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NEWS & RELEASES

The Florida Vegan Gourmet Food Fest returns to Tampa Bay this summer kicking off on Sunday, August 1st, 2021!



"This year, we are bringing the vegan food fest to the farm for a rustic one-with-nature experience as we continue to explore new spaces while highlighting the essence of community" says Tash Johnson with City Festivals, the Event Organizers. From Vegan Soul Food to Vegan Caribbean Cuisine, Vegan Latino Dishes, Vegan Italian, Vegan Brazilian, there will be a diverse array of options for every palate! As an educational experience, the fest also welcomes guests to learn from local chefs through cooking demonstrations teaching how to prepare traditional dishes - vegan style, including an American-creole fave, "Jambalaya" presented live on stage by Louisiana Chef Monique of Duality Vegan Cafe. A celebration of wellness that goes beyond dining "well", the event will host wellness workshops for guests to embrace inner peace including a sound bowl experience hosted by Energy Healing Spiritualist, The Zen Elephant, yoga and meditation sessions by Maisha Yoga, and also feature a market-place with a variety self-care, holistic, and vegan-friendly products that support local small businesses. To make the evening more exciting, patrons will enjoy live music, as well fun activities throughout the evening including a Blindfold Food Tasting Contest and a chance to win tickets to Universal Studios sponsored by Mor TV. The Florida Vegan Gourmet Food Festival will be hosted in the Town N' Country area at Sweet Water Organic Farm from 3p- 7p proudly supporting local bay area small business vendors. The celebration also raises awareness about Sweet Water Organic Farm, as a local non-profit organization and community farm. For more information on the Florida Vegan Gourmet Food Festival,

flveganfest.eventbrite.com To keep up to date on event announcements, follow us on FB at www.facebook.com/cityfestivals.org.





Tampa, FL., June 19, 2021 – AfroCAN: Night Garden Experience debuts on Bayshore Blvd in South Tampa this Juneteeth celebrating black culture and excellence!


Hosted on the beautiful waterfront venue of the Tampa Garden Club, AfroCAN Fest, welcomes residents and tourists alike to enjoy a evening affair featuring live entertainment, food, fashion, and art as presented by local black creatives in the Bay!


A commemoration of Juneteeth, Freedom Day for Black America, the event will not be on June 19, 2021, but also kicks off at 6:19pm as its highlighting the historic day in history.


Event Information

Date: Saturday, June 19, 2021

Time: 6:19p.m. – 10:19p.m.

Venue: Tampa Garden Club, 2629 Bayshore. Blvd, Tampa, FL 33629

Proceeds benefit Touring Mentors Inc., a non-profit organization that provides opportunities to empower today’s marginalized youth and group.

If you’d like to know more about AfroCAN, visit us at www.cityfestivals.org/afrocanfest

In an effort to protect our community from the transmission of COVID-19, once given the green light to host larger events again, City Festivals will be implementing the following policies in adherence with the CDC:


We will implement Social Distancing Guidelines

To combat any challenges of COVID-19 transmission, our events will be held at 75% venue capacity to facilitate for the necessary six foot social distancing standards


We will have accessible to event staff and participant COVID-19 prevention supplies:

We will be implementing additional hand washing stations and trash cans throughout venue to ensure ease of access to participants for sanitary measures.


We will have at the check in stations - hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol


We will promote hosting our events in outdoor open and/or well ventilated spaces to limit possible transmission of any virus


All event participants including staff, patrons, and vendors will be required to have a mask in hand in order to have access to the event.


We will be ramping up on routine cleaning - ensuring that frequently touched surfaces and objects , especially surfaces that are visibly dirty are disinfected.

We will require staff, patrons, or anyone involved in production to stay home if they are sick or caring for a sick household member:

Anyone who deems to be sick with COVID-19 symptoms upon arrival or during the event will be required to seek medical advice and not permitted to stay at the event We will provide alternatives for event staff and participants who are at increased risk for complications from COVID-19. Currently, older adults and persons with severe underlying health conditions are considered to be at increased risk for severe illness and complications from COVID-19. We will be reassigning duties for higher-risk staff to have minimal contact with other persons including working from home.


For individuals who are high risk, we will strongly advise them against attending events with us this year in person and rather will instead seek to implement when possible alternative viewing options such as live stream.

We will promote messages that discourage people who are sick from attending events. Via electronic messages sent to attendees prior to travel to the event as well as messages requesting that people leave events if they begin to have symptoms of COVID-19, which include fever, cough, and shortness of breath attendees will be encouraged to seek medical advice promptly by calling ahead to a doctor’s office or emergency room to get guidance.

We will reserve a space that will be used to isolate staff or participants who become ill at the event. We will designate a space for staff and participants who may become sick and cannot leave the event immediately. We will work with partners, such as local hospitals, to create a plan for treating staff and participants who do not live nearby and have on site, EMT. If any staff member or participant becomes sick at any our of events, we will separate them from others as soon as possible and help sick staff or participants leave the event as soon as possible.


We will provide them with clean, disposable facemasks to wear, if available. Work with the local public health department and nearby hospitals to care for those who become sick. If needed, we will contact emergency services for those who need emergency care.


We will increase staffing for public safety at our events

To mitigate any risks or challenges, we will increase our staffing to include law enforcement officers and additional security.

We will maintain safety guidelines among our food and beverage vendors - requiring them to stay in compliance with all of CDC , Florida Department of Health and Division of Business & Professional Regulations for serving the community.

We will limit physical touch points for staff supporting our events and advise our vendors/sponsors to follow the same protocol. We will primarily conducting event preparation meetings by phone, email and video conferencing. We will also promote as best as possible minimal contact with staff and participants by taking a cashless approach for tickets sales and requiring guests to have pre-purchased their tickets in order to have event access while using QR readers to scan them for entry.

We will accommodate for flexible refund and transfer of ticket policies for participants. We will accommodate our refund policies to permit participants including our vendors and sponsor the flexibility a refund if the event needs to be further cancelled or postponed due COVID-19. For guests who pre-purchase tickets and cannot attend due to having symptoms of COVID-19, we will allow them to transfer their ticket to another user.

We will provide alternative to facilitate an event experience if we need to postpone or cancel. We will work closely with local public health officials to assess local capacities in the area and plan alternative ways for participants to enjoy the events by television, radio, or online if need be. If any of our events are cancelled, we will work with our venues to reschedule and keep participants up to date on new information.

We will stay informed about the local COVID-19 situation. Get up-to-date information about local COVID-19 activity.

Update and distribute timely and accurate emergency communication information. We will maintain up-to-date contact information for everyone in the chain of communication and disseminate information via our website, social media and mass emailing to our participants.


As a community organization, we will do our best to promote the safety and wellness of our stakeholders including our valued patrons, sponsors, vendors, staff, and production team. While we know our community longs for the experiences we offer, we want to this all safely and at a time appropriate manner. In the interim, we encourage everyone to continue to stay in touch with us for updates and look forward to bringing back to the communities we service - togetherness, entertainment, engagement and of course, City Festivals!


- Team City Festivals

Follow us @cityfestivals






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