A black-and-white historical photograph depicts a man holding a large hose, spraying a pile of snow or ice into a wooden enclosure on a city street at night. A large crowd of adults and children stands behind the enclosure to watch the event. In the background, illuminated storefronts and theater marquees are visible, including one advertising the Gary Cooper film "Man of the West" and another reading "Butlers".
Gandy, George Skip IV, “Hilton and Gray, Snow Show, A” (1958). Credit: Gandy Photographs – General, Culture, Politics. Image 6705.

Just as Ben Wyatt’s failed “Ice Town” haunted him in “Parks and Recreation,” Tampa has its own history of frozen failure.

In 1958, an attempted “Snow Show” became melty mayhem in downtown. The eight-day event included covering Franklin Street in icy “snow,” a five-story ski slope, ice skating, the nation’s tallest Christmas tree and a Snow Queen contest. And it literally all went wrong. 

For the Tampa Bay History Center’s “History as a Joke” series, comedians Johnny B, John J. Murray and Matt Fernandez of “3 Ugly Mugs” join the History Center’s Rodney Kite-Powell to look back and laugh at one of the worst/greatest moments in city history.

Tickets are $10 for “History as a Joke: Snow Show,” happening Tuesday, Dec. 16. in Tampa.

History as a Joke: Snow Show

Time

Location Tampa Bay History Center, 801 Water Street, Tampa

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This article appears in Dec. 04 – 10, 2025.

Selene San Felice is managing editor of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Prior to joining CL in 2025, she started the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter and worked for her hometown paper, The Capital in Annapolis,...