St. Petersburg is a fantastic venue for outdoor art shows and festivals – most of the time!  As a case in point, the very popular Mainsail Arts Festival, held in downtown St. Petersburg each Spring, just had its 34th annual event a few months ago!  Clearly, the 34 year history shows that Mainsail is a great success – it draws artists from all over the country and art lovers from all over the west coast of Florida.  The climate, the picturesque setting, and the wonderful works of art are an unbeatable combination.  And Mainsail does not stand alone.  St. Petersburg and nearby surrounding cities make up a very popular area for art festivals.  Some of the most noteworthy and highly regarded shows each year are noted in this list:  

•  Tarpon Springs Arts Festival, held each Spring in Tarpon Springs
•  Mainsail Arts Festival, held each Spring in downtown St. Petersburg
•  Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, held each Spring in downtown Tampa
•  Dunedin Art Harvest, held each Fall in Dunedin
•  CraftArt, held each October in various locations around the Bay area 

One thing that you may have noticed is that, of the five big shows that I mentioned, three of them are held in the Spring and two of them in the Fall.  Clearly, this is no accident.  Our Spring and Fall climates are perfect for this sort of outdoor event, and the shows are held in gorgeous settings – beautiful parks, views of the bay or of lakes, just very scenic venues. 

But none of those shows take place in the Summer – as much as we love our weather here, festival organizers know all too well that it would be difficult to attract either the artists or the crowds to an outdoor Summer art show – just a little too hot for comfort!

But, if you’re an art lover and you’d really love to attend a great show without enduring the hot summer days, you are in luck!  Several years ago, a group of Pinellas artists formed an association called PAVA – Pinellas Association of Visual Artists – a nonprofit group run by and for local artists to help them support each other and to foster art in Pinellas County.  PAVA helps member artists, but they also help the community at large, via volunteer efforts to support art related activities in the area.  One of their major events was first conceived of over twenty years ago – members came up with the idea that if they could host a top quality art show in the Summertime in a cool, indoor venue, people would love to attend.

The St. Petersburg Coliseum

And so, they put together the concept of the Cool Art Show.  The actual venue has changed over the years – I remember attending Cool Art several years ago in the gym at the USF St. Petersburg campus.  I’m not sure where else it was held over the past twenty years.  But I do know that last year, and again this year, it’s being held at the Coliseum, at 535 4th Avenue North, in downtown St. Petersburg.  For those who aren’t familiar with the Coliseum, it’s a great old historic dance hall, built in 1926, with huge, open spaces inside and gorgeous hardwood floors.  It’s a very cool building (no pun intended, really), and I will do a post on the Coliseum, complete with photos of the interior, at some future date.

But for now, just know that it’s icy cool inside, and that there will be lots of Cool Artworks, along with the artists, and that the show will be held this weekend, Saturday, July 18th and Sunday, July 19th.   And if, by chance, you read this post after the show date has passed, watch for it next year.  It happens every summer, at just about this same time.  For more details on PAVA, you can check out PAVA’s web site.   For more on the Cool Art show, go directly to the Cool Art web site.

This is a great place to go to see some wonderful creations from some highly talented local artists working in a variety of different media.  And a great chance to check out the Coliseum itself!  Stop by sometime over the weekend – I think you’ll enjoy the show…