The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus is in town, with a show of such grandeur it brings to mind the popular image of an awe-struck child pining to run away and join the circus. If half the kids in Tampa go missing, you will know where they went.
Universal CityWalk’s New Year’s Eve celebration will feature a live performance from Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Temptations and The Four Tops. The event will take place on December 31st from 8 am to 2 pm.
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth is about to become greater when the circus rolls into town January 6th through 10th. The circus will celebrate the 200th anniversary of P.T. Barnum’s birth with Barnum’s Funundrum, and have pulled out all the stops for their show. “Expect anything and everything to happen,” says Benjamin Bolin, one of the clowns in the show. The circus will travel to over 120 cities in the United States, and more than 10 million people will see the circus, yet no city will see the same show twice.
The following is a list of Holiday events and activites around Tampa Bay. To view a listing of Tampa Bay Events, go here .
A seemingly endless sea of excited children poured into Downtown Clearwater with parents in tow to experience the rare miracle of snow in Florida. Miracle on Cleveland Street returned for its second year on December 11th, and was spectacularly successful, exceeding the expectations set by last year’s inaugural event. Kids braved lines a block long to take a ride down the giant toboggan slide in the middle of Cleveland Street.
The Clearwater Community Volunteers held their Anniversary Celebration of the 17th Annual Winter Wonderland Holiday Festival and Charity Drive on December 11th. On the corner of Drew Street and Ft. Harrison Avenue, a Christmas playground has sprung from the barren asphalt of the parking lot behind the Osceola Hotel, driven by the organized tenacity of the Clearwater Community Volunteers (CCV), working with local charities, for the benefit of members of the community.
Thrill Seeker Sirio Dares the Sky
My personal philosophy unfortunately decries the lack of threatening stimuli in my daily environment. With speed limits the way they are, I cannot get a thrill out of putting myself in harm’s way, although I do appreciate the rumbling bass notes of my motorcycle’s exhaust. My college professors cannot threaten me with gruesome punishment if I fail an exam. The most dangerous object in my household is the InSinkErator which relieves me from the tedium of throwing my carrot peels into the trash can.
The St. Pete/Clearwater area will be draped in white this Holiday season by something other than the gleaming, powder-perfect sand that lines its 35 miles of award-winning coast line.
On Friday, December 11th, Winter Wonderland will hold their Special Anniversary Celebration of the 17th Annual Winter Wonderland in Downtown Clearwater. In conjunction with the city’s scheduled “Holiday Light Up” and “Miracle on Cleveland Street”, this winter holiday village will enhance the community’s holiday spirit. The evenings celebration will be kicked off by community leaders: John Doran, City Councilmember; Rod Irwin, of the City Managers Office; Deacon Maurice Mickens, of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church; Pat Harney, Public Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology and of course, the much anticipated secret-surprise entrance by Santa Claus. The special Anniversary Celebration will begin at 6:30 PM sharp.
The Symphony in Lights Returns to The Shops at Wiregrass through December 31st.
Although, the “Miracle on Cleveland St.” and the city’s “Holiday Light Up” in Clearwater’s Cleveland Street District (Downtown), has been postponed until December 11th due to a 70% chance of rain forecast, Winter Wonderland still intends to open the Christmas Village as scheduled on December 4th – 20th, weather permitting.
Oil is not the only thing that does not mix with water… neither does snow apparently. Due to a forecasted 70% chance of rain that could turn 40 tons of snow into ice, the event organizers of Miracle on Cleveland Street in Downtown Clearwater decide to postpone the event until next week, Friday, December 11th from 5-10 pm.
The Church of Scientology’s Clearwater Community Volunteers (CCV), invites you to join them for the grand opening ceremony of the 17th Annual Winter Wonderland in downtown Clearwater. As is tradition each year, this magical winter holiday village – which runs for seventeen consecutive evenings - is opened with an official holiday light up by community leaders: City Councilmember John Doran, CCV, the Church of Scientology and of course, the much anticipated secret-surprise entrance by Santa Claus. The special Grand Opening Ceremony will take place at 6:30 PM on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) give away a free Valentine’s Day wedding package to one lucky couple with their “2nd Annual Wedding of a Lifetime Contest.” The winners will be able to get married on a platform over the main dolphin pool on the most romantic day of the year of 2010. Resident CMA dolphins Nicholas and Winter will assist in the nuptials.
Tickets to the 140th edition of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth will be given away on Friday, November 20th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in exchange for non perishable foods. This amazing offer will help stock the shelves of the Metropolitan Ministries. Help feed the needy, and get rewarded for that good effort with free circus tickets.
The following is a current list of events around Tampa Bay. If you would like to submit your event to our list, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with "Tampa Bay Events" in the subject line. The Tampa Bay Events Page is updated daily.
The construction of the new Salvador Dali museum in St. Petersburg is half completed. To celebrate this achievement, and to raise funds for the remaining construction, the Dali Museum threw “Gala’s Half Dressed Carnivale” on Saturday, October 17th. It was an evening of revelry in the wild style of the parties Dali’s wife, Gala, used to throw. Held on the lawn next to the half-finished concrete structure, guests arrived in lavish costumes and masks to revel in the arguably quasi-hedonistic atmosphere of the party.
The 17th annual Winter Wonderland in downtown Clearwater will open on December 4th, but construction is already underway. Beginning on October 31st, a team of industrious “elves” began building the holiday village, located on the corner of Ft. Harrison Avenue and Drew Street. These hardworking volunteers are helping Santa and the Clearwater Community Volunteers bring holiday joy and magic to children throughout the community.
4th Friday in Downtown Clearwater has been the place to go to unwind and enjoy live music and entertainment at the end of the month since March, but many people don’t know what goes into producing the “party on the street”.
On Friday, December 4th, the Miracle on Cleveland Street, which served as the pilot for the highly successful 4th Friday series, will return again for its second year.
Last year, two tons of snow was trucked into Downtown Clearwater, to create the miracle of a “white-Christmas” in Florida. There was a ten-foot toboggan slide set up for children to play on, as well as the Clearwater Community Volunteer’s choochoo train. Santa and the Snow Princess were in attendance, along with Mayor Hibbard. Approximately 3,000 people flocked to Cleveland Street for the holiday magic.
On the weekend of October 17th and 18th, the Clearwater Jazz Holiday Jazz ’N Art Walk returned to downtown Clearwater for its second successful year.
The Jazz ’N Art Walk was a juried art show and street fair that gave artists a chance to showcase their work in displays along two full blocks on Cleveland Street. Art was for sale, and many Jazz Holiday attendees browsed among the temporary galleries. John Brennan, the artist who designed this year’s Clearwater Jazz Holiday poster, was among the artists whose works were on display.
The Florida State Fair is conducting a search to find the League of Fair-ness Superheroes for the 106th Florida State Fair taking place on February 4-15, 2010.
Auditions will be held on October 29th and 30th at the Sweetbay Entertainment Hall in the Florida State Fairgrounds, Tampa. Registration for auditions will take place at 11 am. The auditions will begin at 12 pm, and end at 7 pm.
Halloween will be celebrated at Ruth Eckerd Hall on Friday, October 30th and Saturday, October 31st at 7:30 pm with a Halloween double feature celebrating the 200th birthday of the master of mystery and the macabre: Edgar Allan Poe.
On September 25th, Clearwater’s 4th Friday event returned from its summer hiatus, and the “party in the street” was a great success, drawing large late afternoon crowds to the Cleveland Street District for food, music and fun.