General Information
This year’s Tampa Bay Hamfest will again be held at the Strawberry Festival facilities in Plant City, Florida. The Hamfest will open to the public at 1 PM on Friday, December 7th and run through Saturday, December 8th, closing at 4 PM. Please see the event details under the ‘Venues and Hours’ and the ‘Testing, Forums, etc.’ pages under this menu.
Again, the Tampa Bay Hamfest will be the West Central Florida Section Convention of the ARRL, American Radio Relay League. ARRL will have a booth and will have representatives available to answer any questions you may have.
The indoor hamfest sales and the FGCARC Service Desk will be in the 21,375 sq. ft. air conditioned Expo Hall (labeled Hamfest in view below) at 2301 West Oak Avenue. The general public parking and the tailgate entrance is at the intersection of Lemon Street and West Palmetto Avenue. The Tailgate area (see below) will be the large grassy field adjacent to the Expo Hall. Forums will again be held in both the Expo Hall meeting room and in the Armory building at the south end of the Tailgate area. All testing and related functions will also be in the Armory building.
Please note that all tailgate vendors should enter and leave via the general parking entrance on Lemon Street.
Tickets:
Everyone inside the hamfest area must have a ticket.
All vehicles inside the tailgate area must also have a dashboard Tailgate Placard.
Everyone in the building during vendor setup times must have a vendor band visible.
Food Sales:
All food and drink sales on Strawberry Festival grounds are by the Future Farmers of America (FFA) in the food concession building just south of the Expo Hall. No others are permitted.
Good food at very fair prices and strawberry shortcake too.
Animals:
Pets are not allowed inside any building on the Strawberry Festival grounds with the exception of Service Animals.
Flammable Material:
No flammable material is allowed inside any building on the Strawberry Festival grounds. No gas containers, propane, natural or other, are allowed inside any building.
Parking:
All visitor parking is in the main parking lot (see above). Visitors who block traffic, park in loading areas, park in the vendor parking, or park in handicap areas without displaying a handicap license plate or hangtag may be towed at the owner’s expense.