One Saturday, one night
The Tampa Bay Coffee & Art Festival runs at the Florida State Fairgrounds Special Events Center, 4800 U.S. Hwy 301 N, Tampa FL 33610, on Saturday October 24, 2026. The organiser's details page gives 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eventbrite repeats 10 AM to 5 PM.
Two lines on the fairgrounds page disagree. The details block reads 10:00am to 4:00pm. The event card reads 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Book the night against a 5 p.m. close.
The gate and the tier ladder
Entry runs through MLK Jr. Blvd., Gate 3. Admission prints as a range from $13 to $30. Eventbrite lists Early Bird Entry at $13 to $24 with no entry package, VIP at $50 with the VIP Entry Package, and Day-Of at $30. Children 12 and under enter free with an adult. Doors are 9:45 a.m. and the festival runs 7 hours.
Pay the parking before you drive in
Parking is $10 online and $12 onsite. The presale page sells Coffee & Art, Parking Only, for October 24 2026 at $10.00, one time entry through MLK, with all convenience fees inside the price.
Three terms sit on that page. Parking does not include event entry. Each ticket covers one parking entry. Tickets are not refundable, not transferable and carry no rainchecks.
A mid-afternoon trip to the car takes a second $10.
One Friday night near the gate
The fairgrounds hotel list puts Holiday Inn Express & Suites Tampa Fairgrounds Casino 0.2 miles out and directly across the street. That property carries a 10 a.m. gate on foot.
Check in Friday, walk to Gate 3 on Saturday morning and leave after the close. One night covers the visit.
A Saturday night earns its price with the evening. Tall Tales of Old Florida runs at Cracker Country from 6:45 to 9:00 p.m. on October 24.
The other six partners
Wyndham Garden Tampa Fairgrounds/Casino prints 1.5 miles. Staybridge Suites Tampa-Brandon prints 2.7. Hilton Garden Inn Tampa East/Brandon prints 2.8. Courtyard Tampa-Brandon prints 4.4. Cambria Hotel Tampa-Brandon prints 5. Hampton Inn & Suites Tampa East prints 5.0. The page publishes no rate against any of the seven.
Two descriptions disagree with their own distance fields. Wyndham Garden's field reads 1.5 miles and its text reads one mile. Hilton Garden Inn's field reads 2.8 miles and its text reads less than 2 miles. Ask the property to confirm the figure in writing.
Camping on the grounds
The fairgrounds offers event camping on site with electric service, pet-friendly sites and online payment. Nightly non-fair camping requires 48 hours notice. The page publishes no nightly rate.
Four events share the date
The Tampa Guitar Show runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on October 24 and 25. Dessert Wars runs 3 to 6 p.m. The PCHA Horse Show runs 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tall Tales of Old Florida starts at 6:45 p.m.
Arrive before 10 a.m. and the MLK gate queue stays short.
The hall
The Special Events Center holds 40,000 square feet under 25-foot ceilings. A folding acoustical wall splits the floor into 15,000 and 24,000 square-foot sections. Ask the venue which section the festival takes before you promise a group a short walk.
The ask
A Florida booking request goes direct to the property. hotelhuddle.com/seller-of-travel, last updated 21 October 2026, states the platform cannot process hotel booking requests from residents of or for travel to Florida, Hawaii, Iowa and Washington. Contact the sales office and keep the reply in writing.
Buy the parking ticket online, hold the Friday night on a cancellable rate, and put the real close time in the request.