Displaying items by tag: Downtown

On September 25th, Clearwater’s 4th Friday event returned from its summer hiatus, and the “party in the street” was a great success, drawing large late afternoon crowds to the Cleveland Street District for food, music and fun.

On Thursdays, beginning this week and continuing through November 19, Achieva Credit Union and the Downtown Development Board will host lunchtime concerts in Station Square Park.

This week’s concert in the park from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the 600 block of Cleveland Street, features the acoustic contemporary sounds of Sal Beloise. In the coming weeks, other musical genres will be featured including Latin, jazz, pop, rock, country and blues.

Come enjoy a wonderful selection of tunes from Gershwin to Count Basie as well as contemporary big band hits in the great acoustics and cool surroundings of the Peace Church sanctuary.

A Big Band Concert featuring the sizzling sounds of the Helios Jazz Orchestra will take place at 3:00 pm on Sunday, October 11th. The Helios Jazz Orchestra is known for their swing, Latin and jazz tunes. Under the baton of trombonist David Manson of SPC, this 20 piece jazz orchestra includes some of the Tampa Bay Area’s most talented instrumentalists.  Band members have performed with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Henry Mancini, and Burt Bacharach.

The return of 4th Friday in Downtown Clearwater is getting more exciting. In addition to performances by Level 10 and Jose Valentino, Tampa Bay’s popular jazz radio station Smooth Jazz 98.7 in conjunction with Ruth Eckerd Hall will be on location providing entertainment prizes with drawings held throughout the night.

The City of Clearwater’s Community Redevelopment Agency received an Award of Distinction at the International Downtown Association’s 55th annual conference in Milwaukee this September. The award was given in recognition of the city’s active program to recruit new retail, business and restaurant enterprises, and for the Cleveland Street District, the new name of the city’s recently redeveloped downtown.

On September 3rd, the sculpture “Linear V” by Jarrett K. Hawkins was erected on Cleveland Street in Downtown Clearwater, joining “Going Green” by Jack Howard Potter which went up a week prior on August 27th. The sculptures are part of Sculpture 360: Season II. A third piece, coming soon, will fill out the series.

The 30th Anniversary of Clearwater’s Jazz Holiday begins this September 25th in real jazz style with the Clearwater Downtown Partnership kicking it off at their popular 4th Friday Clearwater Party on Cleveland Street event. Performances none other than local jazz celebrities, Level 10 and Jose Valentino, will infuse the crowd with their jazz inspirations. Two city blocks will be closed down in the Cleveland Street District to cater to the expected 1500-plus party-goers in attendance. The party is FREE and the details are as follows:

It is just after Labor Day, but in Downtown Clearwater it might as well be spring. It seems as if every day a new establishment is “springing” up, and blossoming in the Cleveland Street District.

On August 27th, the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce helped welcome the newest addition to the Cleveland Street District, Anytime Fitness, with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Peter Gillham’s has undergone some major renovations and changes in the last year and this month they are taking their biggest step – expanding into a natural foods store.

When current Executive Director Shelley Jaffe began working at the store nearly a year ago, she surveyed the store’s customers to see if they were getting all of the products they wanted. She also surveyed people who didn’t shop at the store to find out why and what they wanted as well. The results of these surveys have inspired the greatest expansion Peter Gillham’s has seen since he opened his original Clearwater store in 1979.

I had been anticipating Clearwater Fashion Week from the event’s first press release. As soon as I read the words “designer clothes at sample sale prices,” I knew it was going to be a good event, but what it evolved into was beyond my expectations. When I stepped inside Station Square’s first floor retail space, it was like walking into an industrial-chic, converted warehouse boutique in SoHo, New York.

Opening night on Wednesday, Sept 2nd, brought out the “who’s who” in Clearwater, and then some. City Councilman George Cretekos was there, shopping with his wife, and Mayor Hibbard was on the scene early as well. Paul Wilson of Wilson Media & Advertising and the Sunscreen Film Festival hosted the night’s fashion show, and TV star Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars, Moonlight) stopped by to lend his support to friend and fashion show producer Sarah Clouden. Clouden, who has eight years experience producing fashion shows and even her own line of lingerie in Europe, directed the runway shows for the week.