Meet the 2025 Finalists
APA Florida is excited to announce the three finalists for the 2025 Great Places in Florida People’s Choice Award, celebrating public spaces that foster connection, care, and community identity. This year’s theme, Great Places That Ground Us, highlights places that reflect the deep ties between people and place – spaces that tell stories, honor culture, and create everyday belonging.
Thank you to our judges:
- David Boston, AICP, Ph.D. - Amarach Planning Services
- Lara Bouck, AICP, PE - MetroPlan Orlando
- Fabian De La Espriella, AICP - Urbë Studio
- Breyonne Jeter - Ayres Associates
From Sept. 3 through Sept. 26, Floridians are invited to vote for one of three inspiring finalists:
Mayors Park at Freedom Lake
Mayors Park at Freedom Lake is a beloved community hub in the heart of Pinellas Park, recently transformed through a $1.8 million investment to improve drainage, roadways, and trails. A newly shaded trail now winds around the lake, separated from traffic and connected to bike lanes, offering a safer, more enjoyable space for walking, biking, and active living.
The park’s features include an outdoor fitness center, dog park, playground, fishing lake, shaded pavilions for gatherings, and a striking F-16 fighter jet display, honoring local military history and the region’s defense industry.
The City partners with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to stock and monitor the lake, which, according to FWC, is the busiest fishing spot in Pinellas County. Youth volunteers, in partnership with Keep Pinellas Beautiful, organize regular clean-up days, making this a place of community pride, stewardship, and connection.
Palm City Place & Patio
A simple concept randomly sketched evolved into a transformative community destination. Palm City’s own 20-acre “central park” is a vibrant anchor for the neighborhood and a catalyst for continued investment. This thoughtfully designed public space brings together lush green zones, scenic walking trails, a freshwater fishing pier, and recreational amenities, including concrete ping pong tables, cornhole, picnic seating, chess and checkers, community events, a pavilion and a multicolored fountain. Palm City
Place & Patio stands as a model of community-driven redevelopment, blending environmental stewardship, placemaking, and economic revitalization into a space where residents can gather, play, and celebrate what makes Palm City home.
Pioneer Park and the Port District
The Pioneer Park, a 9.75-acre plot just south of the City’s Botanical Gardens, has been transformed into a vibrant destination along the banks of the North Fork of the St. Lucie River through implementation of the Port District Master Plan, programming and preserving riverfront land that maximizes access to nature and water, while minimizing impact to the land. It boasts a boardwalk made from 100% recycled materials with an overwater stage, canoe & kayak launch, open-air event spaces, public seating areas, renovated historic homes, an enchanting inclusive children's playground, and a future riverfront restaurant.
The 8-foot wide 3,200 linear foot boardwalk along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River links three parks and two retail centers proving access to recreation, nature preserves, shopping and dining. Community Outreach played a vital role in developing The Pioneer Park Recreation area. Since the June 15, 2024, opening over 417,000 people have visited.