Blues Festival 2008 - Tampa Bay Florida - Photo Essay

Blues Festival 2008 

We love going to the Blues Fest! !

It's a three day music and food extravaganza in Vinoy Park right by the water in St. Petersburg, FL. This years line up for Saturday night included 'Walter Trout' and the 'Los Lonely Boys'.

Blood for Music and Entertainment?

The ticket price went up from $25 last year to $30 this year for one entire day. However, if you gave blood at the bus parked outside the entry gates, you were allowed in free.

Parking and shuttle service There is paid parking and a free bus shuttle service to the festival. We opted to park in the street and walked to the festival carrying the obligatory blanket and chairs as we do every year.

The weather was fine, it had been hot all day, but it was cooling off a bit and we enjoyed a breeze from the bay. We could hear the music as we approached. I couldn't wait to sit down and relax to the music with a cool brew in hand. (In case you are wondering, the small picture above is the view we had directly in front of us.)

We arrived close to six o'clock and as soon as we were settled in we headed straight for the beer and food booth so we would be ready for the first act we had come to see, Walter Trout.

One of the many rows of food booths.

As you can tell by the clothing it had been a scorcher earlier that day.

There were at least 10 times this many food booths all over the festival grounds in Vinoy Park, not counting the vendors that sell jewelry, sunglasses, T-shirts etc. or if you are so inclined you can spin the wheel for a free vacation. Sure wish I had seen that one Greek place with the fabulous jumbo shrimp before I went for the catfish.

After some catfish and ribs and a Bare Knuckles stout (which turned out to be a great choice-great taste). I was ready to shoot a few pictures to share with you.

I discovered the secret to meeting guys. Who knew? Several guys stopped and asked me if the Bare Knuckles was a Guinness, since it was so dark. Hey now, I never knew it could this easy to meet someone.

Here is a picture to put you in the festival mood even without the stout.

The Bluesfest is a popular venue!

Looking across the festival to the water and the St. Petersburg, FL Pier

Below: Earlier, I had taken a stroll by the water and was surprised to find a chapel floating in front of me.

THE FLOATING CHAPEL

BOATS IN THE BAY

You see, Vinoy Park is directly by the water and during the festival, boats and yachts and sailboats float by enjoying the free tunes.

Below: A solitary boat in the other direction. The pier is in the background.

The show is about to start so I will leave you with a picture of the stage.

Both musical performances were outstanding and we enjoyed the many choices of beer and food. Later we had some fresh Kettle Korn and decided to pick up one more Blues Fest T for our T-shirt collection.

The sun has set, but I couldn't resist photographing one last  interesting cloud formation.

It was a lovely evening and a balmy night - thank you for coming along.

All images taken by Rose H. on 4-12-2008 at the Tampa Bluesfest in Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, FL, shot with a Olympus D-540 digital camera.