Hey St. Cloud -

Earth Day lands Saturday with a free community event at the library, Soldier City Sundays is back Sunday, and Wednesday night downtown turns into one of the better evenings of the month with the Monthly Market and Historic Walking and Ghost Tours all running at the same time. A solid week to get out of the house. Here's everything worth knowing.

Earth Day Celebration | Veterans Memorial Library, 810 13th St | 10am–1pm

Free and open to the public. Vendor booths, eco-presentations, live animal encounters, face painting, a kids zone, free tree and seed giveaways, and a young entrepreneurs market all at the library Saturday morning. There's also a community shred truck on site from 10am–noon if you've been meaning to clean out old files. Good one for the whole family. Co-sponsored by the City of St. Cloud and the Osceola Library System.

Soldier City Sundays | Veterans Park, 1201 13th St | 11am–2pm

The community market returns for its second Sunday of the month. Local vendors, food trucks, family activities, and veteran resources all in one spot. Free, casual, and very St. Cloud.

Weds: Downtown Monthly Market + Historic Walking & Ghost Tours | Historic Downtown St. Cloud | Starting 5pm

Make a full evening of it. The Downtown Monthly Market runs 5–9pm with local vendors, food, and live music on the brick streets. The Historic Walking Tour kicks off at 5:30pm, taking you through downtown's murals, buildings, and early history. Then at 8pm the Ghost Tour takes over, covering raging fires, bank robberies, and the stories behind the buildings you walk past every week. All proceeds go toward new historic markers. Free admission to the market.

Tour tickets at stcloudmainstreet.org/walking-tours

A new retail plaza is coming to the corner of Canoe Creek Road and Nolte Road and the tenant list is worth knowing about. Wawa, McDonald's, Chipotle, Dutch Bros, and Sud Stop Car Wash are all confirmed for the development, with Heartland Dental and additional retail still to come. It sits right next to the new Florida Turnpike interchange on Nolte Road that's expected to open later this year.

Getting rid of large items just got easier. Starting May 1 the city is switching to an on-demand bulk pickup system. Instead of waiting for your zone's scheduled day, residents can now schedule their own pickup online, typically within two business days. Upload a photo of what needs hauling and the right truck shows up. The request form goes live the week of April 27 at stcloudfl.gov/specialpickup. Fees stay the same: $24 for up to 2 cubic yards, $12 per cubic yard after that. Questions call 407-957-7289.

The Citywide Garage Sale is coming May 15–17. On those three days residents inside city limits can hold garage sales without the permit normally required. If you've been meaning to clean out the garage, this is your window. Mark the calendar now.

Texas Roadhouse is open. The new location at 2500 Partin Settlement Road held its ribbon cutting on April 6. If you haven't been yet, the rolls alone are worth the trip.

St. Cloud City Council Member Jennifer Paul was named to Onyx Magazine's 2026 Women on the Move, a recognition honoring women whose leadership is shaping industries and communities across the country. Worth acknowledging a local leader getting recognized on a national stage.

St. Cloud High School's varsity baseball team is 17-9 overall this spring with an impressive 11-1 record at home. That's the kind of season worth showing up for. District play is underway and if you haven't made it out to a game yet, now's the time. Grab a seat in the bleachers, cheer on your neighbors' kids, and remind yourself why community sports matter. Check the schedule at maxpreps.com/fl/st-cloud/st-cloud-bulldogs/baseball

Before the soldiers came, the land that is now St. Cloud was a sugarcane empire. In 1881 Philadelphia industrialist Hamilton Disston purchased four million acres of Florida swampland for $1 million, reportedly the largest private land purchase by a single person in world history, and built a sugar plantation right here. He dug canals, built the Sugar Belt Railway through what would become St. Cloud, and ran the operation for years. Then the Great Freeze of 1894-95 wiped out the crops, Disston died in 1896, and the land sat empty for over a decade. In 1909 the Seminole Land and Investment Company bought 35,000 acres of his old plantation and the veterans arrived to build a city on his ruins.

Sources: Wikipedia (Hamilton Disston), Florida Department of State, St. Cloud Main Street Historic Markers (stcloudmainstreet.org)

Your roof takes a beating in a Florida summer. CTR Roofing has been serving St. Cloud homeowners with inspections, repairs, and full replacements and they make the process easy from first call to final nail.

“Every Roof Is Our Reputation”

Get a free inspection today at stcloudrooferctr.com

We're looking for a few St. Cloud businesses to come on as founding partners. Want your business in front of St. Cloud homeowners every Thursday? Apply here today to get your business in front of locals!

If you missed Issue 6, here's what you need to know. The pickleball courts at Godwin Park reopened after three weeks of resurfacing, Hopkins Park is getting a $10-12 million renovation but the free summer camp won't run this year during construction, and we spotlighted Granny's Southern Smokehouse, voted best BBQ in both Osceola County and all of Central Florida by the Orlando Sentinel. Catch the full issue at thecloudlocal.com

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Three days, no permit required for city residents. If you've been stacking stuff in the garage all winter this is your window.

More details at stcloudfl.gov

Want to help at city events or parks? St. Cloud has an ongoing volunteer program with opportunities across departments - one simple online form gets you started.

Know a person or business doing something good in St. Cloud? Hit reply with “SPOTLIGHT” and a sentence about them; we pull future features straight from reader suggestions.

Keep showing up for St. Cloud, keep cheering on local people and businesses, and enjoy your weekend.

Your Cloud Local Team

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