Absolutely one of the worst crab cakes I ever had. Seriously $20 for mush. Save yourself the entry…read morefee snd go to a local place for good food. i've been to county fairs that have better.

Hands down, the best local event I have been to in a while. The quality of vendors, in addition to…read moretheir pricing, was fantastic. True value for your money, specially if you took advantage of the VIP Mermaid tickets! I got to try samples from 6 different Florida distilleries, all which had at least 3-4 different samples to offer (some had many more) in addition to 1 (or 2!) full cocktails -- all included with your VIP ticket. Definitely snatching these next year again. Best yet? THE VENUE! I have been to too many local events that took place in locations not appropriate to fit the amount of patrons that attended. All the green spaces used for the event by the St Pete pier offered the right amount of space for everyone to spread out and enjoy the delicacies with fantastic views. 10/10!

Fun times at the Gulfport Geckofest! This cute town has been through it but it still has its vibe…read moreand quirky charm. Street was filled with vendors selling their goods. I was disappointed there were not more art available but the music was playing and people were mingling. A fun parade went through and everybody was enjoying the day. I love the cute wine bars in this town and hopefully Gulfport will continue to thrive as it rebuilds.

2025 was the 25th anniversary of the Gulfport Geckofest. The fest was held in the Historic…read moreWaterfront District area of town. Parking was free and easy to find throughout town. There were plenty of fun, unique vendors, food, and live entertainment. The fest has a "Jimmy Buffet Margaritaville" type vibe. It's a nice event to check out for a couple hours to eat, drink, and people watch.

What a fun way to spend your afternoon. I spent about an hour and a half, trolley included,…read moreexploring the festival and shops! I parked at Madeira fundamental and rode the trolley to John's pass. It's free fair and "admission" and perfect for a nice ride. You're dropped off and picked up under the bridge-- super convenient! When walking around it was packed, but definitely busy. I got the crab Rangoon cheese sticks and a strawberry lemonade. Both were good, but not outstanding. The food selection was unfortunately smaller than anticipated, but there was some great live music!

Overall **** This is a well put together street fair that is large enough to spend a few hours at…read morebut small enough to not be too crowded. It is free to enter and there are no gimmicks like buying tickets to get food. The crowd was very chill (mostly 50-70 years old), the music was good as was the shopping and it was a great way to spend 2-3 hours. We did choose to eat at a restaurant instead of the vendors because it was too hot to walk around eating a big meal out of plastic containers. Let's start with the parking. Personally I wouldn't even attempt to drive all the way to the festival, if you go early it is possible but you may have trouble getting back out. Using the free shuttle service was very easy to use. We used the free lot at Madeira Beach Fundamental School. The shuttle seems to run about every 10 minutes from there. It takes about 20 minutes to get from the lot to the festival. There is additional parking at City Hall but I don't suggest that. The trolley's load first at the school so if it's full there you aren't getting on at City Hall. When returning it stops at the school first so the trip is 10 minutes shorter than City Hall. Ok, enough about the parking let's get onto the festival itself. The trolley will drop you off and pick you up at the John's Pass parking at the foot of the bridge. You will walk under the bridge and up Boardwalk Place East. It will be obvious where to go from there or you can follow the music. If you are in need of a mixed drink I suggest you stop at the festival entrance where the Friendly Fisherman Restaurant has an outside bar/tent. The mixed drink lines grow dramatically the further in you go. If you are drinking beer or coolers those are everywhere and at only $4 a bargain. There is a large stage at Boardwalk and Village but if you prefer something quieter, a smaller stage is straight down the end of Boardwalk. Along Village Blvd is where most of the action is with plenty of food and other retail vendors. All the brick and mortar stores were open so there is plenty of shopping to do. As far as the food goes, while it is predominantly seafood there are other options as well. The one downside I felt is they were all selling essentially full meals and they are no bargain. We wanted more of small bites we could walk around with sampling different options. If you choose to go the full meal route there is a large covered eating area in the parking lot at Village Blvd and 129th where there is an even larger stage. This is already long enough so I will wrap it up with a few other highlights; -There is a kids zone on 129th. -Dogs are allowed. -The North end at Bamboo Beach Bar is more adult oriented.

OMG... We had such a blast. Great fun & excellent entertainment, spicy foods, sauces and salsas to…read moresample and purchase.a pepper eating contest, amateur salsa and hot sauce competitions and a spicy lolly lick-a-thon.folks dont miss this event, Bob @ Reyna put on a great festival.they also do the pinellas pepper fest. They are both a sizzlin hot time. The I Like it HOT! Festival is one of the Largest Spicy Food Fests in Florida. Featuring Hot & Spicy food vendors from all around Florida, this show will have hundreds of Spicy Foods to sample and Purchase! Hot Sauces, BBQ Sauces, Beef Jerky, Pepper Jellies, Spice Rubs, Pepper Plants and much more!! Lot's of competitions will be happening too. Compete in the Amateur Hot Sauce & Salsa Competitions, Test your ability to eat as many Jalapenos as possible in 3 minutes participating in the Pepper Eating Contest. Taste and vote for your favorite Vendor's Hot Concoctions and also Vote for your favorite Vendor. Test out your tongue with Intensity Academy's Spicy Lolly Lick-A-Thon using the Hottest Lolly Pop in the world! Also, If you have the hips for it compete in the Hot Hula Hoop Contest!! It's all about the Pepper here!! Come on down and test your taste buds and have a Spicy good time!!!!

I really enjoy this festival. I have been twice now. It is a lot of fun if you enjoy spicy food…read more There are even quite a few items to try for those that do not like it spicy. The event only costs $5 to get in. Parking is free. I typically spend around 2 hours here. You could spend more or less depending on how you experience the festival. Once you are in, you get to walk around and sample a lot of amazing hot sauce, peppers, pepper jelly's, dips, seasonings, jerky and more. Water is cheap ($1) and you can also buy milk, soda or beer. I recommend grabbing a bottle of water before starting. You will be happy to have it after a few spicy booths. There are typically contests like the spicy lollipop lick a thon. You can normally find details on the Facebook event page. They also have blind judging that everyone can take place in. Be forewarned, some of the items will be extremely hot. Outside, there are a few food vendors, a band and various other things to do. It really is all about the saucy vendors inside though. Make sure you visit Intensity Academy and pick up a few local favorites like the Chai Chup (Ketchup) and Honey Hype. I recommend this event and I will definitely be back again next year!

Thanks to Yelp I won tickets. Otherwise, I am confused why one has to pay for admission, than all…read moreof their food at the food truck fest. I love this new venue since it is by the water. But seeing that it was scorching hot, there still wasn't too much shade to be found. I would suggest this be in the winter when it is cooler. I think it would be perfect in January/ February after all the holidays are over. I would also suggest there be areas for misting tents if it is going to be in the hot months of Florida. That would help people feel more refreshed, and more inclined to keep going through. It's hard for me to have an appetite if I can't refresh somewhere close by. I did get to try the Vietnamese coffee from the Pho truck. I loved it, but it was super small just because it was basically ice. I also has the lobster roll from Surf and Turf. It was okay, but I didn't love that it was mostly kale. My hubby had a burger from one of the trucks and loved it because he felt quite full from the fries and huge burger. I have now had my fair share of food truck fests, and I am glad I have checked this off my list twice. (I was also at the one in the Spring at the Florida State Fairgrounds.) This one definitely seemed to have more offerings. Some of my favorites that I also saw were Mmmbap, Mr. C'S Grilled Cheese, and Leanne's Cheesecakes. They also had bbq, Jamaican food, Filipino food, Portuguese, & German, just to name a few.

My family and I had fun at the rally. It was really too hot to stay that long, but we made the most…read moreof it while we were there. The number of food trucks here was insane! Too many choices and you couldn't try everything. Got food from Aloha to Go, Willy T's Crab Shack, and Jamaica Jamaica. And then we were too full to eat anymore lol. Wish there were sampler sized portions and prices available at the trucks so we could have tried more. Everything we had was delicious though! Will definitely have to visit Aloha to Go's restaurant soon. And that Jamaican patty/coconut bread..YUM. I believe they are based out of Orlando though. Event seemed very organized. We were able to get our passes quickly when we arrived (thanks Candy!). There were plenty of garbage bins along the road. Got to say hi to some fellow Yelpers while we were there and stopped by the Yelp tent of course lol. Couldn't stay for any of the performances unfortunately. Heard there will be another one sometime in spring of next year at this same location. Might have to check it out again.

I absolutely LOVE this Sugar Sand Festival. I have been here a few years now and this was hands…read moredown my favorite to date. I went by myself because I knew that it was Dino themed, which I am such a geek about and didn't want to hold up any of my family and friends while I just stared and took the tons of photos I knew I was going to take. Aside from loving the theme, you just have to be in awe of the amazing artwork, skill, patience, creativity, etc it takes to make any of these designs. Like I said, I have been there over the course of several years and honestly, I don't know why I don't make it an annual event to visit. It will never be the same and is reasonably priced. You also don't have people rushing you along to allow for more people to enter. If you feel you do, that is something you allow to happen as I have never felt, seen or heard anything like that. I love hearing people, young or old come in and gasp at the sights and the joy it brings to people while amazing them. To me, this is something that wows everyone, and brings smiles more so to the adults as they understand what it all takes to complete. They always have a sand sculptor present and working so that people can see what goes into the process. They also have a section dedicated to junior or aspiring professional sculptors to showcase their work, which you can vote on by putting in a donation in their boxes to help with their costs (and maybe decide the winner). Even those are wonderful but generally don't match the rest of the theme. 1000% advise anyone in the area during this festival to visit, it is well worth it.

Very cute . Kids would love this it was a dinosaur theme this year . Boys would love this . A lot…read moreof places gave out a lot of free swag. It's spin wheels to win little toys and knickknacks decent prices on liquor five dollars for 25 ounces of Zephyrhills water and aluminum bottle which is very cheap by the way lol I'm very very cold. It was a nice day in Clearwater Beach. It was perfect weather no humidity and very warm couldn't ask for a better day. Definitely if you have a kids this is a place to go or a nice day out with a loved one.

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.

I had a really great time at this show. While they had made some concessions to the pandemic, like…read morerequiring masks, and trying to have everybody go one way (which did not work), and limiting attendance (I think, but could not tell) I do feel they could have made the aisles wider, instead of sticking booths so closely to both sides of the sidewalk. That being said, I really did like the quality and variety of artists present. I find it boring going to art shows that have too many jewelry booths or too many watercolors artists, etc. I ended up buying a painting, a necklace, 2 gourd mice, and a mug. My friend bought a silk jacket and a gorgeous lazy Susan. I loved that their prices were way more reasonable than what you find at the more high end art shows like Gasparilla Festival of the Art. Like all art shows in the area - get there early! It gets really crowded. Fortunately there were plenty of parking garages nearby, and we only had to walk 2 blocks. I am definitely adding this show to my yearly rotation of art shows.

Great location with many visitors. Organization was one of the worst. No provision of parking to…read moreunload and then to load. Few places to park had trailer vans parked all day Friday.