Florida plans its festivals around the weather. The big outdoor weekends crowd into spring and fall, when the heat backs off, and summer stays mostly quiet.
Spring
March opens with Miami Music Week and Ultra in Bayfront Park, then Calle Ocho fills Little Havana. Reggae Rise Up sets up in St. Pete, Tortuga brings country to the beach in Fort Lauderdale, and the Tampa Bay Blues Festival takes over Vinoy Park. The Key West Songwriters Festival straddles the turn from April into May. Welcome to Rockville brings the loud stuff to Daytona International Speedway in May, and Memorial Day weekend splits between the Jacksonville Jazz Festival downtown and the Florida Folk Festival in White Springs.
Fall
October brings Suwannee Hulaween to the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, the Clearwater Jazz Holiday to the downtown waterfront, and The Fest to the clubs of Gainesville, plus Caribbean carnival in South Florida. EDC Orlando takes over Tinker Field each November.
Winter
Winter belongs to smaller events. The 30A Songwriters Festival fills the Panhandle beach towns over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in January, and the Florida Strawberry Festival in Plant City runs headliner concerts from late February into March.
Dates move from year to year, and the list below shows every festival listing on sale statewide. For the music behind them, see electronic, hard rock and metal and country, or open the full calendar.
