“As announced this morning on the APA Florida website and social media platforms, it is my pleasure to inform you that Downtown Pensacola … is the winner of this year's Great Places in Florida!“

So began the letter from American Planning Association’s Florida Chapter to Pensacola’s Downtown Improvement Board, following an eight-day poll that sought to identify Florida’s greatest place. The APA received nominations for 20 cities and towns, and the list of finalists included the Ancient Spanish Monastery of Miami Beach, Clearwater’s Beachwalk, Downtown Winter Park and Mizner Park & Downtown Boca Raton. 

In 2012, the Umbrella Sky Project was born in Águeda, Portugal as part of the city’s famous annual ÁgitAgueda Art Festival. Since then, thousands of colorful umbrellas are suspended over a handful of the city’s narrow streets during July, August and September each year—a tantalizing urban art installation that draws people in and provides a canopy of shade for the pedestrians passing through. Since the project began, the colorful pop-up shade structures have gained a cult following around the world. Creators of the Umbrella Sky Project, Sextafeira, have launched offshoots in other cities such as Lisbon, and beyond to France, the UK and Bahrain. 

Dive into the haunted history of America’s first settlement and you’ll find more than 450 years of ghost stories, murder mysteries, hauntings and mayhem. To get the inside scoop on spirits that still like to hang around downtown Pensacola, check out one of the goose bump-inducing ghost tours happening each October. Travel back in time with GoRetro, whose October tours include titles like Ghosts and Graveyards and  Witch of East Hill. Or take a night-time Ghost, Murders and Mayhem Segway Tour and visit the sites of hangings and murders and hear about the Ghost Boy of Government Street. Join Historic Pensacola’s costumed guides for an Annual Haunted House Walking and Trolley Tour or hop aboard a trolley for the kid-friendly Trolley of the Doomed tour that winds through the historic North Hill district.