Tarpon Springs is the city in U.S. with the largest population by proportion of Greek decedents…read more The first observance of Epiphany in Tarpon Springs was celebrated by the first settlers in 1903. Rain or shine, warm or cold, the festivities of Epiphany at Tarpon Springs takes place every year on January Sixth. (If there's a thunderstorm that makes it dangerous to be in water it will be cancelled but so far the saints have made sure that doesn't happen.) The ceremonies is the same as the one taking place all over Greece on the same day, so if you want a taste of Greece without leaving the continent, come here for a day trip! While the faithfuls gather in the St. Nicholas Cathedral, the tourists (many out-of-towners) have already stake their spots on the grass around Spring Bayou. You can hear the music and hymns through the loudspeaker, and eventually, the procession down Tarpon Avenue. Local teenage boys between 16-18 swim to the row boats around the dock, where they stand posed for the moment the cross is tossed into the water. The Archbishop begins by blessing the waters, then read from the first chapter of St. Mark's, verse 9, "and it came to pass in those days...he saw the heavens opened, and the spirit like a dove descending upon him, and there came a voice from heaven saying "thou art my beloved Son, in thee, I am well pleased". A girl, the designated dove bearer, will release a white dove as the cross is tossed into the water. The boys all dive in, hoping to be the first to retrieve it, for honor, glory and blessing for him and his family. In the past, the cross was made with gold. However, there were a few years the sunk cross could not be found, so nowadays it is made with white oak. Also, the day before, if you are lucky, you will see the Archbishop going around Tarpon Springs blessing the businesses and the residents. One year we received our blessings in a bakery and another time at the covid testing center (which we felt was more potent than any vaccine. : D )

The Orthodox Christian religion celebrates Epiphany on January 6th of each year, in remembrance of…read morethe baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River. The Greek community established January the 6th of each year as that day that will be celebrated with the sanctification of the waters and the immersion of the cross in the Spring Bayou on Cross Day also called Epiphany. The first observance of Epiphany in Tarpon Springs was celebrated by the first settlers who came to the area in 1903. Only a few people attended the first Epiphany but word spread and Greeks and Americans from all over began traveling to Tarpon Springs to take part in the three day celebration that is identical to the service that takes place in Greece. This year was the 118th Epiphany service in Tarpon Springs. I had never heard of the Epiphany celebration at Tarpon Springs before attending but my friend really wanted to go and invited me to come along. Tarpon Springs has been on many best of Florida lists and I always have wanted to visit. The small town has a rich history of Greek sponge divers and we were able to explore the town the night before the Epiphany. On the day of the festival there was a storm and we weren't even sure that the ceremony would still be going on. Apparently it has never rained during the Epiphany before. We found free parking in a downtown lot and arrived very early in the morning for Liturgy services at St. Nicholas Cathedral. It was raining so hard that I had to wade through water up to my knees in the street. The service lasts several hours so we decided to leave after a couple of hours and head down to Craig Park and Spring Bayou to secure a good spot for the diving portion of the service. Fortunately by the time we arrived at Craig Park the sun had come out and it ended up being a beautiful day. The streets are closed off so a procession of clergy can walk down to the bayou, the site of the first settlement in Tarpon Springs. At the park we were able to watch a large screen that was streaming the church service. While we waited for the clergy to arrive I enjoyed watching the manatees in Spring Bayou. as I sat and dipped my legs in the spring a dolphin surfaced right in front of me giving me a moment I still treasure. As we sat with our feet in the bayou we watched the cross diving portion of the service. After The Gospel of the day was read and a white dove was released the Archbishop threw a large cross into the bayou and 65 teen aged boys who were sitting in and on boats dove into the waters of the bayou. The diver who retrieves the cross is considered blessed for the entire year and this year the honor went to 16 year old John Hittos. After the cross diving there is a large festival in Craig Park with Greek food and wine and cultural events like dancing and music. After enjoying the festival it was time to head back home taking a lot of great memories of my first Epiphany with me.

Walked over to the Heritage Village and Historical Museum after visiting the Botanical Gardens and…read morehad the best time learning about the local history! The volunteers were so knowledgeable! I can't wait to visit again. Definitely a place where you can get lost in time.

ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THIS PLACE!!! THIS IS SO COOL SO MANY COOL OLD HOMES. They take great care of…read morethis place so much. Love the staff here that do the tours so informative and friendly they make me feel at home at all these homes. I cant upload my pictures currently but i will soon as i can

The first annual Art of Korea X is new festival to celebrate the K-Pop culture. Many K-Pop group…read moreyoung group dance the way out during our visit. I cannot believe the local are crazy about this culture are American with different ethnicity. It is a force cannot be stop. Song like K-pop vampire hunter Golden is being play. For me, I like the food truck that show up. I got the mini sushi wrap which is my favorite. We do got some other food like grilled giant squid, grilled pig ear, grilled intestines and mini Taiyaki. I also got fresh squeezed sugar cane juice. All food are good. I wish they set up more table for seating facing the stage. This first annual festival is great for the community. It is definitely a welcome news for the city.

Went to Waterworks Park in Tampa on Saturday night, November 1st, 2025 for this festival…read more I was happy we were just in time to see the Ichillin KPop group. Oh they were so adorable and so good. We had so much fun listening to them. Afterwards, we saw where they were standing and taking pics and we stood on the outer side of that area. They loved Mocha Coconut my dog. It was so cute. I walked around a bit and there was so much diff Asian food. It looked so good but I was too full to have anything. There was also some different gift items to buy and Korean goodies. It was really cool. I loved it so much I wanted to go back on Sunday, the last day, but we ran out of time. It was really a great fest showcasing KPop, Korean Culture and Asian food.

I love everything about Dunedin. It's a cute town on the water where you can walk to all the local…read moreshops as well as take in even more when they have festivals throughout the year. The Holiday festival is a perfect example of that. It started with the parade at 4pm and it lasted until about 5:30Pm. Initially I didn't understand why it started so early. I thought it should be a night parade. But it was smart scheduling by the city. They had other activities as well. Those included snow flurries, sledding, Xmas trains, and horse carriage rides This festival didn't have much outside vendors which I would have loved. It was just a few. In Pioneer Park, they had a nice festive band with holiday music. The park was decked with white Holiday lights. As you walk through Main Street some of the local stores gave out free snacks and drinks. Pisces gave out free egg nog with whipped cream and Xmas cookies. It was a nice festive night in perfect Dunedin, FL!

The Gasparilla Piratefest is a must see event. Each year gets bigger & it's slated to have 300,000…read moreattendees. Check it off of your list in Tampa- even if you only try it once!! There's pirates invading the south portion & downtown area of the city & they're tossing "booty" a.k.a. beads, playing music, drinking/dancing while doing so. I've been an attendee on & off all of my life. (Most of my adult life). And in my experience now it's seems there are good times but also a "whole lotta" liquor going on more so than the actual parade. Simply put- try it for yourself & you be the judge!!

Gasparilla is the Tampa Bay party of the year. It's the designated day of the year for everyone to…read moreget together and party, hang out, and catch some beads. The parade is right off of Bayshore going towards downtown, a beautiful spot for a festival, though parking is always an issue. Be prepared for some walking or long waits for Ubers if you don't have a DD. The people watching is elite at this festival, and almost everyone is incredibly friendly and nice. Just be careful and look out for creeps, just like any festival they're out and about so be smart

This is an amazing parade. Along with the snow machines making snow during the parade, it easily…read moremakes this event one of our very best on our favorite things to do list. We sure miss it if they skip a year.

I was not too fond of this parade. It is nice to have a good mix of floats, bands, people,…read moreballoons, music, etc. This parade did not have that. It had mostly high school band & two or three basic floats. It seemed to go on forever with, you guessed it, bands! I would have thought that this parade would have not only showcased the same ol bands, it would show grand displays of Xmas floats and have a great reflection of the heritage in Ybor city. The parking was not a problem for us because we came early and ate dinner in the area. Parking was $5 in surrounding parking garages, but other parking lots were $8 or $10. They had barricades so people would not run in the middle of the parade path. They didn't care if the kids were climbing these barricades, and I feel that was inappropriate. This parade is not one of the better ones, and there are so many to choose from. At least it was a beautiful night, and I spent it with great company!

Thanks @Rachel for telling us about this! It was a beautiful cool clear day and the entire town…read moreseemed to be out to enjoy! The only thing missing was the world's largest duck pond! Life is good with crazy huge silliness!

We finally saw Mama Duck. This is the World's Largest Rubber Ducky…read more Mama Duck stands tall at 61 feet. Her duckling, I didn't see baby Duck Timmy who stands 10 feet tall. I read he was at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. They are hanging out through January 26 at Coachman Park in Downtown Clearwater. With it are different events and activities. Next weekend January 24th is a Jeep Invasion with a concert. It's the last weekend on display too. They do take it down if there's a lot of wind. We were lucky and it was up and it was a perfect day to check it out. We had street parking with a park mobile meter but when I checked it out on the app, I was happy to see parking was free and that was a Saturday afternoon. Totally a fun sight to see and snap some pics and walk around this wonderful park with a great water view!

Went with a friend to visit Dunedin History Museum after their downtown market and it was worth it…read more Tickets were $8 an adult and $5 for a kid. The worker at the counter was super sweet with our transaction :) The museum is interactive while teaching you the history of the town and how the people contributed. If you're ever near by and want to have a museum experience, you should definitely stop in! They also do walking tours for those who want to explore even more.

So happy to have finally visited the Dunedin Historical Museum. I've been wanting to visit forever…read moresince I just love Dunedin, FL. At the time, I stepped in to visit the gift shop and they were closing in a half hour. They said your welcome to check out the museum for free. I was so happy to hear that. At this time, the museum usually costs $7. On Main Street, you will see this historical museum right beside the train tracks. It was a train depot back in the day. They have a nice collection of artifacts dating to back in the day in Dunedin Dunedin. I love that they have some interactive displays. They also house the only full collection of the Dunedin Times from 1924 to '66. Besides visiting the historical museum and learning about back in the day in the area, the website has archives from the Dunedin Times. Definitely check that out. Today Dunedin is the cutest little town bustling with a hallmark charm. Lots of shops, cafes, restaurants and the Pinellas Trail goes right through it. It also has a great water view and is dog friendly. It's definitely a great place to visit! Dunedin Historical Museum gives you a great idea of what it was like before and how it has progressed through the years!