{"id":2474958,"date":"2026-06-25T10:51:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2474958"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:51:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T10:51:01","slug":"largo-to-launch-open-container-entertainment-district-near-new-city-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/largo-to-launch-open-container-entertainment-district-near-new-city-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Largo to launch open-container entertainment district near new City Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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New entertainment zone allows alcohol to-go<\/a><\/h4>\n

The city of Largo is establishing a specialized entertainment district that allows visitors to carry alcoholic beverages outdoors by the end of the summer. FOX 13’s Blake DeVine reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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LARGO, Fla.<\/strong> – <\/span>The city of Largo<\/a> is establishing a specialized entertainment district that allows visitors to carry alcoholic beverages outdoors by the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

Pinellas County expansion<\/h2>\n

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What we know:<\/p>\n

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The upcoming “Sip and Stroll” program coordinates directly with Largo’s new $85 million City Hall development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Visitors will have the option to buy alcoholic beverages from approved local establishments and walk with them freely across the designated district.<\/p>\n

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Downtown business expectations<\/h2>\n

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What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

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Abner Morales, who owns Wepaa Puerto Rican Restaurant, has already started designing custom branded cups to prepare for the program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Morales noted that the local landscape has transformed heavily since he launched his business eight years ago when the neighborhood resembled a ghost town.<\/p>\n

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“That’s awesome because we have like 16 employees. We want to keep running this business,” Morales said.<\/p>\n

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Other workers see a path toward becoming a major nightlife center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Cozy Smoke Shop employee Della Julian said the area could mirror New Orleans or develop into a top destination choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“It could feel almost like Bourbon Street in New Orleans,” Julian said. “It could honestly become the new downtown St. Pete, where people prefer to go and have a night out.”<\/p>\n

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Largo structural framework<\/h2>\n

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The backstory:<\/p>\n

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The open-container district will include the blocks surrounding Largo City Hall, which features integrated retail spaces tailored for bars and restaurants.<\/p>\n

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The venue also features a dedicated community courtyard built to hold live entertainment, musical performances and neighborhood gatherings.<\/p>\n

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“We\u2019re hoping the entertainment district really solidifies downtown Largo,” Chris Tillett, the Largo director of economic development, said. “We\u2019re aiming to create a recognizable downtown.”<\/p>\n

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Tillett added the city’s vision extends beyond allowing people to carry drinks outside.<\/p>\n

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“While alcohol and open containers is a component, music venues, art in the park, movies in the park, these are all things that we’re really hoping to sort of showcase downtown,” Tillett said.<\/p>\n

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District operation hours<\/h2>\n

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By the numbers:<\/p>\n

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The outdoor drinking zone will operate from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The weekend schedule shifts from 8 a.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday.<\/p>\n

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Program beverage limitations<\/h2>\n

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What’s next:<\/p>\n

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Municipal leaders plan to have the entertainment zone completely running by the end of summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Visitors of legal drinking age may buy up to two drinks at a time from participating providers, which must be served in city-approved, shatterproof 16-ounce plastic cups.<\/p>\n

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Unconfirmed program specifics<\/h2>\n

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What we don’t know:<\/p>\n

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Officials have also not confirmed the exact security protocols or additional policing resources that will manage the expanded evening weekend hours.<\/p>\n

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The Source:<\/b> Information for this story came from statements from the city of Largo, interviews with city officials, business owners and previous reporting on FOX 13 News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Pinellas County<\/a>Business<\/a>Food and Drink<\/a><\/section><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.fox13news.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New entertainment zone allows alcohol to-go The city of Largo is establishing a specialized entertainment district that allows visitors to carry alcoholic beverages outdoors by the end of the summer. FOX 13’s Blake DeVine reports. LARGO, Fla. – The city of Largo is establishing a specialized entertainment district that allows visitors to carry alcoholic beverages […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2474959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[21796,116640,306499,21818,21738,350017,25423],"class_list":["post-2474958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-business","tag-fl","tag-food-drink","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-pinellas","tag-us"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Largo-to-launch-open-container-entertainment-district-near-new-City-Hall.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2474958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2474960,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2474958\/revisions\/2474960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2474959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2474958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2474958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2474958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}