Sunsets at Pier 60

Every evening, people flock to the Pier 60 Park on Clearwater Beach for the nightly sunset celebration.  Beginning about two hours before sunset and extending two hours after sunset, this free family event has something for everyone.

No matter what your artistic preference, you’ll find it at Pier 60.  Enjoy the fun and entertaining street performances.  Live music is always a given.  And even movie buffs can get their entertainment preferences met; the festival features sunset cinemas – a free movie every night.

If you tire of the live performances, check out the other artists.  Shop the wares of local artisans and crafters.  There are so many talented artists out on the Pier – everyone from jewelry makers to hair braiders are present.  Plus, shoppers can purchase soaps, guitar pick jewelry, spray paint art, hand crafted night lights, photography, candles, and so much more.

Inspired?

Perhaps viewing all the local public art will inspire you to share your own.  If you have something to offer the art community, or if you want to get noticed, the art exhibits at Pier 60 at Clearwater Beach may be just the opportunity you need to get some exposure.

Sell Your Stuff!

Pier 60 is a very lucrative spot for artists.  People are drawn to the pier because of the sunset, but also because of the vibrant art community.  Imagine how great your art will look with the amazing backdrop of a Clearwater sunset.

If you are interested in becoming a Pier 60 artist, visit the celebration’s website.  You can get information about the application process, the dos and don’ts of selling, and lots of other helpful information.

A Vibrant Scene

Will you be one of the people who flock to see the public art at Pier 60 in Clearwater, Florida?  Or perhaps you’ll be one of the lucky artists to display your talents in this amazing venue.  Either way, you’d be wise to at least check out Pier 60 at sunset; the sun cascades into vibrant hues and colors as it dips below the horizon.  What an inspirational and naturally beautiful scene!

Have you been to Sunsets at Pier 60 yet?  The nightly festival is packed full of family-friendly activities – including an arts and crafts fair, street shows, and live musical performances.  The nightly event also features Sunset Cinema – movies at dusk.

This time of year, the Sunsets at Pier 60 fun usually lasts from 6pm until 10pm on Clearwater Beach.  As long as the weather holds out, you can expect this family fun to take place every night.

Are you worried about the expense associated with an evening of entertainment for the whole family?  Have no fear; Sunsets at Pier 60 won’t cause financial distress.  The nightly entertainment is free!

Movies start at 8pm (or dusk) on Friday and Saturday.  Bring a blanket to lounge on or a low sitting chair to relax in.  You’ll be able to watch the movie on the jumbo screen on the beach.  What fabulous outdoor entertainment!  And don’t worry; popcorn and soft drinks will be available.

If you want more information, check out the event’s website.

Upcoming Movie Schedule

Want to know what movies are scheduled for the rest of April?  We’ll tell you!

April 26 – Dolphin Tale (PG)

Come out to Clearwater Beach at 7pm for a red carpet meet and greet with the Winter mascot!  Then, stick around for the movie.  This 2011 family drama stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Kris Kristofferson, and Morgan Freeman.  The film is based on a true story.  Winter, the bottlenose dolphin, was rescued off the Florida coast.

April 27 – Pitch Perfect (PG13)

This 2012 American musical comedy is a riot!  The storyline follows an a cappella group at an all-girl college.  The Barden Bellas must compete against another a cappella group from their college to win nationals.  Come out on Saturday to see how The Barden Bellas fared in this hilarious musical production.

April 28 – Les Miserable (PG13)

This 2012 British musical drama is based on the 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo.  It stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Ann Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried.  Follow along as an ex-convict becomes the mayor of a French town, agrees to take care of an illegitimate child, and tries to stay one step ahead of the determined police force.  This award winning story, that spans 17 years, will enthrall and entertain everyone in the audience.

Come out to watch a Sunset Cinema at Clearwater Beach.  The family will love it!

New plans are in the works to attract both children and military enthusiasts.

The Younger Crowd

The city of Clearwater is hard at work to bring a tourist attraction to the beach that is perfect for Florida’s youngest tourist.

The city hopes to build a massive playground at Pier 60 Park.  In addition to all the other exciting things happening at the Pier – street performers, fishing, craft fairs, outdoor movie festivals, and more – young families will now have something to keep them entertained too.

Tonight, the Clearwater City Council will vote on the plans for a massive playground, designed to mimic a sand castle.  The structure won’t come cheap – it has a half-million dollar price tag.  However, that isn’t too surprising.  Apparently this massive, high-tech jungle gym will stand the test of time.  Specifically designed to withstand Florida’s baking sun, blowing sand and gusting winds, this playground will be the dream of both Clearwater Beach locals and tourists alike.

The Military Crowd

In addition to voting on the playground, the Council will also vote on plans to build a $100,000 flag plaza.  Located between Pier 60 and the Clearwater Beach Roundabout, the plaza will be home to US. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard flags.

While plans for the playground have been finalized, the flag plaza has yet to be designed.  However, we’ll all learn soon enough if these two tourist attractions will have a home on Clearwater Beach.

Check back later to see how the Clearwater City Council voted and if the area will have these beautiful attractions.  By September of this year, the landscape of Clearwater Beach might be vastly different!

Among the recommended things to do in Clearwater Beach are as follows:

Visit Busch Gardens for an Adventure Day Trip

Busch Gardens has so much in store for nature lovers who want to see animal habitats up close. Check out their walking tours where you get the chance to visit the habitats of rhinos, zebra, chimpanzees, gorillas, lions and lots of other wild animals. Enjoy their Serengeti Safari tours giving you the opportunity to ride the 90 degrees dive coaster. Enjoy their live daily entertainment or experience an adrenalin rushing dive while riding the Gwazi roller coaster.

Check Out the Florida Aquarium

Get the chance to witness 10,000 species of animals and plants on a 500,000 gallon observation tank. Diverse types of coral reefs are included in such attraction. But the most exciting part when visiting this place is the chance to swim with 1,600 various species of sea creatures. The thrill can even be heightened when it’s your first time to go under water. Your kids will definitely love its 24 feet high pirate ship as they join a treasure hunting game in its Explore a Shore discovery zone.

Hop Into Its Adventure Island

If spending time in water is your idea of fun then this place can be your best destination. Imagine yourself diving into their 30 acres wave pools and enjoying your glide on their tube trips and glides. If you want a more thrilling activity, avail of their cliff jumping, rope walk, cable drop and slides. You can visit and explore the place’ rainforest too. Fabians Funport also offers friendly pool for kids equipped with water gym, bubbler springs and wave pool.

Treat Yourself to Island Way Grill

Your holiday will not be complete without the savoury treat that you can never find somewhere else. And what better dishes will there be than the freshest sea food that was just harvested from the ocean at the same day that you eat it. This restaurant makes sure that their dishes are fresh by travelling to the ocean daily to serve you the freshest seafood option.

So make your best pick and plan out your Clearwater Beach visit well. After all, opportunities like these rarely happen in a lifetime.

One of the most famous attractions of Clearwater beach is its Parasailing. Otherwise known as “parakiting” or “parascending”, parasailing is the country’s fast growing sport where one glides on the air while on a parachute that is being towed by a motorboat. This type of activity is very common in Clearwater Beach.

What Happens Before Taking Off

If you haven’t tried parasailing in Clearwater beach, you may be imagining yourself running on the beach before taking off. However, you need to know that a winchboat technology will make the entire experience efficient and comfortable for you. You don’t need to do anything to lift yourself up, let the crewman and the captain do the work for you. All you need to do is to sit on a robust and safely designed harness that is connected to an inflated chute. The action begins when the captain will speed up the boat while reeling out your towline at the same time through a hydraulic winch. The line will be lengthened as you slowly drift up to the air. You will gradually feel as if leaving the world behind you. This time, you are on your own, afloat on the air while things below are getting smaller and smaller.

Enjoying Your Ride While Soaring Like an Eagle

Finally, you know how it feels to soar like an eagle. All of a sudden, the huge land down below is nothing but a small island when seen from above. The breathtaking scenery is something that you rarely see in your whole lifetime. So, enjoy every moment while afloat above for the time gets shorter and shorter as you start to enjoy the scenery down below.

Freefall- The Most Thrilling Part of the Ride

Many people claim that the most exciting part in parasailing is the Freefall. You won’t really know when you will finally be ushered to the boat’s deck as the captain tries to make the entire experience exciting for you.  He will simply stop the boat so the gravity will have the power this time to pull you down. However, you may get soaked with ocean water even up to your waist before the captain will finally pull you back to the flight deck.

Parasailing experience in Clearwater Beach is surely exciting and this is one activity that you will long to repeat over and over again.

Clearwater beach is famous for its visitor usability and family-friendly atmosphere.  While locals have known it all along, now the rest of the country will be clued in too!

Clearwater Beach Rules on Facebook

Clearwater Beach also received so much support from its Facebook fans. More than 144,000 have viewed its Facebook page, 8,000 liked it and 1,700 shared it to their friends. This beach deserves all the fame that it got. After all, they went out of their way, renting a private plane carrying their banner across the beach to promote their business and urged people to vote for them.

Winning the Poll is Everybody’s Pride

Clearwater Beach’ CEO and President; Darlene Kole was ecstatic upon knowing the good news about their beach’ good fate. After all, this will give them enough reason to brag their business. The result of the poll is the collective expression on how the people find their resort. And because we know that the voice of the majority is the most reliable source of product information, this will surely affect their pool of visitors as well. It is indeed a good way to start business this year for Clearwater Beach! However, Darlene Cole is not the only person who was overjoyed upon hearing the news. Their government officials find this as a good opportunity to boost their tourism as well. Even their local residents and hoteliers were thrilled knowing that they made it to the top. According to Cole, they now have the right to brag their pristine white beaches, restaurants, hotels, beachwalk, marina and other famous attractions.

Being ranked as the number 1 beach in the country will surely have great impact to Clearwater Beach. This simply means expanding their market to Europe and Midwest. And the resort’s adjacent location to Tampa International Airport will even create a crowd of tourists who will visit the place. Thanks to the poll conducted by USA Today, business in Clearwater Beach will definitely never be the same again!

Tops in the Rank of Most Visited Destinations

Survey shows that Clearwater beach tops the list of tourist destinations at any time of the year. It comes with a subtropical climate at 73 degrees, making it a comfortable place to stay during holidays.  Though the most comfortable climate can be experienced in this place during spring and fall, many tourists still flood the place to relieve themselves from life’s daily pressure.

Has Endless Entertainment

You have unlimited entertainment options when you visit Clearwater Beach whether you are seeking for amusement by land or by sea. The inviting sugar white beaches entice many beachgoers. Welcome the heat of summer by diving into its refreshing beach water. However, you are not limited in your entertainment by swimming alone. You may hop into one of their beach tours, soar the air through a parasail or have fun with their rented jet ski. But if you want to enjoy a serene moment on your own, fishing can be your best choice. Be entertained by their musical performers and musical acts. If golf is your favourite past time, this place can also be your best choice.

It Offers Plenty of Budget Options

Clearwater beach also caters to tourists from different economic status. They have expensive high end accommodations and budget friendly places for you to stay. Hence, you can always customize your vacation according to your intended budget. You don’t have to fret about the possibility of overspending.

Highly Ranked by Majority of Its Visitors

After all that has been said and done, the visitor’s rating still matters most. If you will read through a written Clearwater beach review, you will find out that it has received high ratings from many of its tourists. In fact, many of them find the clear water and natural beauty very captivating. Hence, most of them plan to go back after their first visit.

You can never get enough when you visit Clearwater beach and this feeling will give you the drive to visit the place again. But the best thing about Clearwater beach is the hospitality of the people who are in this place which makes Clearwater beach as a destination worth visiting for.

Spending Time on the Water Can Be so Much Fun

If you want to find pleasure in their water activities, then you would not want to miss their jet ski rentals, fishing charters, boat tours and “pirate ship” cruises. Get the chance to witness the dolphins up close in the Gulf waters on one of your travels. Experience how it feels to be on a parasail flight and have the advantage of knowing how Clearwater beach appears from above. You will be surprised to discover a breath taking view as you soar 800 feet high on the Gulf of Mexico.

Visit Pier 60

Your stay in Clearwater Beach will never be complete if you haven’t gone to Pier 60. This is the most visited part of the place. Kids will surely enjoy its playground and you will definitely find its fishing pier very relaxing. Want to freshen up? Check out their snack bar and be entertained by their musical acts and street performers.

Don’t let anyone tell you all you can do in the area is fish or swim – that’s a myth!  There are lots of other things to do too. If you love to shop, you can hop into one of their souvenir shops or avail their local artisan’s gift items such as candles and jewelry.

Check Out Beach Walk

At the south of Pier 60 is the renowned Beach walk. Night life in this place is simply amazing. Here, you will find a lot of amenities and enjoy a bicycle ride on a trail lined with mangrove trees. You may also shower the sand off from your body with shower nozzles that they provide for beachcomers. Its amenities, groceries, first class hotels and high end condos make beach walk most sought after by many tourists. It is also known for its Clearwater Marine Aquarium featuring the battlenose dolphin.

Your visit to Clearwater beach is not just fun but it is packed with the convenience that you are looking for. Just located 20 miles from Tampa International airport, travelling to and from this place can always be done with ease. And because Clearwater beach has been ranked as the best beach in the US, visiting it will always be worthwhile.

Around Clearwater Beach, plenty of guided tours and programs are available specifically dedicated to dolphin-watching. While there are many attractions available in and around Clearwater Beach, according to a survey, one of the Top 5 reasons why people visit Clearwater Beach is to see the bottlenose dolphins. Most of the guided tours in Clearwater Beach allow dolphin-viewing from afar, but if one prefers to see the creatures up close and personal, there are also boats in Clearwater Beach that offer dolphin-viewing tours that brings the tourists as close as possible to the bottlenose dolphins’ swimming site.

As for the bottlenose dolphin exhibit, the fiberglass replicas will be put on concrete pads around the area beginning Monday (August 6^th, 2012). There will be a total of 50 pods on display, and each of them will be around 80 lbs each. Local artists will paint the fiberglass dolphins; the whole point is for the exhibit to look as festive as possible, and also for each bottlenose dolphin pod to be unique from one another. The colorful fiberglass replicas can also be appreciated during nighttime, as they will be illuminated. The purpose of this exhibit is to showcase the Clearwater Beach area in time for the Republican National Convention (which will have a lot of attendees) and, according to organizers, as a tribute to Clearwater Beach bottlenose dolphins, and the area’s most recognizable dolphin named Winter, the dolphin without a tail, star of the movie entitled “Dolphin Tale.”

For Hooters fans in the Clearwater Beach area, they can finally enjoy Hooters’ offering (both eye-candy and actual food) starting Monday, June 4^th, 2012. The new Clearwater Beach branch is located at the Mandalay Business District (381 Mandalay Ave.) near Pier 60. The 2-story restaurant has an expansive patio on the 2^nd floor with breathtaking views of Clearwater Beach. Of course, even if it’s a new location, the new branch of Hooters will still maintain its “delightfully tacky, yet unrefined” atmosphere. Now people in Clearwater Beach finally have a perfect place to go to for casual dining.

The Hooters people behind this branch apparently thought this thing through. They’re not just “branching out” in Clearwater Beach for the sake of having a branch here. As we all know, Clearwater Beach has beautiful sunsets, so of course Hooters is going to offer their diners a way to enjoy those sunsets…”with them.” Their new Clearwater Beach branch will have a rooftop division called “The Lookout.” A sunset party will be held there every night (yes, you read that right – every night).

The Clearwater Beach branch will be open from Mondays through Sundays for lunch and dinner. Obviously, on Friday and Saturday nights, the restaurant will be open until late in the evening. Hooters is one of those restaurants where you don’t really have to worry about what to wear when you do decide to dine there. The restaurant is as casual a restaurant as can be. Even the Hooters people themselves are looking forward to seeing diners in their “flip flops and sunglasses.” Overwhelmed with work? Wind down at Hooters’ new Clearwater Beach branch and gawk at the pretty…scenery. You know, because it’s in Clearwater Beach and this place is popular for the lovely sunsets?