{"id":340059,"date":"2026-07-14T21:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T21:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340059\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T21:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T21:03:12","slug":"tampa-hosts-the-countrys-biggest-shark-convention-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340059\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa hosts the country\u2019s biggest shark convention this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" data-attachment-id=\"262383\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/arts\/florida-state-fairgrounds-hosts-sharkcon-2019-this-weekend-12302473\/attachment\/dothis_sharkcon_071119-5d252828a991d\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/dothis_sharkcon_071119.5d252828a991d.png?fit=960%2C640&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"960,640\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"dothis_sharkcon_071119.5d252828a991d\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/dothis_sharkcon_071119.5d252828a991d.png?fit=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784062992_121_dothis_sharkcon_071119.5d252828a991d.png\" alt=\"A shark at the florida aquarium\" class=\"wp-image-262383\"  \/>Credit: PHOTO VIA THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM\/ FACEBOOK<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The nation\u2019s biggest shark convention brings cold-blooded fans, scientists and celebrities together in Tampa for two days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sharkcon.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SharkCon 12<\/a>, at the Florida State Fairgrounds Expo Hall this Saturday and Sunday, also brings over 100 shark-themed vendors supplying jewelry, art, clothing and collectibles\u2014and professional scuba diving lessons. Plus, talks with representatives from National Geographic, Discovery Channel\u2019s \u201cShark Week\u201d and conservancy experts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SharkCon also brings back memorable attractions like its 45-foot inflatable megalodon, the \u201cJaws\u201d car and mechanical shark ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Celebrity guests include actor Mario Van Peebles from the movies \u201cNew Jack City\u201d and the cult classic \u201cJaws: The Revenge,\u201d along with \u201cBaywatch\u201d actor David Chokachi and \u201cSharknado\u201d director Anthony C. Ferrante.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/community.cltampa.com\/event\/sharkcon-12-21577416\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tickets start at $9.38 for SharkCon 12 on Saturday-Sunday, July 18-19 in Tampa.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"collection-link has-small-font-size\">This article appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/collections\/july-09-15-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">July 09 \u2013 15, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: PHOTO VIA THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM\/ FACEBOOK The nation\u2019s biggest shark convention brings cold-blooded fans, scientists and celebrities&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[11183,19589,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-340059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-florida-state-fairgrounds","tag-sharks","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340059","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=340059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}