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It’s our 250th birthday! If you don’t want to miss what presumably will be larger than usual fireworks shows this year, but don’t want to deal with once-in-250-years traffic and crowds, this section is for you. (But if you do want to deal, scroll down to our “Worth the Drive” section.)

Thanks to our central location within Tampa Bay, you can stay in South Tampa and still see multiple fireworks shows all around us— both professional and home shows. You just need to get to a coastline, rooftop, or balcony. We’ve put together a list of possibilities for you below.

Any wide open view facing west will allow you to see all the Pinellas County beaches’ fireworks shows on the horizon. We haven’t seen the eastern view from South Tampa ourselves, but you should be able to see downtown Tampa’s shows (if you can find a slightly north-facing angle, like Ballast Point Park), plus all the other city shows over Hillsborough Bay.

Seeing multiple professional fireworks shows at once looks cool, but you don’t get to experience that powerful boom sound and feel because they’re so far away. However, if you can get within a few miles of the American Legion Post 138 on our southwest coast or the West Shore Marina area, you will get to experience the deep booms of the professional fireworks launched there.

Public Rooftops:

Coastlines:

If you head to a park or parking garage, be sure to take a seat or blanket for yourself, plus bug protection if there’s not a strong breeze that night.

Mamma Mia! Authentic Italian cuisine has come to Tampa via the 1-month old L’Amorino restaurant. It’s next to Bayshore Mediterranean Grill because they are sister restaurants owned by the same couple, where the husband is Turkish and the wife is Italian. Their chef is actually from Sardinia.

When I saw the word “guanciale” on their menu under pasta carbonara, I had to order it because you can’t make authentic carbonara without guanciale. But nearly every restaurant outside of Italy substitutes pork belly or bacon, which aren’t the same. You owe it to yourself to try the real thing.

Before I tell you what I thought of this carbonara, you need to know this dish was invented in Rome, so their restaurants take it seriously. To win best carbonara in Rome is effectively the best in the world. That’s why I once planned a trip to Rome around the only reservation I could get at a restaurant that won awards for their carbonara. But this carbonara here in South Tampa is BETTER! 🤯🤯🤯

Obviously this road is named after President John F. Kennedy, but why this particular road in Tampa?

It was originally named “Grand Central Avenue”, which couldn’t have been a more literal description. Before a highway was built in the mid-1960s, this avenue was the main artery for westbound traffic leaving downtown Tampa during rush hour. It was a large, wide road worthy of… a presidential motorcade! JFK happened to travel down this road in a rare, live televised broadcast just four days before he was assassinated. The Tampa City Council unanimously agreed to rename the road after him the following year, so now you know.

The next time you drive down Kennedy Blvd., you’re following in the path of a president!

➡ If you capture a great photo of this event, please reply to send it to us for a chance to be featured next week!

Everyone has fireworks, but not many places have a 3D drone show AND fireworks this weekend! If you do feel like fighting traffic and crowds to see an awesome sky show, you might as well make a full day of it like a tourist would and go Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Their Drone Show Spectacular features a patriotic 250th Anniversary theme only until July 5th before the show switches a regular summer theme every weekend through August 9.

Roundtrip time away from South Tampa: 1 day.

Your vote will influence whether we focus on South Tampa or other places to watch fireworks in next year’s 4th of July edition.

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Your Local Writer & Founder: Danielle is a lover of food, craft cocktails, wine, travel, nature, and history. After living in Ohio, Dallas, New Zealand, and 37 countries as a digital nomad, Danielle decided South Tampa was the best place to settle in 2022. She blends a world’s worth of experiences with local expertise as a Meetup event organizer and marketing director to ensure The Scroll is always worth your read!