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.

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!

I thought it would be fun to go see this fall festival and hang out with friends…read more I was hoping that it would have s lot of food trucks and food options and not mainly art. The river and the park around is a lovely area to walk around on any given day. Today was pretty warm and humid so it was kind of hard to stay out for too long, oh well it's Tampa after all. There was a nice selection of art and different vendors, much like other weekends markets in the Bay Area. For food, though I think it was lacking options. there was donuts booth, coffee truck, hotdogs, kale/ green juice and not much more to choose from. I hope that in the future they will offer more healthy foods and just more options for people to eat and want to hang around.

I was hoping for more but it was a fun evening. The music was great! The fireworks at the end of…read morethe end were much more than expected. When an event is call Taste of ..., you expect there to be great food with lots of choices. I was very underwhelmed by the choices. It would have been nice as if places offered small plates so that you could taste more than one place. I did try the pulled pork nachos from Jackies Bistro, they were yummy but nothing worth seeking out the restaurant. I was also sad because it was a fundraiser for All Children's but there wasn't even a table about the hospital. The venue was a little underwhelming as there wasn't much shade and the music could be clearly heard from outside the gates. There was many boats in the harbor that pulled up for the concerts. It was strange that the family area with the kids bounce houses were also outside the gates.

It was great in terms of the concert aspect! Pat Benatar was what I was excited for. There were…read morelots of restaurants that were showcased, but not many were impressive. I would say I was most impressed with Daiquiri Shak! It had tasty food for a reasonable price, unlike most of the other places. As well as the hooker tea company, which I did not know existed in St. Pete, so I will definitely be going there next time I am in St. Pete.

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!

As the Seafood and music festival has grown, so has the venue location. The '26 rendition was…read moreheld at the Sarasota Fairgrounds on Ringling off Fruitville. Now known as Sarasota Seafood and Music festival. Lots of food- seafood, hamburgers and carnival fried food plus bands and many merchants. I got a plate of jambalaya (a bit too salty) but loaded with sausage and shrimp (good deal for $20). Lots of beer options to wash it down(beer vendors took credit cards). Free parking and admission although you need to buy tickets for food.

This Seafood Festival is much better than the Tampa one we went to…read more There is a new parking garage in town for .50 an hour and your dog is welcome. I think the walkways are too hot for their paws right now, however people have pets here. We ordered a 3 item platter to share with Grouper, Coconut Shrimp and Jambalaya. We were happy with the $24.00 price and the food was very good. The Grouper needed another minute of cook time, it was still fresh and mild. The Jambalaya had Mahi in it and Sausage which was flavorful. There is a stage with live music that adds to the events fun factor and admission is free!

July 4th fireworks at Clearwater Coachman Park was the best! We haven't been here in a couple year…read moreand just knew it would not disappoint. Free parking in the City Hall Parking Garage, a couple blocks walk, misters to cool off, food trucks and vendors, clean bathrooms, awesome music and fireworks. Can't beat this! Definitely will be back for more and keeping this review so I don't forget how awesome and carefree and fun these fireworks are!!! A+++

They advertised and talked about how amazing Clearwater fireworks were, so my family and I had to…read moresee them for ourselves. At midnight there were people all over the beach waiting for these amazing fireworks show and there was nothing! There was no celebration of fireworks to bring in the New Year. Nothing but a complete waste of time and a complete disappointment!!

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.