The Festival - Nov. 12-15
Booker Creek Arts Festival
Overview
An immersive cultural experience
The inaugural Booker Creek Arts Festival, debuting Thursday, November 12 through Sunday, November 15, 2026, will transform the historic EDGE District in St. Petersburg into a four-day immersive arts experience celebrating creativity, culture, and community. Inspired by Booker Creek, the historic urban stream that winds through downtown St. Petersburg, the festival will feature juried works by hundreds of Florida artists displayed throughout participating venues.
The EDGE District will be transformed into a destination where art, culture, business, and community intersect in dynamic and unexpected ways.
Residents, tourists, collectors, and families will experience the EDGE District as a walkable living gallery featuring visual art, live mural painting, glass blowing, dance, music and children’s activities woven throughout the district. In addition to outdoor activities, central to the festival is a fine art competition in which the artwork is displayed inside district venues, including hotels, boutiques, retail shops, restaurants, cafes, and professional offices. Artists compete for up to $50,000 in jury-awarded prizes, among the largest prize purses for an inaugural arts festival in the region, and visitors participate directly by voting for the People’s Choice Awards.
The festival is expected to attract cultural travelers from across Florida and beyond, encouraging visitors to experience the broader Pinellas County area as part of a long-weekend arts and cultural getaway. In addition to showcasing artists, the event is designed to support hotels, restaurants, galleries, and independent businesses throughout the district and surrounding community.
Visitors will have the opportunity to purchase original works directly from participating creators. By bringing artists and audiences together throughout the district, the festival aims to inspire creativity, strengthen community connections, and create lasting cultural and economic impact for the region.
Our Namesake
About Booker Creek
The EDGE District, and the greater City of St. Petersburg, owe their history to Booker Creek. Flowing from the NE corner of the EDGE District, Booker Creek is one of the last visible remnants of this area’s earliest origins.
The Creek was the epicenter of our earliest settlements, first by the Tocobaga Indians more than 400 years ago, and then, in the 1880s, by the pioneer settlement building the first railway into this area, the Orange Belt. The railway was built along Booker Creek, and terminated at the SE corner of what is now the EDGE District. From that terminus grew what would eventually become the City of St. Petersburg.
Booker Creek supplied critical natural resources for that development. Lumberyards, livestock barns, and other industries were built along the Creek and relied upon it, as did the City’s first municipal services, such as the first full-time fire station and a power plant.
Today, Booker Creek preservation and beautification measures are at the forefront of the EDGE District’s and City’s master planning. These plans include green space and multimodal pathway development along the Creek through the EDGE District and surrounding neighborhoods.
When
Nov 12–15, 2026
November offers a perfect blend of sunshine, gentle breezes and warm temperatures that make spending time outdoors a pleasure.
Where
The EDGE District runs along St. Pete’s Central Avenue between 9th Street (MLK) and 16th Street, and outward to both 1st Ave North and 1st Ave South.
Explore
St. Petersburg
Enjoy a cultural getaway in the Sunshine City, home to world famous museums and independent galleries.
Getting Here
Parking & access
The EDGE District is compact and walkable, and the festival is designed to be explored on foot from venue to venue. It has trolley stops, SunRunner stations, dedicated bike and sharrow lanes, free 2-hour parking and private paid parking. Tropicana Field parking is also available in lots 4, 5, 6,11 and 13. Cost is $10 from 7am-7am next day via ParkMobile.
Plan Your Visit - Stay in the EDGE
Important links
For full details on trolleys, the SunRunner, parking, and bike routes, see the EDGE District’s Getting Here guide.
For our Festival hotel hosts in the EDGE District, see Mint House St. Pete and Moxy St. Pete.
For the Festival Venue Map, click here.
The District
Explore the EDGE District
Event Schedule
Four days of Art
Thursday
Nov 12
- 10 am-6 pm Festival artwork displayed and People's Choice voting begins (*individual venue closing times may vary) District wide
- 10 am-6 pm Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation mural painting by Carrie Jadus Green Bench Brewing
- 10 am-6 pm ArtPhrazeology by John Monteiro - test your skill deciphering the idioms VIV
- 10 am-6 pm Effloresce Pyramids by Dana Blickendorfer - great photo opps Moxy Hotel lobby
-
12 pm
Plein Air Painting Competition Begins, hosted by Richard Seidel
(final registration 11am-12pm at Mint House) District wide - 7 pm "An Evening Illuminated" a jaw-dropping outdoor illuminated visual display produced by HADDY 1301 Central Ave. (watch from Ferg's)
Friday
Nov 13
- 10 am-6 pm Festival artwork displayed and People's Choice voting continues (*individual venue closing times may vary) District wide
- 10 am-6 pm Plein Air Painting Competition continues, hosted by Richard Seidel District wide
- 10 am-6 pm Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation mural painting by Carrie Jadus Green Bench Brewing
- 10 am-6 pm ArtPhrazeology by John Monteiro - test your skill deciphering the idioms VIV
- 10 am-6 pm Effloresce Pyramids by Dana Blickendorfer - great photo opps Moxy Hotel lobby
- 5 pm-6:30 pm Arts Conservatory for Teens live performance Ferg's indoor stage
- 7 pm "An Evening Illuminated" a jaw-dropping outdoor illuminated visual display produced by HADDY 1301 Central Ave. (watch from Ferg's)
Saturday
Nov 14
- 10 am-6 pm Festival artwork displayed and People's Choice voting continues (*individual venue closing times may vary) District wide
- 10 am-6 pm Plein Air Painting Competition continues, hosted by Richard Seidel District wide
- 10 am- 6 pm Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation mural painting by Carrie Jadus Green Bench Brewing
- 10 am-6 pm ArtPhrazeology by John Monteiro - test your skill deciphering the idioms VIV
- 10 am-6 pm Effloresce Pyramids by Dana Blickendorfer - great photo opps Moxy Hotel lobby
- 12 pm-4 pm Duncan McClellan glass blowing demonstrations lot adjacent to 1201 Central
- 12 pm-5 pm Postcard Project with Sarah Norine James - interactive postcard expressions 1201 Central
- 12 pm-5 pm Color a Creek Critter with Alli Arnold - interactive critter illustrating 1201 Central
- 12 pm-5 pm NOMAD Art Bus - interactive community canvas (bus) lot at Cappa Law
- 12 pm-5:30 pm Radio St. Pete broadcasting live Sourdough Co.
- 3:30 pm-5:30 pm Art Battle - mural paint off by No Good Deeds, with audience voting Intermezzo palm lot
- 6 pm-10 pm Go with the Flow Art Show presented by Chad Mize Green Bench Brewing
- 7 pm "An Evening Illuminated" a jaw-dropping outdoor illuminated visual display produced by HADDY 1301 Central Ave. (watch from Ferg's)
- 7:15 pm Winners announced for Juried Awards Green Bench Brewing
- 8 pm People's Choice Voting ends
Sunday
Nov 15
- 10 am-4 pm Festival artwork displayed (*individual venue closing times may vary) District wide
- 10 am-4 pm Effloresce Pyramids by Dana Blickendorfer - great photo opps Moxy Hotel lobby
- 10 am-4 pm ArtPhrazeology by John Monteiro - test your skill deciphering the idioms VIV
- 10 am-4 pm Global Love Project - interactive chalk drawing 11th St. & Central
- 12 pm Winners announced for People's Choice Awards and Plein Air Painting Competition Green Bench Brewing
- 12 pm-4pm Postcard Project with Sarah Norine James - interactive postcard expressions 1201 Central
- 12 pm-4 pm Color a Creek Critter with Alli Arnold - interactive critter illustrating 1201 Central
- 1 pm-4 pm Radio St. Pete broadcasting live Sourdough Co.
- 3 pm-6 pm Festival Jazz (by reservation only at COPAdtsp.com) COPA St. Pete
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