The Gasparilla Festival of the Arts – Tampa’s Riverfront Becomes One Enormous Gallery
There are art shows—and then there is Tampa’s Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, where it
feels as though virtually every imaginable form of creativity has gathered for one
spectacular weekend along the river.
Set against the beautiful downtown waterfront at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, this
nationally recognized juried festival brings together hundreds of accomplished and
emerging artists. You wander from painting to sculpture, photography to glass, ceramics
to jewelry, woodwork, textiles, mixed media and extraordinary handcrafted pieces that
sometimes leave you wondering, How in the world did someone even think of that?
And that may be the real joy of Gasparilla: discovery.
One booth stops you with a magnificent painting. Twenty feet later, you’re mesmerized
by a sculptor. Around the next corner there’s shimmering glass, intricate metalwork or a
piece created from materials you never imagined could become art. Better still, you’re
often meeting the people who actually created it—hearing the story, inspiration and
craftsmanship behind the work.
But Gasparilla is much more than rows of artists’ tents. Add live music and
performances, food and drinks, interactive experiences, Tampa’s skyline and the broad
sweep of the river, and the entire park takes on the atmosphere of a giant outdoor
celebration of imagination.
Perhaps that’s what stayed with me most. You don’t have to be an art collector to fall in
love with this festival. You simply have to enjoy creativity. There is something
wonderfully uplifting about spending a day surrounded by people who can take an idea,
a blank canvas, a piece of clay, metal, wood or glass—and turn it into something
beautiful.
We went expecting a wonderful art festival.
We discovered a celebration of human imagination.
And with Tampa’s beautiful riverfront as the gallery…that’s pretty hard to beat!