What’s Changing on Gulfport’s Beach Boulevard This Year
September 10, 2026
September 10, 2026
The lizard is retired for another year. Saturday's GeckoFest wrapped its 26th run along Beach Boulevard with an estimated 10,000 people moving through seven blocks lined with something like 125 to 200 art, food, and craft vendors, according to coverage picked up by Hoodline. There was a 6 p.m. costumed parade called "March to the Mic," a birthday party for G. Gordon McFly (the 14-foot skateboarding gecko statue that local marine artist Ray Domingo built and installed back in 2022), and a fresh Gecko Queen known as "The Duchess," who took over the sash from 2025's queen, Leslie Gilchrist, at the Gecko Ball on August 29. That ball had to relocate to Stetson University's College of Law campus this year because the Gulfport Casino Ballroom is still working through hurricane repairs.
If you live here, none of that is news. You were probably on Beach Boulevard for at least one night of it. What's more useful, now that the parade has passed and the vendor tents are down, is what actually changed on the ground this year while everyone was watching the calendar count down to Gecko season. And the pattern in that churn tells you something about how this town works that you won't get from just reading a list of what opened.
Look at where Gulfport's most durable additions landed this year and a shape starts to appear. O'Maddy's Bar & Grille finally opened its long-promised second floor at 5405 Shore Blvd S this spring, complete with water views, a separate upstairs seafood menu, and beer brewed on site. Owners Maddy and Joe Guenther had been working toward that second floor for close to 20 years. Not a new address. Not a new concept chasing a new location. The same building, the same owners, the same corner, finally built out the way they'd wanted it for two decades.
That's not an isolated case. According to LocalShops1's downtown Gulfport shuffle, a few blocks down, Stormrunner's Tavern took over the prominent corner at Beach Boulevard South and Shore Boulevard South after Caddy's closed abruptly, and it didn't just replace one bar with another. It built three distinct spaces into that single corner property: the main tavern on the ground floor, a second-floor patio called The Crow's Nest with views over Boca Ciega Bay, and a dog-friendly tiki bar called Bar Kitiki tucked into a thatched-roof cabana out back.
The next example is another building with a history of its own. Gulfport Brewery + Eatery is moving into a 1930s house at 3007 Beach Boulevard South, a building that has cycled through the Port Gallery and, before that, the old Outpost shop. The new owners posted on Facebook in July that their brewing permits had been approved, adding they "can't wait to see this beautiful 1930's home start a new chapter." The building itself is part of the story.
North End Taphouse is opening this fall in the space that used to be T and Me, wedged between Vintage Small Bites & Lounge and Low Tide Kava, right behind the LocalShops1 storefront at 2908 Beach Boulevard South. It will pour 20 taps and run a New York deli-style menu with live entertainment. What makes this one worth watching isn't the beer list. It's who's behind it: Kelly Wright, who already owns Antelope Beads next door, and Wendy Ohlendorf, who owns Vintage. Both owners already operate businesses on that stretch of Beach Boulevard.
Sea Dog Brewery, a Shipyard Brewing Company brand that already runs a location in Treasure Island, is taking over the Artisan Art + Food Collective space after that concept's early September close. Fortunato's, an Italian restaurant with existing locations in South Pasadena and Pinellas Park, is opening its third spot at 3038 Beach Boulevard, a storefront that has cycled through El Chapo Taco and Fish and, before that, the long-running local favorite Peg's Cantina. Both are moving into spaces with previous tenants.
"We can't wait to see this beautiful 1930's home start a new chapter."
Other openings are worth watching, too. Sober Bar opened this year at 3062 Beach Boulevard South in the former Anani Bistro space, running a daytime café menu of espresso, matcha, kava, and botanical teas that shifts into a zero-proof cocktail lounge at night. Owners Sean Hawthorne and Collin Horton built a genuinely interesting concept. Drift & Story, a boutique selling apparel and locally made goods, opened in late May in the former Paw Paw's pet supply space at 3129 Beach Boulevard. Owner Haley Santamaria has said Gulfport's recovery after the recent hurricanes helped push her to open the shop. Arcana, offering tarot and astrology readings alongside reiki and mediumship, held its grand opening June 14 at 1303 49th Street South.
These are all good additions to the neighborhood. There have also been closures and relocations this year. Heavenly Eats & Sweets opened in July 2025 at 2025 49th Street South and closed for good on August 16 this year, a run of just over a year before its owners started looking at Treasure Island or Madeira Beach for a fresh start. Funky Town Boutique, a clothing consignment shop that had been a fixture on the south end of Beach Boulevard, closed at the end of May. LocalShops1 reported owner Jackie Gray Kreuter's blunt description: "Landlord jacked rent." She's still hunting for a new spot months later.
Coastal House Vintage relocated this spring from its original 500-square-foot storefront on 49th Street South to a 1,700-square-foot space in St. Petersburg's Grand Central District.
Beach Boulevard's commercial identity includes established businesses as well as new ventures in spaces where tenants have changed. O'Maddy's proved that a 20-year wait can end in exactly the outcome you wanted.
Worth putting on the calendar this fall:
If you're the kind of resident who tracks what's happening a few towns over too, the same mix of openings and business turnover shows up across the wider St. Pete and Tampa area, including the corridor changes we mapped out in downtown St. Pete's summer openings.
Gecko season will come back around next August, whichever theme the Chamber picks this time. Whether the buildings you're watching now are still standing under the same name will tell you more about this town's real estate than anything a for-lease sign can.
Have questions about what a building's history means for its future, or just want to talk shop about the neighborhood? Let's Connect with the Argelia Vidal team.
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