{"id":229677,"date":"2026-04-13T12:33:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/229677\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:33:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T12:33:39","slug":"st-cloud-approves-outdoor-alcohol-consumption-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/229677\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Cloud approves outdoor alcohol consumption extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. CLOUD, Fla. \u2014\u00a0St. Cloud city leaders are extending the number of days that people in the downtown area can enjoy alcohol outdoors in the entertainment district to seven days a week.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

St. Cloud city leaders voted on Thursday to extend outdoor alcohol consumption to seven days a week, replacing the previous timeframe of only Wednesday to Saturday
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The hours will remain 11 a.m. to midnight
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Businesses in the entertainment district share they’re happy about the extension, saying they believe it will draw more people to visit downtown\u00a0\u00a0
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St. Cloud is also working to establish a parking garage in the downtown area to expand capacity<\/p>\n

The city council voted on Thursday in favor of the extension, taking effect immediately. The former entertainment district alcohol consumption timeframes were Wednesday through Saturday<\/a>. The hours will remain 11 a.m. to midnight after the city council previously discussed extending hours to 1 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot less confusing. People don\u2019t have to try to remember, \u2018Is that today, or is that not today?\u2019 Also, it\u2019s a benefit to our downtown businesses. So, we\u2019re hoping that it drives more people to come down, enjoy our beautiful shops and restaurants, our beautiful downtown area, and enjoy just everything we have to offer here,\u201d St. Cloud Communications Director Maryemma Bachelder said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

To participate, residents must purchase an authorized 16-ounce cup, which can be purchased in a handful of downtown bars and restaurants. With the cup, they can carry drinks with them from one business to the next in the entertainment district. The district is located between 9th Street and 13th Street. From east to west, it begins on Florida Avenue and extends to Massachusetts Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic development is a key focus for the city right now and for our city council. We recently hired a new economic development consultant to help us drive job growth and business growth in St. Cloud, and downtown is a key component of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bachelder said the city is working to build a parking garage in the downtown area as well to increase parking capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat, we are hoping, is going to drive even more people downtown,\u201d Bachelder said.<\/p>\n

The city also began hosting a weekly market for veterans<\/a>, called \u201cSoldier City Sundays\u201d in November at Veterans Park. The resource market is for veterans and civilians alike.<\/p>\n

Laura Figueroa is the owner of Cakes Pastries and More in the St. Cloud entertainment district. Though her business does not sell alcohol, she said she believes the new regulations will encourage people to visit downtown and consequentially visit shops like her own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love downtown. This is like a home. In this time, it\u2019s so hard to find that kind of family and together love. Here we have it,\u201d Figueroa said. \u201cWe used to have an amazing wine walk. I don\u2019t sell alcohol, but the turnout always is good. So, people like to enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she is open seven days a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cDowntown St. Cloud is like a home, and we are about each other. So, we have an initiative about bread. It\u2019s called the \u2018Heart of Downtown Loaf\u2019 where you name the price. I don\u2019t charge you anything, so you can choose, and also you can pay it forward for anyone in need,\u201d Figueroa said, stating this is an effort she hopes will reach more people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. CLOUD, Fla. \u2014\u00a0St. Cloud city leaders are extending the number of days that people in the downtown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,274,770,2204,24498,634,2287,115,139,141,140,6505,1976,278,2032,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-229677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-community-news","11":"tag-instagram-n13","12":"tag-jordan-mead","13":"tag-local","14":"tag-local-politics","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-orlando","17":"tag-orlando-headlines","18":"tag-orlando-news","19":"tag-osceola","20":"tag-osceola-county","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-trending-topics","23":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229677","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=229677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}