Photo credit from the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival media page; crowd of attendees at the festival.
Boyzell Hosey is the Senior Editor of Visual Storytelling for the award-winning news platform ProPublica. He also helped found and continues to run the annual Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival (TBCGF) in St. Pete.
With the festival fast approaching on February 14, Hosey has his hands full “cooking up something good” for the St. Petersburg community.
Hosey has seen TBCGF’s transformation firsthand since its launch in 2017, and agrees that the excitement it’s brought to the historic 22nd Street corridor – known as The Deuces – indicates the event has become “more than just a festival.”
The TBCGF began as a nonprofit in the spring of 2017 and hosted its first festival in February 2018. Their first year saw a handful of vendors and a couple of hundred attendees; by 2025, that number grew to 15,000 participants and 120 vendors.
The festival’s vendor fees range from non-profits at $75, to non-food vendors at $150, and food vendors at $250. With the promise of exposure, connection, and the opportunity to sell merchandise, vendors race to grab a seat at the table during TBCGF.
Hosey said those prices are not only competitive, but that vendor fees for local festivals such as the Clearwater Jazz Festival or Localtopia, “are much higher than what we are asking.”
In tandem with their festival, the TBCGF hosts the “I ❤️ Collard Greens 5K & Fitness Extravaganza.” Participants will enjoy a lineup of interactive activities, access to free health screenings and testing, food demonstrations & nutrition workshops, and much more. This 5K walk/run event is scheduled for March 14, 2026, from 8 AM to 2 PM — registration is free.
Photo credit from the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival media page; crowd poses with Brandon Beachem, known as the “Collard Green King”.
This year, the TBCGF team also tackled organizing St. Petersburg’s 2026 MLK Day Parade in January.
President and co-founder of TBCGF, Samantha Harris, brought the idea to Hosey after the city of St. Petersburg issued a request for proposals for a new organizer to run the parade. While Hosey was initially hesitant to take on the task, Harris assured him they could handle it. With less than six months to prepare, the team won the bid and a three-year contract to run the city’s annual MLK Jr. Day parade.
TBCGF has gained national recognition and is beginning to grab international attention. Yet even with an international lens on their festival, Hosey cares more about the impact that they can make.
“I’d rather have a small footprint and greater impact,” said Hosey. “Any growth opportunities [that we take] on would be in context of our mission of the Collard Green Festival, which is looking at health and health disparities.”
With their 10th anniversary fast approaching, Hosey is working to assemble a solid cast featuring past celebrity chefs for the celebration.
“Money was never our motivation. It was to do a good thing for the community, to do something in the realm of excellence that encapsulates community pride. To bring a sense of pride to an area of our community that is often slighted with pejoratives and stereotypes that simply aren’t true,” noted Hosey.
Don’t miss out on this year’s TBCGF. Join the fun on February 14, 2026, from 9 AM to 4 PM this President’s Day.
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More Photos
Photo credit from the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival media page; participants working with greens.
Photo credit from the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival media page; crowd of attendees at the festival.
