Localtopia Celebrates St. Pete Indie Businesses, Artists, Nonprofits

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Olga Bof fell in love with the city of St. Petersburg before she ever moved there.

A Cuban raised in Miami, she spent a lot of time in big cities — including a stint living in London — but she “felt there was something really sweet about sleepy St. Pete” whenever she’d visit, she told Patch. “Especially when compared to crazy Miami.”

Decades later, she now calls the Sunshine City home and her life’s passion is promoting everything St. Petersburg have to offer through her independent business alliance, Keep St. Petersburg Local.

The organization hosts one of the city’s biggest events of the year, Localtopia, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in downtown’s Williams Park.

With more than 300 vendors, Bof promises that this 10th anniversary event will be the festival’s largest to date.

When she and her husband moved to St. Petersburg about 15 years ago, it was a much different city.

During their first year in the city, they decided to go out downtown, along Beach Drive, on a Saturday night.

“I’d heard that’s where there was some life … but there was not one soul on the streets,” she said.

That night, Bof’s husband, who spent much of his life in larger European cities, said to her, “I’m too young to die. I’m too young to retire. What is this place,” she recalled.

But even then, she had faith in what St. Petersburg could be, telling him, “You’ll see. You’ll see. I have really high hopes for this place. You’ll see what this place is going to look like.”

An avid reader and book lover, she began planning a business, Cheeky Monkey Books & Toys. As she researched her business plan, she learned about buy local movements in other cities and saw that in many places, bookstores were behind the formation of independent business alliances.

“So, I thought, ‘What if we start something like that in St. Pete? Make people aware of the importance of supporting local,’” she said.

Keep St. Petersburg Local held its soft launch in November 2011. At the time, Bof was working for Suncoast Center, a nonprofit. After four years, KPSL grew to the point where she was able to solely focus on that full time as executive director.

The first Localtopia event, held at Nova 535, served as the organization’s first-anniversary bash.

“It’s been a whole journey. Localtopia really started as our anniversary celebration, back when St. Pete looked very different,” she said. “And I didn’t want it to be all about us. I wanted to celebrate all of St. Pete and its awesomeness — not just Keep St. Petersburg Local — a showcase of St. Pete and all its businesses.”

That first event left her wanting to build something even bigger, an annual event showing everything the city had to offer residents and visitors, from small businesses to local arts and entertainment to nonprofit organziations.

“But I didn’t want it to be at the Coliseum or have an expo-like feeling,” Bof said. “I wanted it to be a special celebration.”

Collaborating with the city, KSPL moved the festival outdoors to Williams Park, where it’s been held ever since.

She recalled one of her first visits to that area of town, years before she moved there, when she came to town for a traveling Titanic artifact exhibition.

“The exhibition was where (St. Petersburg College) is now and Williams Park was right there,” she said. “It was so dead, there were tumbleweeds, and downtown, everything was boarded up.”

By the time she began organizing the second Localtopia to take place in the park, it was still underutilized, she said. “It was the city’s first park and had this great bandstand, and it wasn’t being used in any great way.”

Bof began researching the park, finding inspiration in vintage postcards and photographs.

“I’d find these images of it filled with thousands of people listening at the bandstand,” she said. “And that’s what I pictured for the park.”

That first year as an outdoor festival “was pretty epic,” she said. “I thought it was big enough and had no idea what it could become.”

Williams Park has evolved since then, as well, she added. Other organizers began hosting events there and the city invested in improvements, like repairing the fountain and installing concrete ramps for better access.

Since then, Localtopia has been something to look forward to each year – even early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I was the only crazy one who wanted to put on an event (in early 2021,)” she said.

Their 2020 festival happened weeks before coronavirus began rampantly spreading and much of the world shut down. At this point, it was the largest Localtopia they’d ever hosted.

But she was ready to bring the event back by February 2021. Many of her vendors – small, local business owners – struggled during the pandemic shut down and needed something to bring them hope, she said.

Pinellas County issued an executive order allowing large events barely two weeks before the festival was scheduled to take place. But hosting a public event came with stringent precautions, she said. “We chose to take the beating doing a large-scale event under a county order…we had to contend with all of these rules and regulations – separate entrances and exits, masks. But we still did it.”

That 2021 Localtopia meant a lot to both vendors and attendees, Bof said. “Because of the mission behind the festival, we knew the vendors needed the sales that day and many of them beat their 2020 sales. And those who came out for it, they were ready to get out of their house and do something. A lot of people were excited to be outside and see live music. They hadn’t heard it in a year. It still felt celebratory despite feeling a little bit weird.”

About 40,000 people attended last year’s Localtopia and she expects even more to turn out at Saturday’s event, especially with the influx of new residents to the city.

With the city evolving and new development projects popping up throughout downtown and other parts of St. Pete, Localtopia “is more important than ever,” Bof said.

Especially when new residents to the area “bring their bad habits with them,” she added. “Many of them come here and buy from what they know, which are franchises and chains. If newer residents want a crash course in what makes St. Pete special, they should come to Localtopia. And with so many changes in the city, we’re more motivated than ever to support local and keep that local vibe alive.”