If your weekend plans currently involve staring at your phone and asking, “Do I really need to leave the house,” the 2026 Clearwater Sea-Blues Festival has a pretty strong rebuttal. Clearwater’s waterfront blues party is back at Coachman Park this Saturday and Sunday, and it is serving up the holy trinity of a great Florida outing: live music, seafood, and a breeze off the water that makes you forget your car was 147 degrees five minutes earlier. The festival runs Feb. 28 through March 1 at Coachman Park in downtown Clearwater, and general admission is free.
This is not one of those “festival” situations where you get two folding tables and a guy sadly selling kettle corn next to a parking lot. The Clearwater Sea-Blues Festival is one of the city’s signature waterfront events, and the setup is built for a full afternoon into evening hang, with seafood vendors, craft beer and wine, local market vendors, and a family-friendly outdoor atmosphere. In other words, it is the kind of event where you can hear a blistering guitar solo while holding something fried and wonderful, which is honestly one of humanity’s better ideas.
Photos via Clearwater Sea-Blues Festival
Blues riffs and fried fish therapy
And yes, the lineup absolutely delivers. Saturday features Ben Prestage, Angela Easley, Selwyn Birchwood, Mathias Lattin, and Robert Jon & The Wreck, with music starting at 2 p.m. Sunday brings Ben Prestage back, followed by Parker Barrow, Piper & The Hard Times, Gypsy Blue Revue, and North Mississippi Allstars. That is a very solid two-day run, and it gives you plenty of chances to plant a chair on the lawn and pretend you are a deeply serious blues scholar instead of someone mostly there for seafood and vibes. No judgment either way.
The practical stuff is good too, which matters because nothing kills a festival mood faster than chaos. Coachman Park is at 300 Cleveland St., downtown parking is free all day Saturday and Sunday, and the event is cashless, so bring a card. Leashed dogs are allowed in general admission, which means your weekend can include both live blues and a very happy dog trying to become friends with everyone. That is what we call efficient planning…