Ivy Lupco - Tampa Downtown Partnership - River O' Green

Tampa celebrates St. Patrick's Day by dyeing the Hillsborough River green. It's the centerpiece of a daylong festival Saturday (15th). We speak with Ivy Lupco of the Tampa Downtown Partnership, which stages the event. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here beyond the News. It's a tradition that
is only a few years old, but it's been growing
roots Tampa dying the Hillsboro River Green for Saint Patrick's
Day and it's the centerpiece of the River or Green
Festival that's taking place this weekend, Saturday, March fifteenth, in

(00:21):
front of Curtis six and Waterfront Park. Ivy Loopko is
the manager of Public Space and placemaking and has other
duties as well with the Tampa Downtown Partnership which runs
the event, and she joins us now on Beyond the News.
Ivy Loopko, Welcome.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hi, Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well tell us the centerpiece, of course is the dying
of the Hillsboro River Green, but it's a whole day
of entertainment that's going to be going on in downtown
Tampa Saturday, So talk with us about that.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah. Absolutely, Outside of us coloring the river a beautiful,
vibrant Kelly Green, we will have two stages with live
entertainment ranging from local Irish bands and performers to dancing
by the Finnegan Irish Dance Academy, to pet costume contests
and Irish poetry, the fun goes on and on. In

(01:15):
addition to that, we have a lovely, lovely list of
local community partners who will be doing family friendly activities,
interactive opportunities. We have great local food trucks who have
really catered their dishes to fall in line with the
festive celebrations. And we've got some additional enhancements this year

(01:36):
with our Leprechauns hideout where we'll have a special local
beer vendor and we'll have a caricature and pop up
popsicles and all in preparation for celebrating the holiday.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
And of course one of the selling points is that
on March seventeenth or March fifteenth, in this case, it
usually doesn't feel like Ireland on the shores of the Hillsboro.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
No, it doesn't. We love to capitalize on the fact
that you get to experience Sa Patrick's Day in Tampa
under sunshine and palm trees. You don't need a coat,
you don't need a mist to keep your hands warm.
It's a really wonderful experience that you can be out
in our environment all day long and celebrate the upcoming holidays.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Now, this is an event that's grown quite a bit
over the years. It just seems like we just started
this a few years ago. Talk to us about the
size of the event and the scope of the event,
and then the numbers of people who turned out. It's
gotten to be quite a large event for Tampa.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
It has, it has we you know, we've really grown significantly.
I will say there wasn't It's not that the first
few years weren't small or were small and weren't large,
but we've definitely grown to that twenty to thirty thousand
attendee mark. People spend a lot of time at River Green,
and I think one big effort that we've put into
growing this event is ensuring that when you come, you

(02:57):
want to stay and experience a lot of things. And
that's why we have this secondary stage. We have these
new enhanced experiences, and the river stays green all day,
sometimes a little bit longer, so you can really enjoy
the view and the festivities the entire duration of the event,
rolling right into the parade at three pm.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Now, of course, there's also the concern about parking and
traffic and how to get there and where to park,
and what are you recommending for people who want to
come down Saturday for the River or Green Festival and
the parade and the related events.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yeah, so this year where there will be significantly more
road closures in the past, and that's perfectly fine. We
are an urban downtown. We recommend parking on the outskirts
of the downtown area and ride sharing in biking in
We do have free bike valet right at the entrance
of the event off of Ashley Drive. We also recommend

(03:54):
utilizing dash Tampa, which is one of our new micro
transit opportunities. If you park within the downtown area, you
can hop on our app two dollars a ride per person.
You can get your way right over to Curtis Hixon Park.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
All right, Good for everyone to know. The festival is
eleven am to six pm, and as you mentioned, the
parade steps off at three pm. And that's all going
on in downtown Tampa Saturday. Ivey Loupko, thank you very
much for joining us on Beyond the News.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Thank you so much for having me