Ybor City celebrates its Cuban, German, Italian and Spanish immigrants — those who settled there when the cigar factories were booming in the late 1800s — with Fiesta Day. Originally a day of rest for the district's cigar workers, Fiesta Day now attracts several thousand locals with an International Parade of Flags, an arts marketplace, an Iron Chef-style Black Bean Blowout and the fifth annual Flan Fest. Forty contestants compete for the title of "Top Flan in Tampa Bay" during a Flan Bake-Off, with the cash prize-winning flan selected at 2:30 p.m. Attendees also enjoy a flan eating contest and flan sampling throughout the day. What? You don't like the creamy Spanish custard? Never fear, there are enough flan-less events — like a MOSI-hosted interactive children's area and live multicultural entertainment — to make for a flan-tabulous flan-filled day for even the most flanophobe flan-milies. Sat., Feb. 23, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Centennial Park, Eighth Avenue and 19th Street, Tampa, free, 813-241-2442.
This article appears in Feb 20-26, 2008.