One Friday evening each month, Palafox Street—one of America's "10 Great Streets"—closes at 5pm to traffic and transforms into an outdoor festival of art, music and food. Gallery Night is the perfect opportunity to experience downtown Pensacola's thriving art scene and eclectic mix of sights, sounds and flavors.

The votes are in, and Downtown Pensacola is celebrating its selection as Florida's Greatest Place. Great Places of Florida, an award program of the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association, highlights Florida's great communities and the great people that comprise them.

Downtown Pensacola is enjoying a new wave of cultural vibrancy. While you're here, don't miss the opportunity to check out these three small but formidable cultural hot spots that are making the downtown district a popular stop on the art circuit​ these ​days.

It's the largest public art project in Pensacola, a 3,000 sq. ft. mural painted by local artists Ashton Howard and Evan Levin. The pair spent more than 300 hours on a scissor lift high above the ground, transforming a plain brick parking garage wall into a colorful work of art.