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.

Big Guava 2015 was awesome! I won tickets for this two day music festival from Yelp. (Thank you…read moreBrett and Katie!!!) ~The Good~ EPIC MUSIC: I was so pumped when they released the music lineup. How many chances do you get to see Milky Chance, Jenny Lewis, Awolnation, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Passion Pit, Ryan Adams, Pretty Lights, Cold War Kids, Hozier, Pixies, and the Strokes at the same festival in Tampa?!?! FOOD TRUCKS: The food trucks and craft beer tents offered a nice alternative to the usual concert concession snacks. The trucks didn't mark up their menu prices so I paid $9 for three tacos the first night and $15 for a grilled cheese sandwich and tots the second night. Beverages (not sold by the trucks) were a little pricier. $4 for 20oz water or sodas, $8 for domestic beers and $15 for craft beers. CARNIVAL RIDES: I only made time to ride the Ferris Wheel, but unlimited free carnival rides were available both days of the music festival. ~The Not So Great~ DATES: I work on Friday until 5:30pm so I missed the first half of Milky Chance. Judging by the crowd I'd say others were in the same boat. A Saturday/Sunday festival would be easier to attend. CONCERT OVERLAPS: I loved that there were four stages at Big Guava, but I hated having to choose between two great bands when there were overlaps on the concert schedule. Most bands only got 45-60 minutes stage so I decided to see Milky Chance instead of Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and I saw Jenny Lewis instead of Awolnation. FAIR WEATHER FANS: In general the audience was lame. People seemed more interested in taking selfies than actually listening to the music. Everyone just sat in their seats while me and my sister danced our hearts out. (Shout out to the guy in the hotdog suit at Cold War Kids. You were awesome!) "They don't even know what it is to be a fan. Y'know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts." - Almost Famous Would I attend Big Guava again? Absolutely! The free tickets were a nice perk, but I would have gladly paid for my tickets to see Hozier and Milky Chance. I probably would have gotten the 2-Day Early Bird "Pit Pass" so that I could stand in the pit section instead of the general admission section. This was the best deal at $109, but you had to be willing to purchase your ticket before the line up was announced. If you purchased tickets after the early bird specials you may have paid $55-$80 for a one day general admission or pit pass.

What a great venue and great bands this year. Loved all the rum drinks and vendors who were there…read more I hope next year they have more vendors. I would also ask that they move the big tent that was center stage back more so the crowd could sit there. Great event we are going back next year. Please bring band like Inner Circle, The Expendables - they were awesome, and Sublime with Rome killed it. Great Rum, Great Food, Great Music, And wonderful Smells. Thanks for such a great event 51 year old Big Fan

TLDR (2017 event) - poorly made drinks (and overpriced)…read more- very bad DJ - multiple technical failures (sound) - shaggy only came for the last hour - Most artists performed poorly - drinks not included in admission price - low mood atmosphere ( no dancing) - worst festival I have been at I was looking forward to the rum festival. After all it did sound amazing. However there were multiple issues that lead to the festival failures. The sound was terrible and the guys did an awful job at maintaining it. It would frequently drop out and completely shut off. Even shaggy got upset on stage and asked somebody to fix it. The drinks were an embarrassment to rum. Poorly mixed and prepared. How can you mess up mojitos so badly?! They used a prepared soda mix and threw in some rum (often over and under done). They topped it up with a single lime and called it a classic mojito?! Any bar in tampa serves them better. I tried some other rum drinks from different stalls but stopped as they were all doing the same bs. For the music it was horrendous. How did you find such a bad DJ who would shout in the microphone at the best parts of the songs? He mixed it horribly and sometimes cut it off randomly to go to the next part? I mean this was lower than amateur skill level. An amateur DJ would have performed better than that. Seriously how did you find that guy? He ruined the atmosphere of the festival. No one was dancing. I'm also disappointed with shaggy. You only sang part of the songs and spent too much time talking random bs which was also a little racist at times. Overall I wouldn't recommend going to this. There are so many better places with a better atmosphere during any day in tampa.

This review is for Meet the Chefs event in St Pete…read more. We had lots of fun at this event. Lots of great small plates, soups, salads, beverages,.and bites to try from some of St Pete's fantastic restaurants. Noble Crust, The Mill, vegan outpost Cider Press Cafe, Cassis, Moon Over Water, The Avenue, yes pleaze. Also beers, wine and coffee. Representatives from community orgs. Opportunity to tour the clay studios and see the artworks produced. Standing room only and more tables needed. Water was a lil slow to emerge.. But su0er fun.. Thank you soooo much CL and restaurants, brewers, and partiers. Some peeps looked great too! Parrrrttttyyyy!!!

The event at the Vault tonight was a mix of good and bad. The venue is fine for smaller groups, but…read morenot for all the people and the vendors. Everyone was knocking into each other and not comfortable at all. The food was great though!

I was so excited to have won tickets from Yelp for this event! You cannot beat an evening of craft…read morebeers and chili. Plus, the cold Florida weather was perfect for chili. The chili cook off was formerly known as the "Steve Otto Chili Cook Off." Steve Otto, has since retired and has given his blessing for the event to be renamed as the "Big Guava Chili Cook Off." We got to the event right as it started and everything ran smoothly with checking into will call. The craft beer sampling was included with the tickets but the chili sampling was not. Tickets to sample the chili were only $10, so we didn't mind. There were also some food trucks at the event but I wanted chili to warm me up in this weather. There were several different tents set up with craft beers to sample provided by Pepin Distributing. A couple of my favorites were the Widmer Bros Beers and the Goose Island Beers. There were many tents set up with chili being served. It was so hard to choose which was the best out of all of them. I also liked that there were chairs and some tables throughout Curtis Hixon. I hate to eat standing up! Live Music was provided by Easy Posse and Amanda Drake and the Barnburners. The music was predominantly country music...yuck. Thus, the reason for the four stars.. Curtis Hixon was not overcrowded, for once. The amount of people there was perfect. This definitely was a no-frills event. This was a fun event. I will definitely make time to schedule this event in my social calendar every year!

Great concept and yummy chili. Chili ran out early, but $10 unlimited samples was a great deal. The…read moretwo bands were awesome and played great music. I give two stars because Craft beer was not local, which is disappointing since Tampa has so many great breweries. Also, it was $20 to get a five 4 oz samples of the same beer I can buy at the market across from the event or at the bar across the street and get more than 16oz. I didn't care for the voting. It was determined by how much tasters donated money to the specific competitors. The teams that won had great booth designs and gave out free shots, but the chili was not the best there. It felt more of a popularity contest instead of based on the art of making chili. The teams with the best chili ran out early because it was so good but majority of the public didn't get to experience it, so they didn't get votes. :(

Does it worth it. Probably not. The reason behind as below:…read more Do all the work- it will be a very long walk to all venue. It almost make customers to walk to business not business to the customers. It take a good 3 to 5 miles walk if you decided to visit most of the venues. Customers do all the work. Timing- this festival held at the beginning of the summer. It is close to raining season. Why not hold it at march for outdoor activities. Today is just not the day because it is too humid after day of big rain. Sweat all over the place. Value- the venue did not spent money on facility to host this event. All food taste is at the outside of store. The food is provided by the restaurant, the venue only spent money on stamp and web advertising. I think it is negative effects to promote business. $25 value may not enough just to try 10 business. Defeat the purpose to promote business. Food- only a few did a good job. Most of them put up a cheap food or not worth the money. I mean if you are going promote your restaurant and you only serve an average food. How are you going to get the customers back to your restaurant. With that said. I give applause to Kelly's, Olde Bay Cafe, Lucky Lobster and Pisces Sushi. They are the few that do a good job. A lot improvement need to be done on this festival.

The Taste of Dunedin Is their biggest foodie fest of the…read moreyear. And what a beautiful day For tasting food and drinking beer! Most places set up in Pioneer Park But others were harder to be found. I did eventually fill up After a bit of walking around. My faves were Dunedin Smokehouse Serving up Apple slaw and pulled pork. Which I wound up eating with my fingers When I forgot to pick up a fork. The wings from the Living Room were great And they were also served with coleslaw. That was a running theme for the day And not the last place we saw. Many vendors were off sight. And you had to go to the actual restaurant. I don't know why they made it so hard Easily accessible samples is all I want. All in all it was a good time I always enjoy myself in Dunedin. Can't wait to make it back down To do some serious eatin'!

WOW! lots of beer flowing in this event. This was located just behind Tampa Bay Brewing in…read morewestchase. Separate parking located just down the street and the cops were cool enough to spend the day making sure people could get in and out of it safely. When you walk up typical general admin booth give your ticket get your id checked get your wristband and then get your mug, but wait a GLASS MUG! That was such a sweet surprise usually there plastic and don't survive the dishwasher. Food smelled amazing friend had a cheesesteak from the jersey mike's concession area said it was pretty good. There were of course other trucks and they were listed at the event website. The lines to each truck seem'd very typical as far a waiting goes. To the right of the food trucks is the main event with a band at the far end and venders surrounding you every which way. It seem'd as if every beer we sampled i had never tried before so very impressed to see many new recipes. I have just recently started liking a lot more porters and stouts but didn't seem to find too many here but just enough to still make this event worth it. There were an abundance of IPA'S so if you're a huge fan this event is something you don't want to miss. My only major concern for next time is the bathrooms. There was only one area for restrooms and only 14 porta potty's. I went the first time very early and the second time there was a line that was wrapping around the event, and it took maybe like 20-25 mins just to piss. People were even running into tampa bays brewing restaurant to use restrooms. Please provide more restrooms next time. Yay! I'm a fan because its BEER! and you just walk around refill drink refill drink. If you havent tried one of these events yet this is a must!

Love the Tampa Bay Brewing Company's Badass Beer Fest! Great vendors, owners music and fun! Join us…read morethis year. Hello to John! Hugs xo Stella

Bloody day in English expression is a bad day. However, we are in the Bloody Mary festival and the…read moreparty is on. Thanks to a friend provide the tickets that we can attend this festival. We are excited to attend this event with a group of yelpers. The event certainly have many vendors some of them try to impress, some doing the right thing and some just have plain Bloody Mary. The ticket include one free drinks and all sample. Music playing at the big stage and all the food trucks are hugging along the area. I like the setting in Curtis Hixon Park to hold the event with Hillsborough River in the Back Drop. I certainly have too many Bloody Mary in one day. I have tried them all and I like the Ella's, Datz, Acropolis, and Roux. Some of them are spicy for my wife. At the end of the day I have wonderful time since we have a group went to this event. Love the event when you have a wonderful time. We went on the riverwalk with solo musician playing at the background.

Yet another cool event in the awesome Riverfest - this isn't a political statement, but Buckhorn is…read morea great mayor just for getting all this cool stuff off the ground. Hopefully this is an annual tradition for the Bloody Mary throwdown - local food institutions (think Datz, Roux, etc) line up to give away free samples of everyone's favorite breakfast booze. They're competing for the prize of "Best in the Bay" moniker, and after samples, you vote via text message on your mobile phone. Some places really brought it, a few just showed up with minimal fanfare and bland beverages, but by and large it was a good time. The other non-Mary-themed setups could have been a little more efficient, and the only place allowed to sell bottled water was the DRINKS TENT with a 200-people deep line. But overall it was a good positive experience. The best part, of course, is that watching hipsters drink before noon means you get to watch drunk hipsters dance poorly to Top 40 Hits at around 1pm. As a professional day drinker, I was unfazed - watching twentysomethings with handlebar mustaches try a Mick Jagger strut was worth every penny and I would definitely recommend it.

This was a GREAT event. I was fortunate to win tickets through a Yelp contest. And I had a TERRIFIC…read moretime enjoying the food, beverages, great bands, beautiful decor, and indoor/ outdoor setup along the banks of the Hillsborough River. Maestros, the restaurant at the Straz stood out along with other great spots like Oystercatchers, Texas de Brazil, 4Rivers, BurgerFi, and Shells among MANY others that served up delicious food. I didn't realize that Yelp included the members of a professional dance team, but Boon and Rachel showed just awesome their Halo Halo Explosion dance troupe is. Very high energy! There were also some beautiful fashions on display among the partygoers including fitted shorts. I am a fan. I would definitely pay to go to this well organized and fantastic event next year.

Best of the Tampa Bay have many vendors display in one time. The different between the VIP and…read moreRegular ticket is the sitting. The VIP has assign sitting and the regular are fighting for the park bench of stair case. Event this big will take two hours to complete the tour for entire vendors. This event is sold out. I have the chance to party with my friend Nick throughout the walk of fame. We also meet up with Rachel, Fern, Katy, and Aleema, Nadine, and Jacob. During the event, music is playing in three different stages. Food stand surround area tight and some have demonstrate cooking of the spot. There too many vendor and restaurant. I am only picked the one are the best of the night. I am staring with the host of the place Maestro's at the Starz Center. They have many to offer with their staff chefs. I am sure they can create something new each day. The restaurants in my list tonight are Miguel's Mexican Grill, Queen of Sheba Ethiopian Restaurant, Aqua, Saddle Brook Resort, Chart House Tampa, WaterWorks Bar and Grill, Bar 700 Holidays Inn Westshore, Colombia Restaurant, and Timpano Chophouse. And my most favorite of the night is the Oyster Catcher. These are the restaurants in my list to visit. I like to thanks the Ducky's ladies took a picture with me and I may visit them one day. The only bad thing about this event is too many standing. After 9:30 pm, most of the people is start staying away from the food and move to the party on the river front. Tonight is a bit hot but it does not stop us from dancing. Many ladies of the night challenge Nick for a dance off. Rachel also get to one of the stage and dance. What a fun night to be.