Best best fireworks in the area & a great thing about these fireworks is that they r held on an…read moreearlier date than July 4. They were held on June 30th this year. This is my third time at these fireworks. They do not disappoint. They r not horribly crowded, and there is ample parking. The fireworks from the start to finish are excellent, amazing, & breathtaking. The music that is with the fireworks is perfect. This year there were no food trucks but they were not missed. In the past, the lines for the food trucks were forever. Instead they gave out free water and ice cream to everyone. I'm in love with these fireworks and they make the rest of July 4th even more exciting and one to look forward to. I'm thankful for those involved with this fireworks event. It's a go to every year!

It calls Freedom Festival in the mall. I believe is freedom of shopping. Even you have kid; there…read moreis plenty of freedom kid activities. If you are father or husband, this is great way to spent time with your family. Open the freedom wallet for your wife to shop and take your kid to the festival activity. This is a well organized block party. Love every minutes of it. It starts with pageant contest and follows by the freedom bicycle decoration contest, watermelon eating contest, parade, fireworks. The Paseo Drive is filling with people. The kid activities include hokey stick goal shot, balloon sword, acrobat elastic jump, face painting, moon wall, air slice, pirate ship invasion and many more. For adult, you know what to do. I was introduced by a vendor for Wikid Watermelon for the custom watermelon kegs and carving. The carving is beautiful for special event. Overall the party is great. People make up this party. The Shop of Wiregrass is smart to hold this party one day before the July 4 with fireworks. It get the maximum people without compete for the actual July 4 fireworks with many locations.

Another excellent time at the fair grounds! This time for the Dream Asia Fest. This festival was…read moreabsolutely amazing! Hope they come back annually. Buying tickets was easy. Bought parking through the fairgrounds website. Getting into parking was easy and I was navigated to my gate entrance to enter. They had so many food, drink, and shopping vendors. Live music and entertainment from both the crowd and the people running the stage. Great time and a lot of fun!

I'm definitely bias since I've only gone to the Minnesota State Fair which is the #1state fair…read moreturnout in the country every year for the 12 days that it's open. Parking was $15 on-site & fair entrance was free for me with my FL medical professional license ID card since I went on a promo day for it. The best part of the Fl State Fair was the petting zoo of baby goats, donkeys, llama alpacas which was free to enter & pet at your own risk of poop & pee from the animals. Some of the alpacas were very agreeable to selfies lol so funny they knew the assignment well. 5 stars for the animals & zero stars everything else. All the food was terrible. I definitely wouldn't go back again. Even if the entrance fee or parking was free... not worth it. My friends that were born & raised in the Tampa Bay Area told me not to go that it's not worth it... should a listened to them lol. None of my Florida friends wanted to go that have lived in Tampa their whole life. I went for the experience. I didn't go on any rides, my germ radar was on too high alert lol.

The art fest is in full swing. It happen in the January. It occupied the entire Paseo Drive. The…read moreorganizers is very organized that the storefront walkway for the entrance is not block and make this art fest spread out. During the art fest, there are several chalk artists put their work in front of the walkway of Dilard's. They will be completed at the second day of the art fest. If you like to try your artistic skills, there is a section on the driveway allow to put your amateur skill to work at kid corner. The booths of the artists were occupied along the street. It is not too crowded. I like the display of each artist. If you get tired of the the art, you always can jump into shopping next or enjoy the restaurant in the mall. Very convenient. There is also a music band playing live music. We are very fortunately this two days do not rain.

The weather was really nice to walk outdoors. Many artists local and afar set up their tents here…read moreand sell their work, That including jewelry, painting, woodwork, photo, handbag, wearable, chairs, sculpture, etc. Live band was playing on the central stage. Couple chalk artists worked their drawing on the ground in front of JC penny. They still have one more day to finish the pieces. Overall, this was a family/ pet friendly festival. It wouldn't be difficult for anyone to find that unique piece of art to decorate the house or yourself.

Enjoyed seeing a great turn out of VW buses and Beetles at this festival. It was held at the Tampa…read moreBay Downs during the Oktoberfest. Quite fitting being that it is a German fest. This was right outside the parking lot of the festival. Afterwards with a $5 admission you could go into Oktoberfest and get your brats and beer on. I was most impressed with all the VW's. It was a nice sight to see!

This was a FREE event for Halloween. You stay in your car and drive while folks (sponsors and…read morevolunteers) wearing masks handed out candy or a craft to the kids in the cars. The line to get in was long, but we were happy and willing to wait to get a sense of normalcy for the kids. This very well might be the only Halloween type of experience they get out of the house. This event was well organized and the volunteers did a fantastic job directing traffic. Our favorite parts were the scavenger hunt and the special radio station with spooky music to really drive home (see what I did there?) the theme. This was the first year for this event and I hope it is not the last. I hope other areas in the Tampa Bay Area also do events like this. I would happily even pay a small fee for another event like this in the future.

Loved the Art and seafood festival on the waterfront. It was free to get in. The seafood options…read morewere great, Got Lobster lobster rolls are amazing, Frenchy's crab fries are to die for, Clearsky' grouper nuggets are so yummy, Groovy Dawgs gator dogs can't be missed, there was so much to try. Sherry's Crab Cakes... their crab Mac and cheese is awesome! Okay I didn't eat all this by myself we all shared. Love the Honeycomb ice cream and hoppers mini donuts. You could eat until you bust! The different tents with all the art was quite a sight to be hold. Such Talent. I will admit I came home with a couple of pieces. Fabulous work some out of my price range and some affordable. They had a band playing and people were enjoying themselves. Pets were welcome. There was a children's area with art and games, there was a Huge VIP tent with comfortable furniture in there. ( it cost extra for VIP) The breeze off the water was great. It was a pretty good crowd people were happy it was great weather. There was Beer and Wine for sale. I noticed a a good amount of police on-site as well as medical so it felt secure.

Great day near the water. The art booths were great and I bought a few wonderful items, but the…read morefood didn't have a lot of seafood for a "seafood" festival. And those that did offer it were only offering expensive options. Don't get me wrong I'll spend good money on good food but for the prices I'll walk to the local places and have a table and service for the same cost.

I've visited many flower and garden shops, including well-known chain stores, but I've never seen a…read moremore stunning selection of plants than at Hummingbird Gardens, 10305 Henderson Rd., Tampa, Florida. The owners were courteous, friendly, and incredibly knowledgeable about the beautiful variety of plants on the property--and there are plenty. It was such a unique and personalized experience. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous, and if I hadn't been told about this place, I would have never known it existed. As a garden and plant fanatic, I can say this spot is truly special. If you ever need plants for your home or garden, this is the spot to visit! On a scale of 1 to 10, this place easily scores a 15!

We had our daughter's wedding at Hummingbird Gardens, Tampa, Florida on Feb 14th. The venue was…read moreextremely pleasant, beautiful, easily accessible and full of nature including peacocks. It is a family-owned nursery, especially designed for special events like weddings etc. As bride's parents we first encountered with this family-oriented business when we had to put up the Mandap/poruwa/wedding Altar. Since the day one until the wedding is over and taking the structure down, we had beautiful memories. Francesca and Shani are the ones we directly dealt with, and they are so accommodative for our requests and made us so welcome and comfortable. They helped us to make our decision in making our structure giving us very positive comments. They were very helpful with the time frame. On the day of the wedding as we arrived, the whole place decorated with flowers and it was elegantly beautiful! It was like I was in a fairy land, very magical. Francesca was extremely professional and decorated the place so beautifully to meet the wishes of the couple. Shani added beauty and flowless running of the show as a great coordinator. Shani is very professional, very kind and loving. She executed the program very elegantly and to the highest standard. We would recommend this venue to anyone without reservation! We left this place with our hearts filled with love and beautiful memories!

Went there for Pierce the Veil in May & Grey Day on August 6, 2025 and both times it was near…read moredisastrous, paid 50 bucks for parking online then got to the gate to be told It was 25 bucks to buy it there. People walked into the venue without their tickets getting scanned. And the amphitheater is really kinda bad, the mixing of the audio was poor or the amphitheatre just doesn't carry sound very well. Not to mention if you have a chair seat while you're sitting, you can barely see over peoples heads, and if you are forced to stand because other people are standing, you're standing on a 5° decline so I left there with horrible back pain. I hope $Bs go back to the Amalie Arena instead of this place.

This concert venue is unfortunately inactive & has been since 2015. Big Guava hit the scene in…read moreSpring 2014 & returned in Spring 2015. Live Nation announced in 2016 that its concert would not be returning that year (but left the door open for a future return). I attended this spring festival during its launch year, & was very impressed. It's possible I've attended more outdoor concerts than most (& also fewer than many), & Big Guava's venue was by far my (our) favorite. We had free range of the entire grounds, which allowed us a large sprawl. It was the first concert venue I've attended where we had space to breathe. (In future concerts at this location, Live Nation closed down sections of the fairgrounds, which made for a most uncomfortable experience.) At Big Guava, there were actually enough places to sit & eat. There were few forced ground experiences here:) We could not hear any other band when our chosen band was performing on stage (unlike the annual dreadful Pitchfork Music Fest in Chicago-- which you should skip for Lollapalooza or just skip period). There were numerous food trucks. We were able to eat healthy & also be very bad:) There were vegan, vegetarian, & organic offerings, among the usual high fat, high calorie concert foods. And let's not forget the beer:) At Big Guava, Live Nation staff, as well as law enforcement, backed off. Unlike what occurred @ Pitchfork, police were not looking to make arrests & staff members were not going above & beyond to catch & remove concert goers who had weed. The venue had a relaxing feel to it (w/ or w/o weed:). Big Gava brought some excellent acts to its many stages. Vampire Weekend headlined. Other groups included Foster the People, Tegan & Sara, OutKast, Earl Sweatshirt, Chance the Rapper, Blue October, Twenty-One Pilots, Walk the Moon, American Authors, St. Lucia, Vic Mensa, Girl Talk, Band of Skulls, & many others. In 2015, Big Guava returned & brought the following to the many stages: The Strokes, Pixies, Passion Pit, Ryan Adams, Hozier, Banks, James Blake, X Ambassadors, Robert DeLong, TV on the Radio, Cold War Kids, etc. The Amphitheatre is covered over (& comfortable), so the top acts took the stage there. There was one other "inside" stage as well. Surprisingly, attendance both years was lacking; people just didn't buy tickets even though they were priced incredibly low for the quality & quantity of bands performing. $55 could get you through the gate on Friday & $70 on Saturday. For reserved seating both days of the festival (that included additional perks), it would have cost you $350. Unfortunately, both years there needed to be more effort put into advertising. Parking was $10. There was an abundance of lot, with easy & fast access to the front gate. Live Nation's Coral Sky Music Festival In fall 2015 brought City & Colour & Cage the Elephant, Tokyo Police Club, Manchester Orchestra, Bleachers, & many other good acts to these same fair grounds, but didn't come close in quality to Big Guava. Unfortunately, much of the festival grounds were closed off to concertgoers. We were herded like cattle from one small area to another-- repeatedly back & forth. Just a horrible concert that rightfully never returned to this fairgrounds. For us, Big Guava stood out as an excellent concert w/ the perfect venue. I am doubtful Big Guava will ever return (due to the low attendance in 2014 & 2015), but one can hope. Just a phenomenal concert venue.

The 2020 Wesley Chapel Taco Festival is at the Grove at Wesley Chapel on Saturday & Sunday,…read moreSeptember 19-20. It is set up on the grounds in front of the Cobb Theatre & Cinebistro. I'll start from the beginning to the end of our experience. Ticketing was easy. You can buy tickets on line or at the entrance tent. We got ours online. The tickets are $10 for an individual or $35 for a family of 4. Parking is free or for $5 you can have the VIP Parking near the front gate of the event. We paid for the parking when we ordered the tickets because if there is a VIP parking, you'd expect a significantly longer walk then regular parking but that wasn't the case. Do yourself a favor and save yourself $5. With general admission, your 1st drink is free (a margarita shot). Ummm...It wasn't really a full shot. It was a swallow soooo....but there is a bar to buy alcoholic drinks that are around $10, water was $1, and sodas were $2. As you walk up to the two lines to enter (pre-paid line and pay at the gate line), we noticed that there were no social distancing markers on the ground or signs reminding people to do so. Masks are not required either so be prepared for that. People pretty much kept their distance so social conditioning works at times. The prepaid line took longer for people to get through then the pay at the gate line. There was only 1 guy working the prepaid line and 2 (sometimes 3) people working the other line so that was a bit annoying. So what's the point of prepaying? Once inside, they had a lot of great food vendors and some fun activities for all age groups. Tacos were about $4 but there were a few places like La Pirata that offered tacos 2 for $5. Their caribbean and spicy jerk tacos were so good! I also ordered their smoked flan with blueberry sauce...MMMM. There were some really fun activities including mechanical bull riding, axe throwing with Molly Hatchets, and a Kids Zone w/ bounce houses and carnival games. They really weren't sanitizing the bounce houses so the little one in our party didn't get in it but I love the fact that every child that played the carnival game received a prize. There was this tiny little girl, around 2, playing and she won a prize. Too cute! MOST food items and ALL activities work on a ticket system and I saw one ticket station which is the one we went to buy our tickets. I used my credit card though with the food and product vendors that I bought things from. We enjoyed watching the hot pepper eating contest, listening to the live country music of Angie Rey and her band, all while sitting under a covered tent eating our grub. All and all it was a fun day. As far as festivals go, this can be an expensive day for families with children. With $10 pp for people 3 years and older, I'm not sure I would bring the whole family. If you have a family of 4 then you're paying $40 at the gate before food and activities. There should be a reduced price for children 12 and under because parents will be paying for the kids to do activities and eat goodies. If you're ballin", bring the whole family if not, you might want to wait for a festival with a more affordable entrance fee.