Every afternoon this week, the 47th Clearwater Jazz Holiday plays an hour and a half to just over three hours of free live music before the ticketed main stage opens. A free spot on the bluff stays open while the headliners play.
The festival runs Thursday, Oct. 15 through Sunday, Oct. 18 in Coachman Park. Organizers call this year a return to its roots. The main-stage concerts are back on the large green beside the amphitheater. Each day opens with what the festival calls a pre-party on two smaller stages, the Lower Plaza and the Promenade Pier, and both are free and open to the public. The ticketed part is the green in front of the Tampa Bay Times Stage. Everything else in the park follows a different clock.
The festival runs two shifts each day
The official festival FAQ answers the ticket question directly:
"Do I need tickets if I do not plan to sit in the Reserved Seating or General Admission Areas on the large green? No."
The FAQ says the Lower Plaza, the Promenade stage area and Sunset Bluff are "free and open to the public throughout the festival." The free stages close right as the main stage opens. Lay the city's published schedule out night by night and the two shifts line up end to end:
| Night | Gates | Free stages | Free-stage acts | Main stage, ticketed green |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct. 15 | 4 p.m. | 4:30–6 p.m. | Tomkats Jazz Orchestra ft. Scotty Wright & Tony Castellano; The Reinhardt / George Group ft. Barry Greene | Kim Waters, Jeff Kashiwa & Steve Oliver, 6–7 p.m.; Chris Botti, 7:30–9:30 p.m. |
| Fri, Oct. 16 | 4 p.m. | 4:15–7 p.m. | EMIT Presents: O Som Do Jazz Brazilian Grooves; "Fires of Forever," An ARConnection Tribute to Chick Corea ft. Pete Carney; Latin Jazz Knights; Ronnie Dee & The Superstars | Arturo Sandoval, 7–8:30 p.m.; Sheila E. & The E-Train, 9–10:30 p.m. |
| Sat, Oct. 17 | 3:30 p.m. | 3:45–7 p.m. | Julie Black & Her Band; Shawn Brown; Young Lions Alumni Jazz Blues Collective ft. Alex Malkovich, James Wall & Friends; Carl Fischer's Sunshine City Brass | Big Sam's Funky Nation, 7–8:30 p.m.; Larkin Poe, 9–10:30 p.m. |
| Sun, Oct. 18 | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30–6 p.m. | The CHILLtronic Lounge DJ set ft. Mister T. with Austen van der Bleek; CJH Youth Allstars; Norside Organ Trio | Dumpstaphunk Plays Sly, 6–7:30 p.m.; The Wood Brothers, 8–9:30 p.m. |
Saturday has the longest free window at three and a quarter hours, and Friday is close behind at two and three quarters. Thursday's free window is the shortest at an hour and a half. Sunday's local lineup includes the CJH Youth Allstars at 3:30, which suits an early family stop before dinner. On every night, the moment the free stages wrap up is also the moment to choose. You can walk up to the bluff, buy a lawn ticket, or head to Cleveland Street for dinner.
The bluff is the free seat, and you can bring a chair
The FAQ describes it as a place for "more relaxed park views and the festival atmosphere," free and open daily. The festival rules allow personal chairs and blankets in only two places, the general admission area on the green and Sunset Bluff. Blankets can be up to 6 by 8 feet, and bags larger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches are not allowed.
So the bluff is the only free area where your own camp chair is welcome. Bringing one turns the free shift into a full evening in the park. The festival doesn't promise any particular view of the main stage from up there, so treat the bluff as a place to soak in the park during the headliners rather than a substitute for the green.
If you want to be in front of the stage, the cheapest option is lawn general admission at $39 to $44 plus fees. Reserved seats are $59 to $64, premium reserved seats are $94 to $104, and VIP reserved seats run $174 to $224. New this year is a VIP reserved table for four at $804 to $848. Children under 12 get onto the green free with an adult general admission ticket. That makes the lawn ticket the best value for a family that has decided one headliner is worth paying for. You can buy tickets at clearwaterjazz.com or by phone through the ETIX box office at 1-800-514-3849.
Where the evening goes once the free stages close
The free shift ends at 6 or 7 p.m., right around dinnertime, and Cleveland Street is a short walk from the park. Two places publish hours that stretch well past the free window.
The District Bistro at 412 Cleveland St. is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. On Friday and Saturday, a 7 p.m. dinner fits easily before a 10 p.m. close. The restaurant's site lists several parking areas. It says one of them, Parking D, becomes paid for customers during BayCare Sound events, so a city garage may be the simpler choice on show nights.
The Nash Keys at 520 Cleveland St. runs dueling pianos Wednesday through Saturday and added Sundays in September. Its listed piano hours are 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 6 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Thursday's free stages end at 6, so that's an easy handoff from the plaza to a piano bar.
Farther down the street, Cleveland Street Market at 949 Cleveland St. has food stalls and a self-serve beer and wine bar. A group that can't agree on dinner can each pick their own stall.
The morning after
Two of downtown's newest storefronts are daytime places, which makes them a good Friday or Saturday morning stop after a late night at the park. Nourish & Nosh Bakery Bistro opened at 601 Cleveland St. in the Atrium Building this summer, serving breakfast, coffee and daytime food, according to the Cleveland Street Alliance. Nubo Café & Bakery at 420 Cleveland St. held its grand opening in August. Neither has published hours in what we found, so check before you go.
Getting there without fighting for Lot 11
Weekend parking is a different deal from Thursday and Friday. The festival says all City of Clearwater lots and garages are free on weekends except Lot 11 at 224 Pierce St., which charges $2 until 6 p.m. Private lots may charge. For Thursday and Friday, check the posted rates when you arrive. The options, roughly from closest to most hands-off:
- Lot 11, 224 Pierce St. has 153 spaces and is the one the festival describes as close to the event.
- Pierce Street Lot, 200 S. Osceola Ave. has 118 spaces.
- Garden Avenue Garage, 28 N. Garden Ave. has 255 spaces.
- Municipal Services Building Garage, 100 S. Myrtle Ave. has 283 spaces.
- Pinellas County Parking Garage, 310 Court St. has 498 spaces, the largest listed.
- Grass Lot, 704 Court St. has 150 spaces.
- Jolley Trolley or PSTA riders get off at Park Street Terminal. The city adds that Jolley Trolley riders can also get off at Osceola and Cleveland Street.
- Clearwater Ferry runs to Coachman Park from Clearwater Beach and Dunedin.
- By boat, free mooring is first come, first served from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a four-hour limit. Main-stage music runs until at least 9:30 p.m. every night, past the 9 p.m. mooring cutoff, so the free shift is the better fit for boaters.
- By bike, take the Pinellas Trail or the Memorial Causeway Trail. The park has several bike racks.
The festival says it will post rideshare drop-off and pick-up spots on its festival info page closer to the event.
The free-early pattern keeps going after Sunday
Once the festival packs up, Coachman Park goes back to its regular calendar. Sunset Yoga on The Green is free on Mondays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. After the festival, sessions are listed for Oct. 19 and 26 and Nov. 2 and 9. Market Marie, with more than 130 small-business vendors, returns on Saturday, Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The ticketed side picks up again quickly. The city's live calendar lists Jake Owen on Oct. 22, CAKE on Oct. 23, The Hip Abduction on Oct. 24 and Turnpike Troubadours on Oct. 25 at The BayCare Sound.
More evening options are on the way for Cleveland Street, but none has an opening date yet. Hanami Japanese Izakaya, with sushi, ramen and yakitori, was announced for 635 Cleveland St. in May. Streetlight Taco, a Mexican concept with a central bar, is planned for the ground floor of the restored Peoples Bank Building at 432 Cleveland St. Tampa Bay Business & Wealth reported in July that Rippers, serving hot dogs, burgers and other casual food, is headed for the Telephone Building at 534 Cleveland St. For now, after the 6 or 7 p.m. handoff this week, the places you can count on for dinner are The District Bistro, The Nash Keys and Cleveland Street Market.
If an evening on the bluff has you thinking about how close you'd like to live to Coachman Park, I'm happy to talk through the downtown Clearwater streets and buildings that put you within walking distance of these four days. Danna Goss and The Goss Group are always glad to help you find a home near the places you already enjoy. Let's Connect.
