The YA by the Bay Book Festival runs one day at the Tampa Convention Center, 333 S Franklin St, Tampa, on Thursday 11 February 2027. The organiser publishes the programme window as 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The City of Tampa record blocks the building from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and places the festival in Ballroom A-B and the meeting rooms.
Admission is free for students and educators. The organiser reports 2,000 students and more than 50 authors across grades 9 to 12, drawn from multiple school districts. R.L. Stine is confirmed for 2027, and author applications close 1 November.
A school books in as a district group
Students attend with their school. The organiser coordinates participation at the district level and handles logistics with the district.
The sign-up route is one form on the educators page. A district states how many students it intends to bring, and the organiser sends back the group logistics and an educator resource packet. Districts outside the partner network say so on the same form. Registration opens annually in late summer.
Transportation and lunches sit with the district. The educators page states that districts are responsible for both. Food, beverages, books and merchandise are on sale at the venue, and the Oxford Exchange Bookstore runs the festival bookshop with author signings through the day.
The Wednesday night question
A 9 a.m. opening does not require a hotel night for a district that can load after 7 a.m. The 10 February night earns its cost where the bus must roll before 7 a.m. to make the start.
A district weighing that night should know what else sits in the building. The venue calendar places DRCA D.R.I.V.E.N in the Convention Center from Wednesday 10 February to a 12 p.m. Friday 12 February release. The National Principals Conference runs to midnight at the end of Tuesday 9 February. A Wednesday arrival lands on the first night of a three-day emergency-management conference.
Where the coach drops and where the cars park
Front Drive at 333 S Franklin St holds 36 metered spaces at $4 an hour, open 8 a.m. to midnight, with no overnight parking. It takes a drop. The Franklin Street main entrance sits across the street from the Convention Center garage at 141 E Brorein St.
That garage holds 454 spaces, 11 ADA spaces and two electric vehicle chargers. The published event rate runs $5.00 to $50.00. The non-event rate is $3 an hour against an $18 daily maximum. Maximum vehicle height is 6 feet 6 inches, and the venue FAQ states that no long-term parking is available there.
The Parking Division publishes that it may charge a flat rate on a discretionary basis. A coach that stays overnight needs Fort Brooke at 107 N Franklin St, 556 hourly spaces with a 6-foot-8 clearance and visitor parking overnight to 6 a.m., or Pam Iorio at 301 Channelside Drive, 790 spaces including 41 ADA spaces and two chargers, with the same overnight rule.
Rooms inside the walk
The venue publishes its own distances from 333 S Franklin St. Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Downtown Convention Center at 513 S Florida Ave connects by sky bridge. Tampa Marriott Water Street at 700 S Florida Ave and JW Marriott Tampa Water Street at 505 Water Street sit 0.2 miles out. The Westin Tampa Waterside at 725 S Harbour Island Blvd is 0.3 miles. The Tampa EDITION at 500 Channelside Drive and Hilton Tampa Downtown at 211 N Tampa St sit 0.5 miles, and Hyatt Place and Hyatt House at 325 N Florida Ave share one front desk at 0.5 miles.
A chaperoned block starts with the sky-bridge property, which carries the shortest route in the venue table.
Twelve rooms for one night is 12 room-nights. At $220 a night that is $2,640 before tax, and $220 is a planner input because no property on the venue table publishes a rate.
What to put in the request
Four items belong in the ask. Name the arrival window the venue will accept for a coach. The driver then avoids circling Front Drive. State the chaperone ratio the district requires. Say whether the district buys lunch on site or sends it. Ask whether the property holds a baggage room after an early checkout, which decides a 2:15 p.m. departure against a 5 p.m. one.
bookMyTeam publishes that it serves the United States excluding CA, FL, HI, IA and WA, Its help page names seller-of-travel registration and a surety bond as Florida's reason. For a Tampa block, send those four questions to the property, and run the quotes through the group rate calculator.
