Sarasota, FL -- On Thursday, November 6th St. Petersburg Mayor, Rick Kriseman, and Deputy Mayor Dr. Kanika Tomalin visited Bright Wood Works as part of their “Small Business Tour.” Bright Wood Works is a local custom woodworking shop with a national reputation. The focus of this tour was going Green for Blue as a tribute to “Blue Ocean Week,” a film festival in St. Petersburg that has a focus on conservation.

Bright Wood Works designs and builds award winning upscale furniture, custom kitchens and cabinetry in a state-of-the-art woodworking facility occupying an 14,000 sq. ft. showroom, specialized machine shop and warehouse on 1st Avenue South in St. Petersburg. Michael Bright, founder, has been in the custom woodworking business for over 34 years. Bright is the proud recipient of the 2010 Best Sustainable Bathroom award by the National Kitchen and Bath Association, one of Bright Wood Works sustainable kitchens has been featured in The St. Petersburg Times Bay Magazine and in both 2009 and 2012, Bright Wood Works sustainable kitchen was awarded a national ”Kitchen of the Year” award by Kitchen and Bath Business (K&BB).

"Mayor's office small business liaison, Jessica Eilerman, explains, "Our goal for this tour was to focus on our local businesses who've worked sustainable practices into their business model. We were inspired to explore this from having Blue Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit in St. Petersburg."

"Mayor Kriseman’s interest in our business, in our successes, in our challenges and what the city of St. Petersburg can do to help with our company’s growth and exposure was a refreshing, positive outcome to their tour of our shop,” states Michael Bright. Bright Wood Works, a multi-award winning company was recently selected as the designer/manufacturer to custom build the display cabinetry for Hafele Americas’ entry in the largest international Kitchen and Bath tradeshow (KBIS) in the world in Las Vegas this January. Mayor Kriseman states, “we have small businesses here in St. Pete that have positive national and global footprints and we need to spotlight and support these companies with the same fervor that is often extended to the large corporations.

Deputy Mayor Dr. Kanika Tomalin reiterates, “these tours and learning about St. Pete’s small businesses is one way we can keep our fingers on the pulse of city… both the issues as well as the great success stories like Bright Wood Works.”