St. Patrick's Day is on the horizon, and you better not forget to wear green before you're pinched without consent by total strangers.
This year, during the annual Mayor's River O'Green event, happening on Saturday, March 14, mayor Jane Castor is set to turn the Hillsborough River green starting at 11 a.m. followed by a day of celebrating with food, drinks and live music at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa.
The park is going to be flooded with games, food trucks, beer vendors, and live entertainment courtesy of Paddy O Furniture's Irish Buskers.
The day's festivities include a Leprechaun costume contest, the annual adult's only River O'Green Scavenger Hunt hosted by Downtown Crawlers, and Pi Day activities with Glazer Children's Museum.
Want to do a little cardio before drinking your calories? You can sign up for the River O'Green Gallop, or the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA's 2-mile fun run/walk along the Tampa Riverwalk.
Before you get your green on, you can slide by the Salvation Army of Tampa/Hillsborough County tent to drop off canned food donations. Might bring you some good karma for the scavenger hunt, but no promises.
If you're already dreading the parking situation, Two Wheel Valet is offering free bike valet, spring for a rideshare app, or get familiar with the TECO Streetcar.
The River O'Green event takes place from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., which gives you seven uninterrupted hours of green beer drinking, so make sure to call an Uber. This is a family and pet-friendly event, so bring the entire crew, but don't forget the sunscreen, lawn chairs and whatever else to get you through the masses of drunk people at Curtis Hixon.
More details to come when the list of musical performances is announced.
Follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter to get the most up-to-date news + views. Subscribe to our newsletter, too.
This article appears in Feb 6-13, 2020.