Did you know that you can meet mermaids here? We made a special trip just to see out these beautiful creatures. Little one absolutely loved it. 24.12.2024 read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - I do love a good shrimp cocktail. March 2024 - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

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Let's see: mermaids, check... kitschy 60s motel, check... cats as aliens, check... oh-and strawberries, lots of strawberries. You can find them all at Fairgrounds St. Pete. This place full of interactive, submersible art in the Warehouse District is the perfect spot to spend a hot or rainy day-and just get lost in the exhibit. It's a vibe, a mood, a vacation from the ordinary-and after visiting once, I've got to go back. Fairgrounds is located near Tropicana Field. We went on a Saturday in October 2023. It was busy, but not crowded. We were able to wander and explore at our own pace and to our hearts' delight. If you love old Florida, B movies and all things fun and fresh, you'll dig this place. The staff was really friendly-you can get tickets online, or in person when you get there-and parking was easy the day we were there. Have fun exploring. This will scratch your kitsch itch. read more

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Our friends took us here for an awesome experience for our 18th anniversary. This was definitely a museum of a different sort . It was awesome being able to touch the different items as we go through and be I detective as we went through. I also really liked the QR codes throughout that told us the different details about the pieces of art were were looking at as as the fact of all the hand sanitizer throughout the building since it was so hands on. Really had a blast . I think I would be back and try with the glasses and scavenger hunt. read more

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I heard about Fairgrounds St Pete before my trip to Florida and decided it looked like it could be a unique experience to check out. It surely was! This is an immersive art experience. I enjoyed exploring the area and each exhibit. Like some of the other reviews I found the admission price to be too much. After fees it was $30 per person. Didn't quite spend an hour, but it was enjoyable. Although I will probably only go back if prices are reduced. read more

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Very cute interactive art museum. Perfect for rainy days, kids, date nights or if you're out with your girls looking for some Instagram content. Took less than an hour to get around the museum & the photos we wanted. I didn't have any problems with parking. We didn't purchase tickets ahead of time which was okay because you can purchase them on site. Plenty of restrooms and hand sanitizer spots around the museum. read more

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Amazing interactive art experience! I told my husband we were going to do this Memorial Day weekend because I had heard about this place a while ago and was reminded about it when an event planner friend of mine posted pics on FB. The hubs isn't into it, but I loved it. Several local artists were involved and you can either follow a scavenger hunt or roam on your own. There is definitely a story or theme running throughout. I plan to go back with friends who will be more fun, lol. Friends who like kookiness and will appreciate the homage to mid-century modern and old Florida. read more

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I highly recommend checking out Fairgrounds! This interactive art museum is so much fun. It's the perfect mix between art gallery, scavenger hunt/choose your own adventure, and selfie museum. Don't be dissuaded by all the photos one can take here, it doesn't fall flat after photo taking. There are small incredible details in every piece here. I love that it's by local artists. It's $27 for general admission and $25 for residents and students. I wish we paid the extra $7 to do the scavenger hunt because all the small details I noticed from it seemed amazing. That being said, we still really enjoyed our experience without it. Fairgrounds is inside the same building as The Factory and Daddy Kool Records. There were quite a few trompe l'oeil pieces. The theme was a retro mermaid motel. The colors and different rooms were made with love and expertise. It's a very aesthetically pleasing spot. If I could give this place 10 stars I would. I really want to come back next time I'm in St Pete. It's been open for about a year and they're planning to update some exhibits in the spring. read more

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If you're a fan of Meow Wolf, you'll love visiting Fairgrounds. It's a creative walkthrough immersive art exhibit. You can take photos of the cool landscape or you can try to solve the overarching mystery of these alien cats that have descended on a tourist trap part of Florida. Join the mailing list so you can get updates when Fairgrounds holds events. read more

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Perfect rainy day activity. We walked in, showed our tickets, and were on our way to seeing greatness. We got just the admission tickets so we were done seeing everything pretty quickly like thirty minutes. Next time, I would try to add on some features to make the experience longer. We did come on a rainy day so there were a ton of cars trying to park nearby. Parking may have been an issue from the market that is held in the area every first Saturday of the month too. Overall, it's a neat place you should check out at least once if you're in the area a lot. read more

Saw this place on TikTok and had to check it out. It's a cool art exhibit that's an immersive experience. It was $27 for General Admission or $25 for Florida resident with ID. They had some other add-on additions as well. They do not allow tri-pods but they do allow selfie sticks. It was much smaller than TikTok and pictures make it out to be. Still cool to see and check out. Perfect rainy day activity. read more

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Incredible experience! Went with my husband and 2 year old and we all had so much fun. The experience is absolutely magical, bringing together a whimsical, mermaid, retro motel story. Each room was so beautifully made and had so many little details. One of the rooms even smelt like strawberries, going with the rooms theme. The employees were all super kind and friendly. Plenty of parking in front of the space and an awesome mural outside for a great photo op. My toddler loved checking out each room and checking out all the fun buttons in the cat space ship! Highly highly recommend this place as an outing! read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

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Saw this on the local news and thought it looked pretty cool. Grabbed some tickets and headed over. In an interesting part of St. Pete but plenty of parking and exhibit was easily accessible. Checked in and then had a to wait a few minutes as they were trying to control the number of people walking through. I don't think it was so much covid as it was more enjoyable with less people. Cool eclectic and kitschy Florida art. Full size, 3d and lots of touchable stuff to do. Great way to spend a couple of hours. Definitely grab the scavenger hunt as it was pretty tough and made the stroll through a little more interesting read more

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Pretty cool place! Date night, came from Bradenton. Located in the Warehouse District, a roadside motel theme with unique art in each room. Great idea... every room offers an artist's immersive experience. Took us about an hour to see everything. Great record store, Daddy Kool, in the building. Artist studios open to visit as well. read more

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My friends and I booked our time slot/ticket online. Before you enter the Fairgrounds building, the staff will set up the story introduction for you. Once you enter the building, you go through different rooms at your own pace. Each area has its own theme and there is so much to look at! Interactive lights, sounds, and one room definitely smelled like strawberries. Now the pricing...I'm not sure if I would go back again. My friends and I took our time experiencing each room but we finished looking at everything in about 45 minutes or so. Not even an hour. Money might be worth it if you follow those artists who contributed to the Fairgrounds or if you are looking for IG worthy photos. For majority of my friends, it was our first interactive art museum and it was a really fun experience; however, I would say hold on to your money. read more

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Located in what I will describe as the less renovated part of downtown St. Pete, our destination took us a couple miles behind the Rays stadium. An empty unpaved lot in front of the place provides parking. A colorfully decorated warehouse type structure looms ahead. A group of local kids provide services for the art exhibit. From the front desk to the gift shop and in the exhibit they were very cordial, helpful and informative. The art was very colorful and vibrant. For those who are visual, this is a treat. A sensory bombardment, they load you up with colors, lighting and shapes. There is no set path, you may view the area in any way or pace you like. Photos and reviews are welcomed. It was an interesting and rousing way to spend a refreshing hour on a hot, humid and sunny day. read more

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Really unique place and something interesting to do with the kids. I love the scavenger hunt you created and it lasted long enough to keep kids entertained for an afternoon. Bonus points that this is all indoors so perfect for a hot Florida day! We used coupons for our visit so the price was fine but I am unsure if we would have visited without them. read more

Review for Saturday, Sept. 11. At 4:30 p.m. Run, don't walk to Fairgrounds! We have waited a year for the grand opening. So happy to have something this cool so close to home. Such a fun experience. The artwork is fantastic. Super weird and freaky just like I like it. I especially loved the strawberry room, but then again Macy Higgins "Macy Eats Paint" is one of my favorite artists, so I was really there to see her work. Lots of families with children of all ages so bring the kids! Allow an hour to roam around the entire 15K square foot space. My only complaint is that many of the guests weren't wearing masks and it was very busy when we went. I would suggest going on a weekday to avoid crowds but we went when they first opened. read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

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An immersive art exhibit fashioned after a Florida motel. Some rooms are in line with the theme and feel very old Florida. Makes for some fun photo ops. Other rooms, like the strawberry themed one, don't really make sense. The price is steep at $25 each for Florida residents. While the website says to give yourself 90 minutes, it only takes about 30 to go through the exhibit. read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

All agreed this was 3-star. The art is cool and the areas or rooms are well laid out. You really do feel like you are in an old fashion motel. Some of the rooms or areas were interesting, but they really didn't make sense to the theme. Guess this is what happens when you have 60+ artists contributing. After reading every single review we decided to pay the $25 (Florida resident rate) to just see the motel. There were kids mostly doing the $5 add-on search-light hunt using UV-lights. Didn't see anyone doing the Pepe's Plight Coin Search. Think we made good choices here since the $25 fee was already steep for the short time you're in there. They really should consider giving you all the options as part of the $25, or reduce the fee to $15 and allow the $5 options. A few reviews have said similar. We spent about an hour and a half in the motel area. In the car we had read the "back-story" of the missing hotel guests, which is highly recommended because none of the many staff took the time to explain what the concept was. Without that knowledge none of it would make sense. After finishing you end in a gift shop (imagine that!) with some interesting pieces. Some were expensive, but there were a few I liked for around $10 to $15. Once you are done there is a Cool Daddy Records store that has some great records, CDs and recording artist material for sale. That was fun and much of it affordable, especially for the quality. Selection is ever changing. Lastly there is an artist studio where a number of artists were actually working on pieces and displaying others for sale. This was interesting but about 50% of the studios were blocked from view because they weren't present. Total time with everything mentioned above: 2hrs 15min. Areas to improve: 1) Explain the backstory of the missing tourists. Play this up to get everyone excited before you go into the dark motel rooms. 2) You were supposed to try and figure out what happened to the missing tourists by using clues found throughout the rooms. However at the end there is NOTHING we saw that tells you the answer. Would have been cool to have a list of clues, what each meant and maybe where they were located. We studied things hard, especially the binder on the coffee table and the brochures; both in the motel lobby. We were ready to solve. Then nothing... No answers... Disappointing to say the least. 3) Parking needs some improvement. Dusty dirt lot. Spots are too close to allow you to back up and I scratched the bottom of my front fender on the entry way. Not much street parking either. There is a huge lot across from the complex but no one parked there and no easy entry. Go once to experience if you can afford the price. The artist area, gift shop and record shop are all free to visit. read more

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I went here for the first time a few years ago not knowing what to expect. Overall, there were some unique images and themes. The experience lasted about 20 minutes. My wife and I went back a few weeks ago and noticed not much had changed. If you're local it may be worth doing once, but would not recommend those from out of town. read more

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I love this place, I've been trying to make it here for almost a year now and finally I got to take my son today. It did not disappoint ,we will definitely be back. We were there about two hours and could've spent all day there, we only completed one of the scavenger hunts that my son was super excited about. They have a neat gift shop with lots of stuff made by the artists. read more

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Fun place to take people/ kids visiting! This interactive art museum is a great rainy day activity (or when it's too hot to function outside). I had fun looking at all the interesting art and taking silly pictures. read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

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Wonderful experience, highly recommend. Came here for birthday/date. Up charge for the scavenger hunt but made it more fun and competitive with my husband. Great photo opps with all the cool rooms! read more

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Dope spot for a date night or for a girls night . Checked it out with another couple . It was straight . Wish it was a little bigger but a lot of good photo opps for people . The DJ was a vibe . Tried a new beer ! Would definitely come back if they ended up changing out the themes read more

Cool, Fun, Totally different and unexpected museum experience. A lot of the exhibits are hand on, interactive which is pretty awesome. I can't recall going to any other museum that you can touch/sit on/look into/go into/move the art. They have whole rooms that is the art exhibit. Some art you can push buttons, or turn a crank and make different things happen. But by far the best exhibit in my humble opinion is the "portal to the bay", it's across from the big mermaid mural (which is also very impressive), make sure you find this and look into the window in the wall, just lean in and take a look. Somehow you are transported to under bridge looking out into the water towards a city, not sure if it's st pete or clearwater or just some random buidlings. It looks and sounds real but you know it's not real. It's simultaneously confusing, and beautiful. You just gotta come check it out for yourself. The far back end is the immersive museum area, the middle is a small art gallery/event space and bathrooms, the front end of the buiding has multiple small spaces where the artists displays and sells their suff. Not a huge place, but not exactly tiny either. We came on a Saturday, not busy at all unfortunately, there were maybe 10 other people there. The only thing I don't like it the museum place has such a bad name, I'm actually not sure if it even has a name for the museum space specifically. I think the whole entire building is the Fairgrounds and the museum is just a part of it. If they change the name to something better and more memorable, maybe more people would find and come to enjoy it. I tell my friends they should go the fairgrounds museum in st pete and it confuses people why there's a museum at the fairgrounds read more

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A very fun and interactive experience!! You don't see many of these kind of activities around. It was like escape room puzzles with major visual aspects! It's very bright and colored and was so trippy but beautiful. Staff was very nice and amazing! Loved my experience here. read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Disco manatee - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

Really great place to stop while on a date low price great picture opportunity. Sure to enjoy 30-45min tops.

Support your local artists! What a unique, immersive experience great for all ages! You get to explore rooms of various themes and delve into the creativity and masterpieces created by local artists. There is an additional added fee for a scavenger hunt. My friends and I only wished it was longer. read more

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I came to Fairgrounds St. Pete immersive art museum with my two best friends. We bought our tickets online prior to visiting assuming it would be a busy Friday afternoon but it wasn't crowded at all. Once checked in, we got to appreciate the art from over 60 artists in one walkable, easy to navigate museum. Super funky exhibits with lots of neon nights all in theme of St. Pete and Florida. If you're traveling to this area from out of town, absolutely check this place out if you're wanting to get a taste of Florida art! Tickets for FL residents were $25 and I think the price was good because once you see how cool the museum is, you're glad the money goes to those hardworking artists. Parking is also easy and free! Definitely go check this place out!!! read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

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We had a good time. I really don't want to ruin anything for anyone, so I didnt include too many pictures. This interactive art exhibit is both SUPER neat and also left a lot to be desired, but without support they can't grow so get out there!! Ages 13+ is $27 and 4-12 is $22. No strollers are allowed inside the exhibit, for understandable reasons. My family and I spent about 50 minutes checking it out and searching for clues. We were reading too far into it and my 9 year old found 2/3 clues quickly once he figured out what to look for. All the employees were very friendly and helpful. Give it a look-see and support this business! read more

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Fairgrounds is certainly a unique experience, luckily we timed it where they had a holiday weekend event going so got to experience other local vendors and artists, I recommend timing a visit when the other artists are around. As for the exhibition itself, two things kind of made it a bit disappointing. The price point felt a bit high for what it was and the added "mystery" was quite vague for my tastes. The exhibit and artistry was pretty neat, despite being distinctly different styles for the most part the way that they combined the rooms flowed surprisingly smooth with minimal feeling out of place. The interactivity wasn't as much as I was expecting but the ones that worked (most seemed to not) were interesting. I also appreciated that they did have bathrooms inside so you didn't need to feel like had to rush through if you had to go (small bladder here ha). I think I would have been more satisfied if the point were in the $17-$20 range vs $25-$30. In regards to the "mystery", I think I would have enjoyed it more if the team didn't start you off saying there was a story for you to solve. Or if they did something like an escape room where maybe they could give people a place to "start" and allow it to tell the story more organically - if there actually was one. If there wasn't one necessarily created and goal was to just have people make their own interpretation I think that would have occurred naturally. Instead it felt like I was spending time focusing more on "what story am I missing..." versus just appreciating the atmosphere and letting it occur naturally. While there were staff inside they always seemed to be "on the move" that it felt more like you'd be interrupting them if you did request their interpretation/assistance. I liked how they were clearly designated but I think something that would have been more immersive was instead of just having the team in hot pink shirts turn that into the motel uniform or something making them motel employees so they were a part of the experience vs exhibit workers. Overall, it was great to experience a unique exhibit like this - there's certainly a good variety of themes and rooms but for me the expectations were set too high and became confusing, detracting from the experience in the end. If you do go try to time it so you can at least pair it with being able to view the artists in the warehouse and get to see some local works to make it more of a day. read more

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This place is a cool spot to stop at if you're in the area. It's basically almost like a warehouse with different rooms inside. It's an immersive experience. Each room is a different theme. Lots of different artists came together to put together this project! Definitely pictures Florida! It was $25, free parking, no waiting (went on a Friday around 2pm). There are employees throughout, so if you have any questions, you can easily find them. Worth going to once! I did see lots of people walking around with clip boards. I think they were trying to find the different birds within the area! It was a neat experience! read more

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The immersive art experience is definitely worth the $25! It was so much fun for a Saturday night to go to this interactive art exhibit! The exhibit consist of 36 local artists who's put together this entire show with interactive lights, sounds, etc. We bought the tickets ahead of time and went at 8pm. There was no wait and you can start anywhere you want once you get in. Everything is under AC so you don't have to worry about the weather. Great place for date night! read more

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Good, but maybe not worth the money as is right now. As of me writing this review, Fairgrounds is a fun, but incredibly short experience. And as excited as I was to go, I left a little disappointed at how quickly we'd seen everything. And I'm not one to rush through exhibits; I take as much time as I can. Even so, we only eked out maybe 45 minutes in the exhibit. For both mine and my mother's ticket, it was a little over $50. I would HAPPILY have paid this much for one of the longer experiences advertised by Meow-Wolf, but not even an hour? Yikes. But really, this place IS very fun, and I think with the mentioned expansions it could be something really special, but it's just not worth the money right now. But I'd happily visit again once they add more. read more

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If you're in St. Pete this is the place to go. I went to a similar instillation in OKC, Mix-Tape. The visuals/experience here felt more cohesive and immersive. You could really just spend hours wondering around. Always catching more details with every trip around. Stunning work. Visit and support St. Petersburg's local artists read more

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Great concept, well executed. Easy parking, easy tickets, easy night. We went during the Mermaid themed exhibits and it was a great way to start a date night. Daddy Cool records next door was worth the trip alone! read more

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This was actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be. I thought it would be one of those selfie museums that are a little tacky but cute, but this place was far beyond that. The art itself was beautiful, and the rooms are so well put together with great detail. If you really take your time to look at everything, you'll discover cool hidden connections and art. Definitely a great stop. read more

Very cool! I would definitely return. The art was super cool and the staff was easy going. Cool gift shop that I grabbed a couple things from. It's a big building and you can walk through multiple rooms that each have their own unique scheme. Very cool and if you haven't been and you enjoy art you should go check it out! read more

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So fun!! I loved the experience we had. They have several themed rooms and you can upgrade your ticket for a scavenger hunt!! This is for sure a great activity spot. read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

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Located inside The Factory, which is a cool establishment in itself, check in was easy and fast and workers where very cool. Exhibit itself is very small and only spent about 30 mins inside. To really get a good experience, I noticed there was a scavenger hunt going on at the end and that could have been a better experience. I really enjoyed the pier Exhibit. I could have spent my entire time just looking into that window it was so cool. Wish it was a little bit cheaper. read more

Fairgrounds St. Pete - Exhibit - Museums Near Me - St. Petersburg, Florida

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