First West St. Pete Community Picnic Planned At Azalea Park

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Lifelong West St. Petersburg resident Aron Bryce has long seen the attention given to other parts of the city, particularly downtown St. Pete and other nearby neighborhoods, like the Grand Central District, Edge District, Uptown and Old Northeast.

So, he decided to launch an event to highlight the communities in the area — the first annual West St. Petersburg Community Picnic, Sept. 23, 5 to 8 p.m., at Azalea Park.

“It’s personal for me because I was born and raised here,” he told Patch. “I’ve always been very fond of this area and St. Pete, in general, I think is the greatest city. But this is a huge part of St. Pete that a lot of people don’t think about sometimes; it’s on the backburner.”

From the peacocks and Indian mounds in the Jungle Prada area to the Green Thumb Festival at Walter Fuller Park, he’s surprised more people don’t explore this part of the city.

“There’s so much beauty and things that go on in West St. Pete,” Bryce said. “This is an opportunity to showcase West St. Pete. I think people think St. Pete and automatically think downtown, but there’s a lot of life and heart and artistic projects and cultural initiatives that are starting to spread this way.”

As the president of the Crossroads Area Neighborhood Association — and having previously served as vice president of the Eagle Crest Civic Association — he’s brought together multiple neighborhood organizations for this community festival. In addition to Crossroads and Eagle Crest, this includes the Jungle Prada, Holiday Park and Azalea neighborhood associations.

They’ve come together under the city’s Council of Neighborhood Associations, which is the primary sponsor of the event, Bryce said. “It’s a pretty expansive, collaborative effort across multiple West St. Pete neighborhood associations.”

The event grew out of a West St. Pete-wide food drive that he’s organized in recent years with all the local organizations.

“I previously did it with Eagle Crest and had so much success with it, I decided it was something I wanted to expand,” he said. “Previously, we never did anything together or spoke to each other. It brought (the groups) together for a good cause.”

The Sept. 23 event will feature a DJ, a balloon artist, yard games, a bike rodeo hosted by the St. Petersburg Police Department, demonstrations by the SPD’s motorcycle/SWAT/K-9 teams, Birds of Prey, local nonprofit organizations showcasing their services and more.

Food trucks including Shiso Crispy, Slammer Shop, Duke of Ribs, and Uncle Louie G Italian Ice & Ice Cream will also set up at the community festival.

“It’s going to blend a lot of different things and is really about my passion for our neighborhoods and community,” Bryce said.