✫ Welcome to the Babe Ruth Centennial Parade ✫

FEBRUARY 8, 2025 ✫ PARADE STARTS AT 5 PM
AZALEA PARK PLAYGROUND ✫ PARTICIPANTS LINEUP AT 4:30

⭐⭐⭐ Grand Marshal: Tom Stevens, Babe Ruth's Grandson ⭐⭐⭐
Three generations of the Ruth family will be joining us from around the country

It's Babe Ruth's birthday and we celebrate the 100th anniversary of his arrival in St. Pete and The Jungle with the inaugural Babe Ruth Parade!

It was an annual tradition ‒ Babe Ruth's return to the Jungle Country Club to celebrate his February birthday and to spend weeks enjoying his favorite pastime – golf. While fans up north were enduring blizzards and cold waves, the news of Babe Ruth playing golf in Florida raised hope that spring and a new season of baseball were just around the corner. 
Babe Ruth was much more than a baseball star – he was an international celebrity, the greatest of his era. Athletically gifted and charismatic, he dominated the media. Over the course of a century, the name "Babe Ruth" has not lost its magic. It's doubtful it ever will.

"This parade is going to put The Jungle back on the national map." 

‒ Tim Reid, St. Petersburg Committee to Commemorate Babe Ruth

Parade Begins on February 8, 2025 at 5:00 pm

This is a proposal. Not all participants and permits have been confirmed.

The parade begins at Azalea Park at 5 pm on February 8, 2025 and will travel on a historic trail through The Jungle, including the former golf course where Babe played more than 100 rounds of golf while visiting St. Pete every spring. Carts and participants will line up at 4:30 near the Azalea Park playground. The staging area for performing/pedestrian groups will be at the playground pavilion.

The main viewing area will be on West Farragut Drive from 13th Av N to 9th Av N, along the banks of Jungle Country Club Creek. The parade plans include a Firetruck, Parade Floats, the Grand Marshal, Parade Royalty, golf carts, and possibly color guards, classic cars, marching bands, baton twirlers, performing groups, walking parade units and giant overhead balloons (ok, that part seems unlikely). 

After the main parade event along Jungle Country Club Creek, the performing/pedestrian participants and carts that wish to return to Azalea Park will take Robinson Drive to 13th Av N to the park. The firetruck will lead the other participants onto Country Club Rd and through the Jungle to the party at Sacred Lands.

The parade is in the early planning stages. Check this site regularly for updates and for information about other events that are part of the Babe Ruth centennial weekend, February 6-9, 2025. 
As an annual event celebrating Babe Ruth's birthday, the parade promotes awareness of west St. Pete's awesome history.

Babe Ruth Celebrations - February 6-9, 2025

and then... 👉 MLB spring training camps open on February 12, 2025


Babe Ruth riding a parade float at the 1939 New York World's Fair
No Registration is Necessary
but only registered participants are invited to the private after party with free refreshments – serving Babe’s favorites: Babe Ruth hot dogs, Cracker Jack, beer (non-alcoholic), Coca-Cola and Baby Ruth bars. Meet the Ruth family and other luminaries.
To Register (it’s free):  
Registration is open to parade participants and Azalea Neighborhood Assoc members
email:  azaleaassociation @ yahoo.com with the number of members in your group
(Your registration helps us plan the after party)
Parade Tri-panel Brochure (click image to enlarge):

Front: Babe Ruth Centennial Parade
Back: The Babe Ruth Day Kids & Kubs Game
Inside fold: Decorate Your Cart


Inside:

Parade Route (updated from brochure map)

(click on image to enlarge)

Private After Party at Sacred Lands
(Full disclosure: party may not be as fantastic as depicted)

Sacred Lands Waterfront Stage

Due to limited seating, only registered participants and Azalea Neighborhood Association members are invited to the private after party at the waterfront stage at Sacred Lands serving free refreshments – Babe’s favorites: Babe Ruth hot dogs, Cracker Jack, beer (non-alcoholic), Coca-Cola and Baby Ruth bars. Meet the Ruth family and other luminaries.
The Jungle Country Club
St. Petersburg, Florida, 1916-1944
The Jungle Country Club Hotel
The Jungle Country Club was a historic golf course and hotel located in the Jungle section of St. Petersburg, Florida. The golf course opened in 1916 and is notable for being Babe Ruth's favorite winter course ‒ he played well over 100 rounds here. Ruth was one of the most popular golfers of the Roaring Twenties. He made the Jungle golf course famous by coming here every winter. Anyone who read a newspaper or went to the movies was familiar with the Jungle Country Club. The golf course property and hotel are in the Azalea neighborhood. The hotel is listed on the St. Petersburg Register of Historic Places and is now Admiral Farragut Academy.

1925: BABE RUTH ARRIVES IN ST. PETE


This is a colorized photo of Babe Ruth arriving in St. Pete in 1925. Second from the left is Al Lang, the president of the Jungle Country Club. It was Lang who persuaded the Yankees to train in St. Pete. Having Babe Ruth and the Yankees in town every spring boosted tourism and Lang looked forward to the publicity of having Babe Ruth on the Jungle golf course.

MARCH 1925: BABE RUTH ON THE JUNGLE GOLF COURSE

1925: Babe Ruth, Al Lang and Yankees manager Miller Huggins at the Jungle Country Club

There is a unique connection between Babe Ruth and the Azalea neighborhood. At the height of his fame, during every spring for over a decade, he was a guest at the Jungle Country Club Hotel (now Admiral Farragut Academy) in Azalea and played hundreds of rounds of golf on the Jungle course.

1934: BABE RUTH'S DOUBLE EAGLE

Babe Ruth double eagle. Left, Charley Segar of the New York Mirror, right sportswriter Fred Lieb

Babe Ruth had a passion for golf. When he came to St. Pete for spring training, reporters followed Babe’s every move and the Jungle Country Club became famous throughout the country. Ruth remembered the double eagle (scoring 2 on a par 5) on the 17th hole of the Jungle course as one of his greatest achievements. He scored the double eagle after hitting a 250-yard drive with an iron and then a 220-yard shot. The feat was so rare that when the New York Times reported on the story it was the first time the newspaper ever used the term "double eagle."

1931 AT THE JUNGLE HOTEL

Babe and Claire Ruth on Jungle Golf Course
1931: Babe Ruth with wife Claire in front of the Jungle Hotel

Babe Ruth observed many birthdays on the Jungle golf course. He celebrated on February 7th, but later in life he learned that he was born on February 6th. Here he is at the Jungle Hotel in 1929. The cake is decorated with sports figures.



Links to articles about Babe Ruth:

Who Doesn't Love a Parade?


I Love A Parade
I love a parade, the tramping of feet,
I love every beat I hear of a drum.
I love a parade, when I hear a band
I just want to stand and cheer as they come.
That rat-a tat-tat, the blare of a horn.
That rat-a tat-tat, a bright uniform;
The sight of a drill will give me a thrill,
I thrill at the skill of everything military.
I love a parade, a handful of vets,
A line of cadets or any brigade,
For I love a parade.

Writer: Arden Thomas
Copyright: Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group