Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival
- The Tampa Bay Black Heritage Music Festival celebrates music, culture, and community at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park this weekend (Apr 24–26). - Expect live performances, food vendors, cultural programming, and family activities throughout the park. - Event overview and weekend listing at 925maxima.com.
Tampa’s Black Heritage Music Fest returns to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26, with gates opening at noon both days. (tampablackheritage.org) The two-day event is the signature public program of the Tampa Bay Black Heritage Festival, and organizers list general admission, preferred seating, and VIP tickets for the downtown park at 600 North Ashley Drive. (tampablackheritage.org) This year’s lineup is split by day: Rick James Stone City Band, Tina P & Friends, Trill 6attle and Piarry Oriol are billed for Saturday, while Althea Rene, Stokley, LeoNell and Teape headline Sunday. (tampablackheritage.org) Beyond the main stage, organizers are advertising food vendors, arts and crafts booths, Black-owned businesses, line dancing, a drum circle, local acts and family activities across the park. (tampablackheritage.org) The festival is in its 26th year, and the organization says the music fest is its largest annual event in the Tampa Bay area. Visit Tampa Bay lists Publix, Hillsborough County, the City of Tampa, HART, AAA, TD Bank and AARP among this year’s sponsors. (visittampabay.com) The timing is different this year. A family event listing tied to the festival says the music fest is traditionally held in January but moved to April in 2026, with organizers pointing to milder outdoor conditions. (kidsoutandabout.com) City of Tampa calendar pages list the event as scheduled and ticketed, with Sunday hours posted as 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Curtis Hixon in the Downtown River Arts district. The city also notes that neighborhood event listings are community-generated and do not by themselves constitute city endorsement or verification. (tampa.gov) For Tampa, the weekend puts a long-running Black cultural festival in the middle of downtown’s waterfront park, with two days of music, vendors and community programming instead of a single-night concert. By Sunday night, the same festival that usually anchors January will have closed out its first April edition. (tampablackheritage.org, kidsoutandabout.com)
