Hey St. Cloud -

Summer is arriving whether you're ready or not. Cloud Cash drops Monday morning, Storybook Adventures kicks off every Saturday in June, and hurricane season opens Monday too. A good weekend to enjoy the quiet before it all starts. Here's everything worth knowing.

A few good reasons to get out before June hits

Camp opens Monday for kids who finished kindergarten through 5th grade. If you've got questions, tonight's your chance to walk in, meet the counselors, and get them answered before day one. stcloudfl.gov/summercamp

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.

Set your alarm. Buy a $5 voucher, get $10 to spend at participating Downtown St. Cloud businesses. Up to 20 vouchers per household, online only, picked up in person with ID. Vouchers expire July 31. Full list of participating businesses is live at stcloudmainstreet.org. These sell out. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Starting June 7, grab a story map at St. Cloud Main Street at 903 Pennsylvania Ave and stroll through downtown visiting participating businesses, each one revealing a page of a story written by a local Florida author. Author meet-and-greets every Saturday at 10:30am. First 20 families each week get a free signed book. Costume contest with Twin Theater tickets as prizes. Attend all eight events and you're entered to win tickets to Wild Florida. Free, no signup required. Just show up and grab a map. stcloudmainstreet.org

Tour tickets at stcloudmainstreet.org/walking-tours

Hurricane season opens Monday June 1 and runs through November 30. If you haven't thought about prep yet, this weekend is the time. Florida homeowners should have seven days of water, non-perishable food, flashlights and batteries, a battery-powered radio, medications, and important documents in a waterproof bag. If you have a generator, test it now. NOAA updated the cone graphic this year to include inland watches and warnings, so you'll see more of the picture than just the coast. Don't wait for a named storm. Full preparedness info at stcloudfl.gov, search "emergency preparedness."

The city just annexed another 743 acres. At the May 14 Council meeting, members approved the Whaley Platt project south of Kissimmee Park Road off the Turnpike. The county already approved up to 2,818 homes there back in 2022, along with a crystal lagoon, marina, trails, and a K-8 school site. Mayor Robertson's reasoning was simple. Bringing it inside city limits means St. Cloud captures the impact fees and tax revenue. The project isn't new. Who it pays taxes to is.

The April burn ban is lifted. The Florida Forest Service cleared the way for permitted outdoor burns again. stcloudfl.gov/726/Burn-Permit for details.

If Monday is the city's birthday, this is where the actual story lives. The Heritage Museum at 1012 Massachusetts Ave sits inside the old Veterans Memorial Library, run by the Woman's Club of St. Cloud and the City. Letters, photos, uniforms, and pieces of the Civil War veterans who founded this place. Bring the kids. You'll walk out knowing more about your hometown than most people who've lived here twenty years. 1012 Massachusetts Ave.

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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)

If you missed Issue 11, here's the quick version. The Memorial Day ceremony at Mount Peace Cemetery drew the community together for the 115th year in a row. Downtown St. Cloud's $60 million mixed-use development next to City Hall is moving forward. OUC agreed to fund the full $8.5 million cleanup of the old 10th Street power plant site at no cost to residents. And we spotlighted The Catfish Place on 13th Street, open since 1977 and still doing one thing right. Catch the full issue at thecloudlocal.com

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