The Tampa Bay Wine & Food Festival is an electrifying, palate-pleasing, beachfront extravaganza showcasing the talents of renowned vintners, spirits producers, area chefs, and international culinary personalities. Hosted by Southern Wine & Spirits of Central Florida and the Abilities Foundation, this charity-based festival raises money to help Floridians with disabilities to obtain jobs and affordable housing.

Now in itssecond year,the Festival has become the most anticipated wine and food destination in Central Florida. Held on the pristine sands of the 1928 five-star Don CeSar Beach Resort — Florida’s legendary Pink Palace — the Festival’s objective is to educate, entice, enlighten, and entertain patrons.

The inaugural 2007 Festival was a runaway success, attracting 5,000 guests and netting the Foundation $250,000 — stellar accomplishments for a first-time event. Headliners included Dinner: Impossible’s Chef Robert Irvine, who teamed with Iron Chef Masaharu Marimoto, Carrabba’s Damian Mandola, Outback’s Tim Gannon, and a slew of other celebrity and area executive chef superstars to delight and amaze festival-goers with extraordinary culinary wizardry and approachability. World-class winemakers, master mixologists, and seasoned sommeliers complemented food offerings with a resplendent array of tastings, demonstrations, and seminars.   

Expect more in 2008. Main attractions will include a Chef Invitational Golf Challenge; Outback Steakhouse International Party for the Senses and Mahaffey Theater Concert; Trade Tasting and Seminars; Titanium Chef Challenge; Grand Tasting and Seminars; Black-tie Gala & Auction; and Bubble Bash, all of which are readily affordable and easily accessible.  

Did we mention entertainment? Woven into each event is high-energy entertainment that ranges from pulsating sounds, island beats, Latino percussion, painted ladies, and performing artists against the sun-drenched backdrop of the Gulf of Mexico, ensuring that ALL of your senses will be awakened and stimulated.

Southern Wine & Spirits has a proven history and track record in developing successful, long-range, high-profile events. In 2001 SWS developed a small festival in South Beach to support a local South Florida nonprofit organization. That ‘small’ festival today is one of the largest and best-known of its kind in the country, and is now titled the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival and host 60,000 festival goers each year. The Tampa Bay Festival will follow in the steps of its sister festival, bringing grandeur to highlight the local talents of the Central Florida marketplace by creating a phenomenal experience, distinguished from all others by its passion for quality, value, education, and fun. We invite you to become part of history in the making!

The wait is over. Finally, the Tampa Bay area has a waterfront Festival to embrace and call its own. We challenge you to help improve the lives of people with disabilities by ‘Unleashing Your Palate’ and basking in the festivities.