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Festivals Are Wasting Away In Zephyrhills

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 21, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - This time of year, this city hops. Winter residents pack local restaurants, and cash registers hum with sales.

Usually, there's an abundance of festivals, but not this year.

Two local festivals - Tasting Away in Zephyritaville and the Chalk Art Festival - have been canceled because of lack of participation, organizers said last week.

"There just wasn't enough artist participation to hold an artist event downtown," said Jan Slater, executive director of the city's chamber of commerce, which is behind the Chalk Art Festival.

Organizers had hoped the Chalk Art Festival, which combined street fair-type staples such as face-painting and food with artists drawing chalk creations on city sidewalks, could become a distinctly Zephyrhills event. It hasn't gotten off the ground, however, since it debuted in 2006. A change in leadership at the chamber nixed last year's festival.

The canceling of this year's Chalk Art Festival, which would have been in February, comes on the heels of Main Street Zephyrhills nixing plans last week for Tasting Away in Zephyritaville, a food-oriented festival that was planned for this past Saturday. In that case, too few restaurants wanted to participate in the event, which was to return after a few years' hiatus.

"We had a lot of vendors, a lot of crafters," said Judy Riley of Main Street. "We had a band booked. We had everything ready to go, but because we didn't have enough restaurants, we couldn't go forward."

Tasting Away in Zephyritaville was well-advertised around town; the Chalk Art Festival was not.

Chamber of Commerce officials are going to focus this year on their three main events: Harvest Festival, a golf tournament and a banquet, Slater said.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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