Things to Do in Saint Petersburg

Bored with the staid security of corporate life, Eloyne and Bradley Erickson founded Grand Central Stained Glass & Graphics in 2006, dedicating themselves to bringing their love of fine art to the community. Focusing on decorative glass, the shop sells beautiful pieces and commissioned work, intensively collaborating with customers to create unique, colorful doors, decorative windows, or whimsical alien-observation tanks. Its regular classes teach pupils how to fuse and color glass in small workshop settings, and jewelry-making sessions teach aspiring artisans how to use wire to craft custom adornments. The shop’s giclée printing services reproduce photos and art with an Epson Stylus Pro 9800 printer, which obsessively corrects color until clients are satisfied with each piece's final balance.

Mac’s Sports was born as the Beach Store in 1938, a general shop that supplied visitors of the neighboring beach with groceries, newspapers, fishing gear, and snack food. After the owners and their kids moved to New Mexico during World War II, the shop was renamed Mac’s and became a hit with youngsters due to its sought-after candy bars and heroic staff of swamp things. Though the original owners would soon repurchase their former business, its new name stuck, and the store would eventually evolve into Mac’s Dive Shop with a renewed emphasis on watersports and outdoor recreations. Mac’s has since opened two more in locations in Tampa and Clearwater, and its team boasts well over a century of cumulative scuba-diving experience.

Underwater jaunts remain the central focus of the shop, where instructors help students earn their gills with conveniently scheduled scuba-diving courses. After graduating from the open-water certification program, beginners can finally pull back the kelp curtains of their suspiciously private aquatic neighbors, and experienced divers can seek advanced education in higher-lever diving techniques and digital underwater photography. Group classes and guided dives take place nearly every day, and the shop’s MacDaddy boat bobs in anticipation of chartered dives and fishing trips throughout the week.

Located in the shadow of the Marriott hotel, Clearwater Jet Ski and Parasail outfits beachgoers with the equipment to safely speed across or sail above the waves. Its three-seater jet skis kick up massive wakes as they roar over the sapphire surface of the water, and tandem kayaks trundle along. Staff-operated speedboats tow parasails behind them, passengers getting a seagull’s view of the waves and a firm understanding of how silly the dog paddle looks from a distance.

The images of sharks and turtles swim across a 44-foot-tall mural created by Guy Harvey to welcome patrons into Surf Style's 55,000-square-foot shopping center, which the Tampa Bay Times called to “a baby Grand Central Station.” The artist's designs adorn an entire section of the center's racks of surf clothing, while other areas stock gear such as skateboards and skimboards.

Elsewhere, the sounds of crashing water and cheering bystanders lure shoppers to the FlowRider, a self-contained wave-pool machine that mimics some of Mother Nature's biggest waves. The machine incorporates aspects of surfing, snowboarding, and skateboarding and allows boarders to execute aerial maneuvers straight out of a pogo stick's wildest dreams. Visitors stow their cars in Surf Style’s six-level parking garage as they shop in the store or ride waves at nearby Clearwater Beach.

The third annual St. Pete Oktoberfest, hosted by the Grand Central District Association, is St. Petersburg's largest beer festival, featuring craft-beer tastings and live music. Attendees can tipple samples from dozens of breweries, including Bell's Brewery, Dogfish Head, Sam Adams, Angry Orchard, and many others. A home brewer's challenge on Friday tests out homebrewed beers against old favorites, so home-beer enthusiasts can test out their recipes on actual people instead of the wild deer that show up in their backyards.

In addition to the extensive selection of microbrews and iconic beers, the two-day street festival also features live music, including performances from singer-songwriter John Kelly on Friday. Saturday's music merges rock, blues, jazz, and funk, with performances from Florida-native Damon Fowler, Bobby Lee Rodgers Trio, and Serotonic.

Sky Pirate Parasail's U.S. Coast Guard–licensed captains slip through John's Pass between Madeira Beach and Treasure Island while towing parasailers who glide under kaleidoscopic chutes tethered up to 1,200 feet in the air. After fastening their passengers, who range from school-aged kids to grandparents, into a secure harness, they fill the parachute's canopy with air and shuttle the skyward rider over the saltwater waves for an aerial jaunt. As the captain slackens the line and traces the coastline from offshore, the parasailer floats over the beach, the dolphins, and the gelatinous blob monster waving at sunbathers.