Downtown Tampa’s Gasparilla Festival of the Arts happens at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park in Tampa, Florida on March 4-5, 2023. Credit: Photo via GasparillaArts/Facebook

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, a two-day, free-to-attend festival is the best way to discover your new Tampa Bay artist. Each year, Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park is transformed into a “giant outdoor museum,” featuring hundreds of local artists peddling paintings, ceramics, jewelry, sculptures, and everything in between.

The festival—which runs Saturday-Sunday, March 4-5—grants over $80,000 in prize money to a few lucky artists, including a $15,000 Raymond James Best of Show Award. Food and drink vendors, family-friendly activities, interactive art exhibits and live entertainment will be scattered among the hundreds of artist booths.

Organizers for the 2023 event expect to draw 75,000 visitors, so plan accordingly.

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This article appears in Mar 2-8, 2023.

Kyla Fields is the food critic and former managing editor of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay who started their journey at CL as summer 2019 intern. They are the proud owner of a charming, sausage-shaped, eight-year-old...