Things To Do In Tampa This Weekend: Best Festivals & Events Going On

Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival
Tuesday–Saturday, April 7-11, Various Times
Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park anchors the weekend’s main events, with five days of curated dining experiences, chef competitions, and a Grand Tasting featuring 40+ restaurants, international wine and spirits pavilions, and live music hosted by Chef Robert Irvine and Chef Sean Brasel. For anyone who considers eating and drinking a competitive sport, this is your championship week.

Rock the Range: Chef Robert Irvine & Friends*
Thursday, April 9, 7 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa kicks off the evening with a tasting reception from Hard Rock’s restaurant portfolio paired with Jack Daniel’s and Hendrick’s Gin cocktails, before moving into a 60-minute live culinary show featuring Chef Robert Irvine, Chef Beau Mac, Chef Fernando Desa, and a dessert after-party courtesy of The Cake Girl, with a portion of proceeds benefiting veterans and military families through the Robert Irvine Foundation. For $250, you get a live cooking show, an open bar, celebrity chefs doing unexpected things on stage, and the moral comfort of knowing some of it goes to a genuinely good cause.

Gasparilla Music Festival 2026
All Weekend, April 10-12, times vary
Meridian Fields hosts the return of the Gasparilla Music Festival with 30+ artists across three days, headlined by Mt. Joy on Friday, Two Friends on Saturday, and Gov’t Mule on Sunday, with additional acts including Shakey Graves, Jai Wolf, Drive-By Truckers, Bryce Vine, and GZA rounding out a lineup that covers enough genres to start at least four separate arguments about what to see next. It’s the kind of festival that rewards having a plan and punishes everyone who showed up thinking they’d just wing it.

PhilFest 2026
All Weekend, April 10-12, Various Times
The Philippine Cultural Enrichment Complex hosts PhilFest 2026, a three-day celebration of Filipino culture featuring live music, traditional dance performances, a marketplace, comedy sets from Rex Navarrete and Dr. Abby Hamilton, a special TFC appearance by Sam Milby, and a consular outreach program capping off the festival’s 30th year. Few events manage to pack this much heritage, pageantry, and stand-up comedy into a single weekend without losing the thread, and PhilFest has clearly figured out the formula.

New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays
All Weekend, April 10-12, Various Times
Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg hosts a three-game home series against the Bronx Bombers, with first pitches scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Friday, 6:10 p.m. Saturday, and 1:40 p.m. Sunday. Three games, one rival, and a full weekend of opportunities to remind Yanks fans exactly whose house this is.

Tampa Bay Rodeo & Family Festival*
Friday & Saturday, April 10-11, 4:30 p.m. – Various Times
The Hillsborough County Fairgrounds in Dover hosts two nights of full rodeo competition featuring bull riding, bronco busting, barrel racing, and calf roping, alongside a family festival with mechanical bulls, axe throwing, monster truck rides, and enough fried food to qualify as a dietary event in its own right. Top cowboys and cowgirls from across the region compete while the whole production doubles as a tribute to America’s 250th birthday, which is either deeply patriotic or a very good excuse to watch someone get thrown off a bull.

Mezzo Market
Saturday, April 11, 11 AM – 4 PM
Intermezzo hosts a bustling showcase of vintage finds, handmade goods, art, plants, jewelry, and all the small business magic Tampa can summon in one place. Shoppers drift from booth to booth soaking up the creativity, community energy, and the irresistible temptation to buy something wonderfully unexpected.

Sabor Cubano Fest*
Saturday, April 11, 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Al Lopez Park hosts a full-day celebration of Cuban heritage with live music, authentic cuisine, arts, crafts, and cultural traditions that represent one of Tampa Bay’s most deeply rooted communities. It’s the kind of festival that earns its reputation not through hype, but through the actual quality of everything on the plate and on the stage.

African Arts in the Park Cultural Fest
Saturday, April 11, 11:30 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Perry Harvey Sr. Park hosts a free, family-friendly celebration of African culture featuring live performances, a marketplace of local artisans and food creators, and hands-on opportunities to dance, create, and engage with traditions that deserve a lot more than a passive audience. This is the rare festival that functions simultaneously as a party and a cultural education, and somehow pulls off both without making either feel like a compromise.

Blue and Gold Gala
Saturday, April 11, 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
George M. Steinbrenner Field transforms into an elegant evening benefiting GiGi’s Playhouse Tampa, with cocktail attire, a buffet dinner, and an open bar supporting a mission centered on acceptance and inclusion for individuals with Down syndrome. Sponsored tickets are available for individuals with Down syndrome directly through the Playhouse, which is exactly the kind of detail that tells you everything you need to know about what this organization actually values.

Tampa Bay Sun FC vs. DC Power FC
Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Suncoast Credit Union Field hosts the Tampa Bay Sun FC as they take on DC Power FC in what should be a compelling early-season matchup for anyone who enjoys watching talented athletes settle their differences in a socially acceptable way. Tickets are available through the Sun FC website, and the home crowd has a well-documented habit of making opposing teams feel genuinely unwelcome.

Tampa Bay Rowdies vs. Oakland Roots SC
Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg hosts the Rowdies as they welcome Oakland Roots SC for a home match that gives fans a perfectly legitimate reason to spend a Saturday night screaming at strangers in a productive direction. Tickets are available through the Rowdies website, and Al Lang remains one of the better places in the region to watch soccer while pretending you understood that offside call.

Eric Church & Ashley McBryde
Saturday, April 11, 7:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Eric Church and Ashley McBryde for a stop on the Free The Machine Tour at Benchmark International Arena, pairing two of country music’s most genuinely uncompromising acts on the same stage in a combination that should make for a very loud, very satisfying Saturday night. If you were on the fence, the fact that both of them have built careers on doing exactly what they want rather than what’s convenient is probably all the argument you need.

Bloom*
Saturday & Sunday, April 11-12, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Bonnet Springs Park in Lakeland hosts a two-day flower festival featuring floral installations, botanical art displays, guided garden tours, pollinator and native plant education, horticulture demos, a makers’ market, and a plant sale for anyone who has fully committed to the bit of talking to their houseplants. Considering the park’s gardens serve as the backdrop, the whole affair has the rare advantage of a venue that does half the decorating on its own.

Embracing Our Differences 2026 Closing Weekend*
Saturday & Sunday, April 11-12, Various Times
Poynter Park hosts the final weekend of the 2026 Embracing Our Differences exhibition, giving visitors one last chance to take in 50 thought-provoking artworks and messages from creators around the world before the free outdoor showcase wraps up another year. Millions of people have walked through this exhibition over the years, and the closing weekend has a way of making even the most casual visitor feel like they showed up for something that actually mattered.

Saint Croix Plaza Open House & Block Party*
Sunday, April 12, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Saint Croix Plaza on South MacDill Avenue throws open its doors to celebrate five new businesses joining its lineup, with live music from Rockatar, coffee samples from Lucky Goat Coffee, and pop-ups from plaza tenants making for a genuinely fun afternoon of wandering and discovering. Whether you leave with a new favorite lunch spot, a med spa appointment, or just a very good latte, this is the rare open house that actually sounds like a good time.