We would like to thank all our members this holiday season. Your membership and participation in your neighborhood association is crucial to continuing our mission to improve our neighborhood and bring neighbors together. We are so grateful that there has been such an outpouring of support from our neighborhood. We have seen so many new faces! Hopefully, you have met at least one new neighbor through being a part of the neighborhood association. If you have not, please join us at a future meeting or event. Besides home holiday parties, below are some of the ways we celebrated the holidays here in Crescent Lake:
Holiday Movie in the Park
On a beautiful cool Saturday evening in December we held our Holiday Movie in the Park: Polar Express. The event was in our historic baseball field, Huggins-Stengel Field, under the Crescent Lake Water Tower. You could not ask for a more idyllic setting for a movie. Concessions were sold by TASCO, our partner, to benefit their teen programs. Children were handed bells with tags reminders that the bell still rings for those who truly…Believe. Our council member, Darden Rice, gave opening remarks. In the opening remarks she shared a little bit of history on the event location. Below are some highlights from her remarks on our field of dreams and how you should never stop believing:
This land here, along with the lake, and 56 acres surrounding it was owned by C. Perry Snell in the early 1900s. He envisioned turning the property into a city park and in 1919 sold it to the city of St. Petersburg to turn it into a public park for $30,000, below what the land was valued at the time. Mr. Snell’s vision and generosity left its mark on our great city by ensuring the preservation to public uses of this great park. Soaring above us is a local landmark, the 175-feet high Crescent Lake Water Tower built in 1923. Its mural was painted in 1992 by Artist Tom Stovall and restored in 2017 to its original glory. In 1924, Mayor Lang convinced the New York Yankees to bring the Yankees to St. Petersburg. This baseball field was built for them and “made to measure” for Babe Ruth who was the home run king at the time. The New York Yankees trained here from 1925-1961, followed by the New York Mets (1962-1987), and the Baltimore Orioles (1992-1995). Baseball greats such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Cal Ripken Jr., Roger Maris, Tom Seaver, Daryl Strawberry, Dwight Golden, Nolan Ryan, and Willie Mays played right here at Huggins-Stengel Field. Even Marilyn Monroe once visited the field. You can see some of the original lockers and photographs inside the building here. I share a little bit of history because this movie tonight is about believing. So never stop believing – believing that you can make a difference, leave your mark in this world such as the visionary who gave us Crescent Lake Park, or the artist that paints a mural, or the baseball greats who make baseball history.
We are so happy that we could bring this event to you this year. This event was one of our original goals back in 2016 for 2017. This event was made possible by Crescent Lake Neighborhood Association, TASCO, and the City of St. Petersburg. We look forward to having you join us for next year’s Holiday Movie in the Park.
Deck the Lake with Christmas Cheer
A few years ago, some neighbors got together to spread “Christmas cheer for all to hear” by caroling in the neighborhood. A year may have been taken off to rest the vocal cords and fine tune the melodies. This year we are happy to announce that the song sheets were dusted off for a memorable night of Decking the Lake with some Christmas Cheer on December 22nd. We could not make every house, but you may have heard us in the neighborhood last night. As you may know, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. We found that the Christmas spirit is definitely alive in the Crescent Lake Neighborhood! Our member, Linda Giandiletti, was the caroling leader. We met at Linda’s beautifully decorated home to prepare for our evening out with some light hors d’oeuvres and our libations. A big thank you to Linda for coordinating this most fun event!
