PHOTOS: Winter Pride lights up St. Petersburg with Global Rainbow Project

The Mari Jean Hotel Feb. 19. (Photo by Ryan Williams-Jent)

ST. PETERSBURG | Winter Pride launched the Global Rainbow Project Feb. 19 from the Mari Jean Hotel, lighting up the St. Petersburg sky with an LGBTQ+ installation visible for up to 60 miles.

The project is a signature part of this year’s Winter Pride, which began Feb. 15 and concludes Feb. 22. Rainbow lasers were lit at dusk until 3 a.m. to send “a bold message of visibility, resilience and belonging across our region” and will return Feb. 20 and Feb. 21 during those same hours.

The installation was created by Yvette Mattern, a visual artist whose large-scale laser works have appeared in New York, Miami, London, Provincetown, Las Vegas and Berlin. Winter Pride Executive Director Rob Hall reflected on its impact during an official lighting ceremony and celebration Feb. 19 at The Wet Spot and Cocktail.

“We are now on the map with all of those cities celebrating our amazing community where people feel safe, loved and appreciated,” he told attendees. Hall reiterated that the installation wouldn’t have been possible without community support; organizations and individuals raised $40,000 to make it possible.

The first major contribution came from Inclusive Care Group. ICG Founder Dr. Antonio Luis also spoke, reiterating his statement to Watermark Out News that the organization “proudly contributed to help bring the Global Rainbow to the sky as a reminder that our community will not be silenced or erased.”

Crowds assembled outside of Cocktail afterwards for the lighting, lining the streets of Central Ave. as Hall and Luis were joined by Winter Pride board member Gabe Alves. The lasers were officially lit around 7:30 p.m. after a brief countdown, projecting from atop the hotel to 6800 Park St. S. in South Pasadena, a vacant building. They could be seen throughout parts of St. Petersburg.

Learn more information about Winter Pride 2026 here and view our video and photos from the lighting ceremony below.

Photos by Ryan Williams-Jent.