City: Tampa Bay, FL

Category: Annual Events & Festivals

Telephone: (727) 821-9888

Address: 400 Bayshore Dr. N.E. (Straub Park North

Description: There’s fun for all ages at the Festival of States FamilyFest, held on one of St. Petersburg’s waterfront park, but the emphasis is on youth at this event. With lots of food vendors and two areas of live entertainment—local youth performers and others—as well as free make-it-take-it booths, rock climbing wall, inflatables, and other activities, you’ll be taking home happy kids who will sleep well. The day begins at 10 a.m. with a parade full of bands and floats and krewes and clowns that start from Central Avenue and Fifth Street, head east to Bayshore Drive, then turn north to the park. The parade and FamilyFest end a celebration that began in January with the All County MusicFest celebration of music programs in the schools. Festival sponsors underwrite the registration fees for art and writing students to enter the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition—winners here move on to New York to vie for national recognition. Clown Alley clown school, taught by a graduate of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Clown College is another part of the celebration. Cost is $17 for five evenings of hands-on clowning around, and graduates get to join the Clown Alley float in the parade. There’s also a 5K run, some beauty/scholarship contests and a coronation ball, and an illuminated night parade a couple of weeks before the day parade and FamilyFest. No wonder the Festival of States, over 100 years old, is considered the largest civic-sponsored event in the South! The FamilyFest is free, but some of the rides aren’t. You can buy an all-day wristband for $10 or individual tickets for $1 each.