What you need to know about Downtown events:
The LDDA owns and operates First Friday, Downtown Farmers Curb Market, Tasty Tuesday, Night Markets, Festive Flix and partners with the city on Friday Night Live.
Please be aware of social media scammers. We will NEVER sell tickets via Facebook or Messenger or solicit vendors via Facebook or Messenger. We will never ask for payment via Facebook or Messenger. We INVOICE vendors via our SQUARE account and invoices will always come from Lakeland Downtown Development Authority, not an individual person. All event applications are available via this website, DowntownLKLD.com.
First Friday (6-9p) has a Makers Market where craft/artisan vendors can pay to sell. Space is very limited, and we have many more vendors who wish to participate each month than we do space. Applications for each First Friday event open the Monday immediately following a First Friday event for the FOLLOWING First Friday. Space fills up quickly. Makers Market sign up information is here: https://
First Friday (6-9p) also has a Food Court area we have just created on Pine Street. Here we allow A VERY LIMITED NUMBER OF FOOD TRUCKS and TRAILERS in limited numbers and in a rotation. We have more applications than spaces and want to keep the food court changing each month. FOOD TENT SET UP does not work for the First Friday food court because we cannot close the street until 5pm. The event begins at 6pm. This does not give FOOD TENT vendors enough time for set up and they CANNOT begin setting up in the parking spaces before the road is closed. We do not accept food items that directly compete with our bricks and mortar food establishments.
FOR EXAMPLE NO PIZZA, NO BURGERS, NO WINGS, Click here for the First Friday Food Court Application.
First Friday has an Exhibitor area where businesses promote and market. (Think of this like a trade show.) Businesses are not allowed to sell items. The types of businesses you’ll find in the Exhibitor area are those who are trying to generate leads for their businesses. (Examples: real estate, healthcare, dental, solar, fence, churches, gyms, etc.) First Friday Exhibitor sign up information is here: https://downtownlkld.com/firstfridaysubscription/
The Downtown Farmers Curb Market (Saturdays 8a-2p) is a curated event. That means we carefully balance the type of products we have and have a much higher standard for inclusion in the Farmers Curb Market than we do the Makers Market at First Friday. Many product categories are closed and on a significant wait list. As for FOOD TRUCKS/TRAILERS, we have created a food court north of Bay Street. However, we are extremely limited in the space we have for TRUCKS/TRAILERS. We prefer FOOD TENTS for the Farmers Curb Market and are very limited in the kinds of food we will allow so as to not directly compete with our restaurants and other existing market food vendors. Click here for the Downtown Farmers Curb Market application.
Tasty Tuesday (Third Tuesday each month 4:30-9p) does not have outside food vendors or craft vendors. This event is specifically for Downtown bars and restaurants.
Festive Flix – This is a free outdoor movie at the Frances Langford Promenade at Lake Mirror. We do not have vendors at this event.
Friday Night Live is a partnership between the city of Lakeland and the LDDA to bring live music to Munn Park. The series is once per month in February, March and April from 6-9p. Vendor participation is very limited (10-15 vendors) and is by invitation only. We limit the number of vendors because crowd size (estimated 500+) for Friday Night live is significantly smaller because the focus is on the live music in the park. You can request to be on the invitation list here: INQUIRY FORM
Tentative FNL dates are as follows:
February 23, 2024 (cancelled due to weather)
March 22, 2024
April 19, 20024
Night Markets are 3 times per year. The next three event dates are as follows:
Fall Night Market – Saturday, October 26, 2024 from 5-9p
Holiday Night Market – Saturday, December 14, 2024 from 5-10p
Valentine Night Market – Saturday, February 8, 2025 from 5-9p
We will post all applications on the DowntownLKLD.com web site when they are available.
All other events that happen in Downtown that have vendors are not LDDA events. Each event is sponsored or produced by various organizations and there is no one single place to “apply” to participate in these events. You just need to watch for event announcements and contact those organizers individually.
Here are some event contacts that we have that may be helpful to you:
Lakeland Food Truck Rally contact information:
Michael Blasco, Tampa Bay Food Trucks | Orlando Food Truck Catering
Office: 813-767-6924
Mobile: 813-464-5600
www.tampabayfoodtruckrally.com
www.facebook.com/tampafoodtruckrally
City of Lakeland events:
Red, White & Kaboom – 863.834.6264 Kevin.Cook@LakelandGov.net
SnowFest – Contact person: Mike Marotz – Lakelandgov.net/SnowfestVendor
Christmas Parade – Alexis.Marrino@lakelandgov.net 863.834.6084 (Vendors). TO PARTICIPATE WITH A FLOAT: parade@jlgl.org
OTHER EVENT CONTACTS:
Mayfaire-by the Lake – mayfairebythelake@polkmuseumofart.org
Polk Pride Festival – https://polkpridefl.org/
Lake Mirror Classic Car Show – https://lakemirrorcarshow.com/about-the-lake-mirror-car-show/
Spring Obsession March 9, 2024 Plant vendors and home/garden decor – Springobsession@gmail.com, SpringObsession.org
Hispanic Festival – macuatromusic@gmail.com 787-525-5213
Live Green – jwcoflakeland@yahoo.com