By Marlene Shaw
A Women’s History Month Reflection
During Women’s History Month, it’s especially fitting to pause and honor women in Gulfport. Over the decades, women have worked to help shape the Gulfport we know and love today.
Long before Gulfport became known for art walks, colorful cottages, and front-porch conversations, the town survived on something quieter – women’s work that rarely made headlines but shaped daily life.
In the early 1900s, when much of Gulfport was still sand roads and shoreline, women ran boarding houses for railroad laborers and winter visitors, took in laundry for extra income, cooked for fishermen coming in before sunrise, and watched one another’s children so families could keep working. The town’s first dependable services were not municipal – they were neighbors.
By the mid-century, women were organizing school activities and neighborhood improvement efforts – not as volunteers filling spare time, but as residents shaping what kind of place Gulfport would become. Many of the traditions we think of as “how Gulfport has always been” were once deliberate choices made around folding tables, handwritten sign-up sheets, and coffee percolators.
Decades later, when artists began moving into the small cottages, it was again women who opened galleries, started informal art gatherings, art walks, and encouraged neighbors to come outside and meet one another. The welcoming reputation the city now carries did not appear overnight; it was practiced, repeated, and protected.
Today’s festivals, small businesses, and civic conversations are part of a long continuum – one where women moved steadily from keeping the town running, to shaping its culture, to helping guide its decisions.
While much of early history records land sales and buildings, many of Gulfport’s civic foundations came from individual women who simply saw what was missing – and fixed it.
Local Gulfport historian and former councilmember, Lynne Brown, also shared that public safety followed a similar path. In the 1940s, Edna Christmas became the city’s first female police officer – a rarity for the time – and later continued her service as a member of council.
Karen Aust, who served in the Gulfport library for decades, was an in-depth researcher and was relied upon as a community go-to source tells how the city’s first female mayor, Yvonne Johnson, helped guide another quiet but lasting change – moving the community from a small rental library to a cooperative library model, expanding access to books and shared learning. But even that effort had roots earlier. According to Aust, Marie Bryan carried a basket to Haslam’s to purchase books to stock the town’s library.
These stories, and so many more, share a common thread. The institutions many residents think of as permanent – city hall, public safety, the library – did not begin as government programs. They began with women acting long before recognition followed. Their work created an expectation that residents help shape their town. Today, that same engagement – from conversations to celebrations – turns participation into belonging for neighbors and offers a genuine welcome to all who come to enjoy Gulfport.
So, the abundance of events here isn’t coincidence – it’s the tradition of connection made visible.
Now, for What’s Happening
Mar 1 (Rescheduled to Mar 1 due to weather): The First Annual for the Love of Gulfport Community Day presented by Gulfport Pride and WonderWorks, in Trolley Market Square on Tangerine Greenway & 49th St S, 11am-4pm. Community-Art & Crafts-Music-Food-Vendors-Kids Activities. Learn more at www.facebook.com/gulfportpride
Mar 1: Enroy Foundation Backyard Concert Series presents Max Hatt & Edda Glass (Bossa Nova & Cool Jazz). FMI: enroy@yahoo.com or www.facebook.com/Enroy/FoundationInc/
Mar 6: Brenda McMahon Gallery hosts art openings and artist meet & greets twice a month during First Friday & Third Saturday Night Markets, 6-9pm, at 2901 Beach Blvd S. March will feature Women’s History – Leading the Change. She is opening the conversation – What does change look like when women are leading the way? Special musical guest is jazz saxophonist Zeta the Babe. FMI: brendamcmahongallery.com
Mar 6: DRV Gallery art opening reception featuring the exhibition entitled MONOPRINTS with Chine Colle’ featuring Suzanne Benton, a versatile printmaker, painter, sculptor, mask maker, and performance artist. 5:30-8:30pm at 5401 Gulfport Blvd S. The evening will also feature live music with Jim Gilmour & Friends from 6-8pm and a wine and beer selection from Stella’s Divine Wine & Gourmet. The exhibition will be on display Saturdays March 7th & 14th 11AM-4PM. FMI: drvgallery.com
Mar 7: Gulfport’s 21st Annual Pink flamingo Tour of Homes, 11am-5pm. Celebrating Ward 4, Gulfport’s Garden District. FMI: visit.gulfportflorida.com
March 12-22: Quartet by Ronald Harwood will be presented by the Gulfport Community Players at the Hickman Theater, 5501 27th Ave. S. Tickets $20 online/$25 cash at the door. Thurs./Fri./Sat. at 8pm. Sat.-Sun. at 2pm. www.GulfportCommunityPlayers.org
March 14 (Rain date: Mar 15): Gulfport City Wide Garage Sale and Nautical Flea Market at the Marina. Brochures listing all participating addresses printed and sponsored by Olympus Printing, will be available at all city facilities starting Mar 12, and in the Gulfport Public Library lobby (5501 28th Ave. S) on the day of the event. The library opens at 10am on Saturdays. Participants are also listed on Google Maps for easy navigation. FMI: call 727-893-1118.
March 19: Gulfport Poetry Open Mic Night at the Gulfport Public Library, 5501 28th Ave. S, from 6-7pm.
March 21 (Rain date: Mar 22): Art in the Yard Community Art Sale when artists’ yards become an open-air gallery. 10am-4pm. www.mygulfport.us
March 21: Third Saturday Gulfport Merchants Chamber Art Opening, 4-6pm at 5317 Gulfport Blvd. S.March 21: Brenda McMahon Gallery’s opening reception for featured artist, painter Cedar Kindy’s exhibition, Heaven, Earth & Gulfport at 2901 Beach Blvd. S. The exhibition will include Kindy’s award-winning watercolor and oil paintings on display PLUS her popular Plein Air paintings of Gulfport. 6-9pm. FMI: www.brendamcmahongallery.com
March 21: Plant a Tree, Gulfport’s free tree giveaway, 9-11am, at Clymer Park (Greenway), 23rd Ave. S and Beach Blvd. S. Proof of residency is required. FMI, contact the Gulfport Parks & Recreation Superintendent at 727-893-1062
March 21: DRV Gallery will present The Gilded Guitar by Rick Schettino with music by Front Porch Picnic, 5:30-8:30pm. 5401 Gulfport Blvd. S. Rick Schettino, a solo singer/songwriter, infuses his passion for guitars with a deep-rooted understanding of design and meticulously transforms new and rescued stringed instruments into “wall jewelry” – elaborate sculptures, melding “found objects” with deliberate design. Each piece is a chronicle of the destruction of function and re-imagination into pure form that creates one-of-a-kind statement sculptures. Front Porch Picnic plays a collection of 20th century hits in an acoustic setting, with strong vocal harmonies. Front Porch Picnic has appeared at freeFall Theater, New Tampa Performing Arts Center, Dunedin Public Theater, The Studio@620, The Palladium Theater, The Muse Awards, The Fenway Hotel and beyond. FMI: www.drvgallery.com
March 22: Enroy Foundation Backyard Concert Series presenting the Empty Hats (Celtic). FMI: enroy@yahoo.com
A LOOK AHEAD…
April 3: Art opening reception at the Brenda McMahon Gallery, 6-9pm. 2901 Beach Blvd. S. FMI: www.brendamcmahongallery.com
April 4: Fun in the Sun Day hosted by Gulfport and Stetson College of Law Public Service Fellows is a fun-filled morning from 10am to 12pm at the Gulfport Recreation Center, 5730 Shore Blvd. S. This free community event kicks off with an egg hunt at 10am for children 8 and under. There will be a raffle for baskets, children’s activities, music, food, and kids may also explore a police car, police boat, fire truck, ambulance, garbage truck, and more. Bring a basket for the egg hunt and a camera for a photo op with Peter Cottontail.
FMI: 727-893-1068.
April 11: Beyond the Beach Cleanup, with organizers Gulfport Grassroots and Keep Pinellas Beautiful, 9-11am. Meet at Beach Pavilion #4. Supply bags, pickers, pails, gloves, water, and more are provided. www.facebook.com/events/1666123201428582
April 13-18: The Seventh Annual Gulfport Plein Air Festival. The Gulfport Merchants Chamber (GMC) is proud to present the seventh 7th Annual Gulfport Plein Air Festival, an immersive art experience showcasing artists as they capture the charm and vibrancy of Gulfport in real time, culminating at the Exhibition & Collector’s Sale on April 18th from 4-6pm at the Gulfport Welcome Center. FMI: please contact art@visitgulfportflorida.com or www.visitgulfportflorida.com/events
Live Music, Open Mics & Jams
Gulfport’s got rhythm! Here’s where to catch weekly open mic nights. See Gulfport Matters on Facebook for other music throughout the week:
- Mon. – North End Taphouse, 5:30-7:30pm
- Tues. – North End Taphouse, 7-10pm
- Thurs. – Gulfport Brewery, 6-9pm
- 1st & 7th – Blueberry Patch Open Mic
- 11th – Blueberry Patch Open Jam
*For more information, follow Gulfport Matters on Facebook and stay connected.