Yet to the chagrin of many beachgoers in these parts, alcohol is barred from most sandy stretches — save for Treasure Island.
Of course, many people sneak onto the beach with their mai-tais anyway, and risk a fine in doing so.
That might change on St. Pete Beach if the City Commission there passed an ordinance that would change the city's policy on alcohol in public places.
Currently, city law prohibits consumption of "all public streets, all public beach lands, any public sidewalk, any city park, and all private sand beach areas upland of the Gulf of Mexico excluding the conditional use process for special events and special occasions."
But on Tuesday, the commission took a preliminary step toward allowing booze in some places along the beach.
Don't grab a sixer and head there just yet, though; the proposed change would only apply to the cabanas available for rent that line resort beachfronts. That means you can't imbibe on your beach blanket.
Hoteliers have urged the commission to change city policy on drinking at beaches.
If it does pass, it's unclear how easy it would be to enforce, given that someone could easily claim they are about to rent a cabana.
Plus, despite the ban that's already in place, beachgoers bring cocktails onto the sand all the time with little to no consequences. Unless you're chugging Fireball with about 50 of your friends, typically you're okay.
One thing the commissioners may want to consider is banning bars from placing plastic straws in beach-bound drinks, given how easily they fall out of drinks and how harmful they are to marine life.
This article appears in Aug 3-10, 2017.