Tampa Bay Black Heritage Music Fest Weekend

Tampa’s Black Heritage Music Fest is set for April 25-26 at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, with two days of live music and a riverfront vendor market. (tampablackheritage.org) The festival site lists gates opening at noon both days at 600 N. Ashley Drive, with ticketed options including general admission, preferred seating, and VIP access. The City of Tampa calendar lists Saturday’s event hours as 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. and marks it as in-person in downtown’s River Arts area. (tampablackheritage.org) (tampa.gov) Organizers have split the lineup by day. Saturday is billed around R&B, funk, and Southern soul, with Rick James Stone City Band and Tina P & Friends on the schedule, while Sunday shifts to neo-soul, jazz, and gospel with Althea Rene and Stokley listed among the performers. (tampablackheritage.org) The music weekend is the closing stretch of the 26th Annual Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival, a nonprofit-run series of events that now extends from January into April. The festival’s FAQ says the organization is a Florida 501(c)(3), and its 2026 ticket announcement says this year’s signature events conclude with the April 25-26 music fest in downtown Tampa. (tampablackheritage.org 1) (tampablackheritage.org 2) Beyond the stage, organizers are advertising food vendors, arts and crafts, Black-owned businesses, line dancing, a drum circle, and local and regional acts. That’s So Tampa’s weekend guide also lists the event as a culture-and-community gathering built around performances and a marketplace on the riverfront. (tampablackheritage.org) (thatssotampa.com) Visit Tampa Bay identifies this as the 26th music festival and lists sponsors including Publix, Fox 13, Hillsborough County, the City of Tampa, HART, AAA, TD Bank, and AARP. The festival organization’s site says volunteers and vendors are still part of the event structure, alongside ticket sales and travel, transit, and parking information for attendees. (visittampabay.com) (tampablackheritage.org) That leaves downtown Tampa with a weekend event that mixes headliners, local sellers, and nonprofit festival programming in one park. The latest public listings all point to the same plan: two days, noon start times, and a Black Heritage festival finale on the riverfront. (tampablackheritage.org) (tampa.gov)