The long-awaited, annual Gasparilla Music Festival (GMF) blessed Tampa Bay for the thirteenth consecutive time from February 16-18. The event took place over the course of 3 days at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park across four different stages. With over 50 different bands, artists and groups, headliners include artists like Young the Giant, Coin, Surf Mesa and Big Gigantic.
Gasparilla Music Festival is also a great opportunity for smaller artists to get their music to a larger audience, Judy Anne Jackson, Entertainment Revue and Parrotfish are all great examples of smaller artists and groups that are given a chance to shine and expand their listener pool to a wide variety of people they never thought of before.
The mission behind the festival is to raise money to provide instruments to under-advantaged youth in the Tampa Bay area, along with promoting different small businesses in the area, whether it be delicious food or interesting products to sell, GMF gives many opportunities for business growth of many kinds.