{"id":224124,"date":"2026-04-08T23:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224124\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T23:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T23:52:10","slug":"gasparilla-music-festival-returns-to-tampa-in-brand-new-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/224124\/","title":{"rendered":"Gasparilla Music Festival returns to Tampa in brand-new home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gasparilla Gasparilla Music Festival making comeback <\/a> <\/p>\n

The Gasparilla Music Festival is making a comeback this weekend in Tampa after a one-year hiatus, relocating to Meridian Fields near Water Street and Channelside. FOX 13’s Ariel Plasencia reports.<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – The Gasparilla<\/a> Music Festival is making a comeback this weekend in Tampa<\/a> after a one-year hiatus, relocating to Meridian Fields near Water Street and Channelside.<\/p>\n

“Right now, we’re getting ready to launch the biggest and best Gasparilla Music Festival to date,” said Grymes Cannon, a founding board member of the Gasparilla Music Foundation.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

In the past, the festival was held at Curtis Hixon and Julian B. Lane parks.<\/p>\n

However, a combination of bad weather, financial challenges and logistical hurdles<\/a> forced organizers to cancel last year\u2019s event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, they are back and ready to kick off the three-day festival, which starts Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

The new home for the festival is Meridian Fields, nestled near the Selmon Expressway, the old flour mills, Water Street and Channelside.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Organizers want attendees to know exactly where the new venue is, especially since it looks nothing like what currently appears on internet maps.<\/p>\n

“It still shows the railroad tracks and the gravel, but there is pure, lush grass everywhere on this festival site,” Cannon said.<\/p>\n

Big picture view:<\/p>\n

To bring the space to life, organizers rolled in more than 100 yards of fresh turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They actually first spotted the potential of the lot while randomly standing in a nearby parking garage while scouting for a new home.<\/p>\n

What you can do:<\/p>\n

With 8,000 people expected to attend each day, organizers recommend planning your transportation ahead of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To accommodate the massive crowds, the festival will feature a bike valet and a designated ride-share drop-off area.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Cannon also told FOX 13 there will be parking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“From the company Car Park, they’re making a lot of parking spots available,” Cannon said. “You do have parking lots all around here. You have parking garages all around here.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The festival features multiple stages with more than 50 performers lined up across three days of fun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We really need the support of the local community to get behind us and all come out, have a great time, and enjoy what we built for the last 14 years,” Cannon said.<\/p>\n

The music officially kicks off on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more information, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Source: FOX 13’s Ariel Plasencia gathered this information from a founding board member of the Gasparilla Music Foundation as well as prior reporting.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>Gasparilla Pirate Invasion<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gasparilla Music Festival making comeback The Gasparilla Music Festival is making a comeback this weekend in Tampa after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,31383,629,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-224124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-gasparilla","10":"tag-hillsborough","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-tampa","13":"tag-tampa-headlines","14":"tag-tampa-news","15":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}