It still feels like Christmas here in St. Pete as accolades keep pouring in.
The latest acknowledgment of the Sunshine City's existence comes from a Huff(ington)-Post Travel blog entry that lists St. Pete among four other cities it deems "up-and-coming" tourism cities.
It could only mean one thing: People are starting to notice that St. Pete isn't part of Tampa.
Of course, it's nice to get a shout-out from a national publication once in a while. But for a city that has for years now thrived as a destination for art lovers and beachgoers alike, it seems like the "up-and-coming" label would have begun to grow stale years ago.
The piece points to the Dalì as a major attraction, and of course it is. And while it mentions the city's breweries, which are wonderful, it does not mention the sparkling downtown waterfront, or the miles of lovely beachfront (which are mostly technically in different municipalities, so we'll give them that one).
So, yes, we all get giddy when any part of the Tampa Bay area makes a positive list that will be read by lots of people — or at least by lots of people in other cities included on the list (in this case, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Bentonville [Ark.] and Bend [Ore.]). But we also don't ever want to settle for "up-and-coming."
This article appears in Dec 25-31, 2014.