Gasparilla Music Festival (GMF) has officially been rescheduled for October, and you can once again score a free weekend pass by donating a gently used musical instrument at the Recycled Tunes Instrument Drive on Saturday, April, 17.
The drive happens from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. during the Winthrop Popup Market at the Winthrop Town Center, 11349 Bloomingdale Ave, in Riverview.
Ken Apperson—curator of the Coda Project—and songwriter JudyAnne Jackson are scheduled to perform at noon and 11 a.m., respectively, but if you don’t feel like sticking around, there will be a curbside drop-off area north of the market entrance on Bloomingdale Avenue.
Exact dates for GMF are yet to be announced, but it’ll include a third day, Friday to go along with Saturday and Sunday concerts—your donation will get you in all weekend.
Last year, the Gasparilla Music Foundation through the Recycled Tunes program was able to give 505 musical instruments and equipment to over 40 area schools.
🎻🎺🎷 Music Instruments Needed! - https://t.co/Lza7hZMjC1#recycledtunes #musicmatters #gmftampa pic.twitter.com/H6vKtJqWK4
— Gasparilla Music Festival (@GasparillaMusic) April 5, 2021
Executive Director David Cox told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that should the current trajectory continue, the GMF team—which intentionally worked to not get ahead of itself so that it didn’t have to backtrack on any new dates—sees October as a busy month not just locally, but with music festivals happening around the U.S.
Early bird tickets for Gasparilla Music Festival 2021 go on sale in April or May, and Cox said the festival could have a lineup before summer’s end.
What’s more is that Gasparilla Music Festival 2022 is still on for March 11-12.
“The team here at GMF has been resolute that we will do everything in our power to bring back our festival as soon as it is possible to do so. If we can make it happen in 2021, then taking the whole year off was not an option,” Cox wrote in an email. “So many of our team members, vendors, artists, stage hands, and other supporting crew members have had their livelihoods eliminated over the past year.”
With seven months until the festival—and CDC guidelines expected to change—the exact best practices and COVID-19 protocol at GMF 2021 are still unknown, so Cox didn’t have anything specific to mention outside of the fact that every stage at the festival will also be livestreamed.
“We want to make sure that anyone with health concerns can still participate,” Cox added.
UPDATED: 04/15/21 10:30 a.m. Updated with performers.
See a list of Tampa “Safe & Sound” live music venues here.
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