were hit hard, and we appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visitors say they weren\u2019t sure what they would find when they arrived \u2014 but many have been pleasantly surprised by how much the area has rebounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really didn\u2019t know what to expect, but it looks great,\u201d said Olivia Kaltved, who is visiting the area. \u201cWe popped into a few shops today, and they are all super friendly and super eager to have customers \u2014 and have people back in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her companion, Chase Kaltved, said the festival highlights how far the community has come since the storms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a nice area, and it looks grown \u2014 you\u2019d never know it was underwater a year ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to come check it out and see what it has to offer. And the beautiful weather is hard to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to dozens of artist booths, the festival also includes a Sunday Green Market and encourages visitors to explore nearby restaurants and boutiques \u2014 helping drive business throughout the historic district.<\/p>\n
Hautmann says the recovery effort has underscored the strength of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve learned after the storm is that we have a great community that we\u2019re a part of,\u201d he said. \u201cThe year-round residents, the tourists, the snowbirds \u2014 everybody has just been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that most hotels have reopened, beaches are back open following nourishment projects, and momentum is building.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just good to get the word out that we\u2019re back,\u201d Hautmann said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re here \u2014 please come and enjoy the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Corey Avenue Art & Craft Festival runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. along Corey Avenue in St. Pete Beach. The event is free to attend and is family- and pet-friendly.<\/p>\n
Organizers recommend arriving early and using nearby public parking or ride-share services, as traffic and parking can be limited during peak festival hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Festival organizers say events like this are critical to the area\u2019s recovery. ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. \u2014 After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-103860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}