St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, United States; as of the 2018 census estimate, the population was 265,098, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the largest in the state, not a county seat. St. Petersburg is the fifth largest city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. Together with Clearwater, these cities comprise the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area, the second-largest in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million. St. Petersburg is located on the Pinellas peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, is connected to mainland Florida to the north. St. Petersburg was founded in 1888 by John C. Williams, who purchased the land, by Peter Demens, who brought the railroad industry into the area; as a part of a coin toss bet, the winner, Peter Demens, named the land after Saint Petersburg, while Williams opted to name the first hotel built, named the Detroit Hotel, both named after their home towns respectively.

St. Petersburg was incorporated as a town on February 29, 1892 and re-incorporated as a city on June 6, 1903; the city is referred to by locals as St. Pete. Neighboring St. Pete Beach formally shortened its name in 1994 after a vote by its residents. St. Petersburg is governed by a city council. With an average of some 361 days of sunshine each year, a Guinness World Record for logging the most consecutive days of sunshine, it is nicknamed "The Sunshine City". Due to its good weather and low cost of living, the city has long been a popular retirement destination, although in recent years the population has moved in a much more youthful direction. American Style magazine ranked St. Petersburg its top mid-size city in 2011, citing its "vibrant" arts scene; the Pánfilo de Narváez expedition landed on the shores of Boca Ciega Bay at the Jungle Prada Site on April 14, 1528. It was the first inland exploration of North America. Of 300 men on the expedition only four survived. One of the survivors of the expedition, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, wrote the first book describing the peoples, wildlife and fauna of inland North America in his Relacion, published in Spain in 1542.

The city was co-founded by John C. Williams of Detroit, who purchased the land in 1875, by Peter Demens, instrumental in bringing the terminus of the Orange Belt Railway there in 1888; the first major newspaper to debut in Tampa Bay was the St. Petersburg Times which established in 1884. St. Petersburg was incorporated as a town on February 29, 1892, when it had a population of 300 people. A local legend says that John C. Williams and Peter Demens flipped a coin to see who would have the honor of naming the city; when Demens won the coin toss the city was named after Saint Petersburg, where Peter Demens had spent half of his youth, while John C. Williams named the first hotel after his birthplace, Detroit; the Detroit Hotel still has been turned into a condominium. The oldest running hotels are the historic Pier Hotel, built in 1921, formally Hotel Cordova and The Heritage Hotel, built in 1926. Philadelphia publisher F. A. Davis turned on St. Petersburg's first electrical service in 1897; the city's first major industry was born in 1899 when Henry W. Hibbs, a native of Newport, North Carolina, established his wholesale fish business at the end of the railroad pier, which extended out to the shipping channel.

Within a year, Hibbs Fish Company was shipping more than 1,000 pounds of fish each day. St. Petersburg was incorporated as a city in June 1903. With this transition, the development of the downtown waterfront had dredging of a deeper shipping channel from 1906 to 1908 which opened St. Petersburg to larger shipping. Further dredging improved the port facilities through the 1910s. By the city's population had quadrupled to a population of 4,127 citizens. F. A. Davis was instrumental to bringing the first trolley service in 1904. In 1914, the Tampa Bay area was one of the first Floridian cities that fell in love with baseball tracing its roots from Tampa and St. Petersburg; the former mayor of St. Petersburg, Al Lang, had invited the St. Louis Browns to move their spring training into the city. St. Petersburg's first library opened on December 1, 1915 which still operates till this day as the Mirror Lake Library. In 1914 an airplane service across Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg to Tampa and back was initiated considered the first scheduled commercial airline flight.

The company name was the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, the pilot was Tony Jannus, flying a Benoist XIV flying boat; the Tony Jannus Award is presented annually for outstanding achievement in the airline industry. The 1920s in St. Petersburg was big due to its major growth brought by tourists. Tourists came from all over by automobile and railroad. Travel time from across the bay was cut due to the Gandy Bridge's opening in 1924, helping St. Petersburg increase in tourist numbers and helped grow it into the largest city in Pinellas County; the city adopted the Mediterranean-style architecture brought by Snell Isles founder Perry Snell. An attraction that brought on a great number of tourists and citizens was the Million Dollar Pier, built in 1926. Tourism declined by early 1930s due to the Great Depression; the city recovered in the 1930s with the help of the Public Works Administration, including a $10 million investment plan in 1939 which helped build the St. Petersburg City Hall. By the 1940s the city received a large population growth due to World War II.

St. Petersburg was a training ground area for the U. S. Coast Gu

The Consulate General of the United States is a diplomatic mission of the United States in Peshawar, Pakistan. It operates under the U. S. embassy in Islamabad and serves U. S. consular interests in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. The current consul-general is William Martin, appointed in 2012; the consulate is located at 11 Hospital Road in the Peshawar Cantonment area. On 5 April 2010, a bombing near the consulate killed 8 people including 2 security personnel, although no Americans were affected. According to reports, the U. S. consulate was the intended target of the attack. On 1 March 2016, two Pakistani employees of the U. S. consulate were killed in an IED blast while involved in a drug-eradication campaign. The consulate operates in business hours from Monday to Friday. Key consular sections include political/economic, public affairs, regional security, as well as the Pakistan Deputy Mission Director for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. Embassy of the United States, Islamabad Consulate General of the United States, Karachi Consulate General of the United States, Lahore Pakistan–United States relations Consulate General of the United States, Peshawar

USBands was formed in the Fall of 1988 to provide high school band programs with a competitive circuit featuring top judges from across the continent and a venue for the US Scholastic Band Championship. It is operated by Youth Education in the Arts. USBands membership consists of over 700 participating high school marching bands. Annually, bands are offered over 150 festival opportunities and invitations to compete at major Regional Championships and the US Scholastic Band Championship. Bands are classified by size, with Group 1 being the smallest and Group 6 being the largest, by skill level; the A Class is for inexperienced bands, new bands, bands that have moved to a larger size group. The Open class for established programs; this results in twelve groups ranging from Group I A to Group VI Open and competing with other bands of like size and talent. USBands has started to support competitive indoor events as well as cooperative fundraising opportunities. In the winter of 2012, USSBA changed their name to USBands.

The USBands allows their bands to classify themselves into three groups in: Festival Class - Ensembles who prefer a non-competitive experience at any USBands sanctioned event. A Class - Ensembles who demonstrate a basic to intermediate skill set and are adjudicated on a scale representing fundamental to intermediate skills. Open Class - Seasoned ensembles that demonstrate expanded skill sets and are adjudicated on a scale supporting intermediate to advanced skills. Bands are grouped by the number of members on the field; this count includes playing members and command personnel drum majors. Group sizes are as follows: Group I - 1 to 38 members Group II - 39 to 53 members Group III - 54 to 70 members Group IV - 71 to 95 members Group V - 96 to 130 members Group VI -131 and more members yea.org/programs/usbands