Taste of Pinellas, the St. Pete food festival that once drew 60,000 attendees to the waterfront, returns February 6, 2027 at Tropicana Field — its first edition since a one-off revival at Albert Whitted Park in 2014. Between 20 and 30 local restaurants will serve signature bites alongside national musical acts, though no lineup has been announced. The event benefits Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, which is marking its 100th year.
The festival has roots in both the city's dining scene and its charitable calendar. It launched in the mid-1980s as a partnership between the local Florida Restaurant Association chapter and Joel Momberg, then an executive at All Children's Hospital, and settled into Vinoy Park for 26 years with 40 to 60 vendors per edition. By 2004, the event had raised more than $2 million for the hospital.
Attendance eventually eroded. Organizers cited falling numbers and rising costs when they placed Taste of Pinellas on hiatus in 2013. A final edition ran the following year at Albert Whitted Park, headlined by Pat Benatar, Loverboy, KC and the Sunshine Band, and the Blues Brothers featuring Jim Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Then it went quiet for over a decade.
The move to Tropicana Field places the 2027 edition in a substantially larger venue than either of its prior homes. The announced vendor count — 20 to 30 restaurants — falls below the 40-to-60-vendor range the festival ran during its Vinoy Park years, suggesting organizers are treating the relaunch as a measured rebuild rather than an immediate return to full scale. Whether that range expands as February approaches has not been stated.
Restaurants and sponsors can register at tasteofpinellas.com. The musical headliners have not yet been named.
