ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The organizers of St. Pete’s longstanding tradition First Friday say lack of support and sponsorships from local businesses is what is causing them to put the event on hold indefinitely.
Kristin Lee and David Lay operate Nightlife Productions LLC and decided to take on organizing the block party style event about two years ago. First Friday originally launched in the 1990s and was run by the volunteer organization, the Breakfast Optimist Club. After shutting down for the pandemic, the original group was looking for another team to take over and Nightlife Productions LLC stepped in.
Both Lee and Lay are from the local band 22N, which used to play at First Friday. They loved the event and wanted to see it reemerge post-pandemic.
“When the event is going on and people are dancing there’s nothing like it,” Lee explained.
Lee says putting on the event each month costs about $12,000. Half of that is for city services like police, sanitation and barricades. The other half are operational costs like insurance and bathrooms.
“To pay off the bills and everything we’ve actually been paying out of our personal accounts to make this work and we just can’t keep up with it any longer,” Lee said.
First Friday is canceled tonight in downtown St. Pete and will be indefinitely.
— Angie Angers (@angie_angers) December 1, 2023
The organizers who took over post pandemic say they’re not getting enough sponsors and have been paying for part of the $12K bill out of pocket. The block party style event started in the 90s @BN9 pic.twitter.com/vp17eKChYY
While First Friday has had a few dedicated sponsors, Lee says the lack of sponsorships and financial support from some of the surrounding businesses that benefit is what led them to make the difficult decision.
“It’s been the sponsorships to keep it running that have been the biggest issue,” she said.
Josh Cameron, who owns and operates Crafty Squirrel, Blitzen Bar and Where’s Jubes, has been a big supporter of First Friday. He says Friday nights bring a large crowd late at night, but without the monthly event that community aspect is missing.
“I think it’s that whole community and getting the locals and tourists all down on that First Friday. I think that’s what we’re really gonna miss,” Cameron said.
The team with Nightlife Productions LLC says they’ve had a few business owners reach out since making the announcement First Friday was on pause and they hope the financial support will be there in the future.
“We’ve had some interest, some people have reached out to me … some local businesses who want to come out to sponsor the event,” Lee said.