Cigar Heritage Festival
Cigar Heritage Festival
In 2017 Cigar City announced that the Ybor City Cigar Festival is back to its original name, the Cigar Heritage Festival. The was name originated by Tampa’s most famous radio personality, Mr. Jack Harris of WFLA back in 1996. Harris wanted to bring back the cigar festival from its heyday of the 1930s cigar festival called Viva La Verbena, Tampa’s Original Cigar Festival. This four-day event included a cigar making contest, the rolling of a world-record-setting cigar, a cigar factory open house where members of the community were invited to tour local factories, and a daytime parade that drew over 16,000 people. It was a celebration put on by the cigar industry to thank its workers and the Tampa community.
From 1996 – 2013 the Cigar Heritage Festival has passed through a few hands starting with Clear Channel’s radio station WFLA and its widely popular radio personality Jack Harris. By the early 2000s, they passed the torch down to the Ybor City Museum Society. In 2014, the Ybor City Museum Society had to make a hard discussion as to continue with the Cigar Heritage Festival or place their focus on their new project, Tampa’s first baseball museum located in Ybor City! They decided to move forward with the baseball museum, handing the torch to the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce in 2014. After a one year attempt by the Ybor City Chamber, it became evident that with new projects on the horizon they did not have the staff to continue with such a large event. This is where Cigar City Magazine’s event making expertise as well as publishing Tampa Bay’s only history magazine stepped in! It’s no secret they have become known for providing some of the best events in town like the Tampa Mafia Tours, Cigars and Stars, Bada Bing, Glitter & Doom, Old Hollywood, and the originator of the Tampa Cigar Bash! So, back in 2015, Cigar City Magazine www.cigarcitymagazine.com decided to step in to save this much-wanted cigar festival and using the name, the Ybor City Cigar Festival. The event was a success, but they needed to add a few more things to make it bigger and better. In 2016 they did just that!
In 2016, Cigar City Magazine knocked the Ybor City Cigar Festival outta the park with nearly 10,000 people in attendance making it the largest attended cigar festival in the world! With the leading cigar industry families in attendance, Arturo Fuente Cigar Company and J.C. Newman Cigar Company helped drive -in cigar aficionados, Ybor supporters, local families, history enthusiasts, and out-of-town visitors from all around the world!. The cigar festival carried the “BEST” cigars from around the world, and cigar aficionados were able to find the most famous and the rarest cigars along with some “Boutique” cigars that they had never experienced!
A free family-friendly event, but please remember there will be cigar smoking throughout the park.
Dogs are welcome in the park as long as on a leash at all times. Please do not allow your dog to urinate on the street, tents or inside the brick/cemented park area. Please use the back of the parks tree and dirt area along 8th Avenue. Don’t forget to bring your doggie poop bags!
Cigar Heritage Festival, Inc. is a nonprofit organization incorporated under the laws of the State of Florida. The purpose of this organization is to promote and create events that seek to support the general social, economic and cultural well-being of Ybor City and the City of Tampa.