A smiling color guard member leading a flag team down the street during a sunny parade.
St. Pete’s 2019 MLK Dream Big parade. Credit: CityofStPete / Flickr

Every January, St. Petersburg marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a parade. This year, that moment stretches into something larger—and longer.

Under the leadership of the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival, St. Petersburg is in the middle of its first-ever 45 Days of Excellence: a season that begins Jan. 1 and culminates on Valentine’s Day with the ninth annual Collard Green Festival.

At the center of it all, a dedicated team led by Samantha Harris, executive director of the festival, who describes the idea plainly: create one umbrella that honors Black history, resilience, and everyday excellence—not as a single-day observance, but as a lived practice.

“Once you get over one barrier, please know that there are 100 more in front of you,” Harris said on the Tampa Bay Arts Passport podcast. “Excellence represents the attitude you have to have to keep going.”

This post first appeared at TB Arts Passport, which is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP), a nascent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation. If you are a non-paywalled Bay area publication interested in TBJP, please email rroa@ctampa.com. Support TB Arts Passport by subscribing to its free newsletter or becoming a paying Arts Passport Member.

Why 45 days—and why now

The structure is intentional. The 45th day lands on the Collard Green Festival itself, a community-rooted event that began in 2015 with church fundraisers and pressure cookers, and has since grown into one of St. Petersburg’s most expansive cultural gatherings.

Between those two points—Jan. 1 and Feb. 14—the city is highlighting everyday heroes, expanding MLK service grants to run across the full 45 days, and linking health, history, culture, and youth entrepreneurship into a single narrative.

This matters now because the work has outgrown the calendar. What used to be one parade has become an ecosystem.

The MLK Day Parade, reimagined

This Monday’s St. Pete MLK Day Parade is the most visible expression of that shift.

For the first time, the event is officially named the St. PMLK Parade, with a rotating annual theme. This year’s: The Power of a Dream.

The lineup reflects that scale and intention:

  • Three HBCU marching bands—Tuskegee University, Alabama A&M University, and Talladega College
  • Twelve additional middle and high school bands traveling from Georgia and South Florida
  • The Wendell Scott Foundation, honoring the first Black NASCAR race winner—whose victory went unrecognized at the time—with his original race car in the parade
  • Dr. Kanika Tomalin Flowers serving as Grand Marshal

Behind the scenes, Harris says the planning effort involved weekly city meetings and a rotating team of 30 to 40 people—all assembled in under six months.

“It was whatever it took to get this parade up the street,” she said.

Health as celebration, not obligation

The 45 Days of Excellence continue with the I Love Collard Greens 5K & Fitness Extravaganza on Feb. 1 at Lake Vista Recreation Center.

More than 325 participants are already registered for the free event, which includes a fun run, fitness clinics, youth sports activations, and skateboarding and tennis programs. It’s designed to meet people where they are—runners, walkers, families, elders.

“You can skip it. You can walk it,” Harris said. “Whatever way you want to show up.”

That philosophy carries into the festival itself.

The Collard Green Festival: A community reunion

Held Feb. 14 on the historic Deuces Corridor, the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival isn’t just about food—though yes, you will eat collard greens.

The festival is built around three pillars:

  • Food sourcing—understanding where food comes from and how systems affect health
  • Food preparation—rethinking tradition without losing culture
  • Movement—free workouts for kids, adults, and seniors throughout the day

There’s also live music, a collard greens cook-off sponsored by the Woodson African American Museum of Florida, free produce giveaways, youth zones with pony rides and petting zoos, and a full vendor marketplace.

Harris describes it simply: “It’s like a big community reunion.”

Investing in the next generation

That foot traffic fuels something else, too.

The festival’s Next Gen Biz Builders program trains youth entrepreneurs through a six-week course covering financial literacy, marketing, and business development. Participants receive stipends, mentorship, and the chance to sell directly at the festival.

Last year, three student businesses sold out before the festival even ended.

“These kids aren’t going to be on anyone’s job for 30 or 40 years,” Harris said. “Why not help them build something of their own now?”

Excellence as a daily practice

Asked how people can embody the spirit of the 45 Days of Excellence—even if they can’t attend an event—Harris doesn’t point to grand gestures.

“Smile. Say hello. Hold the door open,” she said. “You don’t have to start a nonprofit. Change starts small.”

In a season defined by scale—parades, festivals, thousands of attendees—the throughline is intimacy: people caring for each other on purpose.

Forty-five days is just the frame. The work, as Harris makes clear, is ongoing.

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This article appears in Jan. 15 – 21, 2026.