Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway 2026

## Tampa Bay Ukulele Getaway Festival 2026 Dates Nov 6-8th in Largo Fl

Join us as in Largo Florida as we celebrate our 17th TBUG with 3 days of ukulele fun. We kick off Friday afternoon with an artists meet and greet, play along jam and open mic session. Saturday there will be workshops to help you improve your playing skills, more fun play along sessions with projected music, vendors selling ukuleles and related items, a ukulele swap meet and artists concert. Wrapping up the weekend we will have a BBQ Luau at beautiful Walsingham Park on Sunday.

We are finalizing the venues, artists and schedule for TBUG 2026 as we return to land based event. Tickets will go on sale May 7th and be limited to 200.

​Ticket link: square.link/u/OuYnfc9d

TBUG VIP EVENT WILL BE IN LARGO FL

Here is the tentative schedule
​
FRIDAY NOV 6th (LOCATION TBA)
5pm Meet & Greet Artists Reception
6pm Playalong Jam with Jay Nunes
8pm Open Mic

SATURDAY NOV 7th LARGO PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
9am Playalong Jam with Bonnie Kahn and Moon Dog
10am Workshop 1 with Victoria (Viggy) Kolasinski
11am Workshop 2 with Steve Espaniola
Noon Lunch break, shopping with vendors and ukulele sway meet
2pm Playalong Jam with Tom Hood & The Tropical Sons
3pm Workshop 3 with Steve Espaniola
4pm Workshop 4 with Victoria (Viggy) Kolasinski
5pm Dinner Break
7pm Artists Concert

SUNDAY NOV 8th WALSINGHAM PARK
11am Luau BBQ and ukulele jam
YOUR VIP PASS includes admission to all scheduled events, coffee, water and snacks Friday night and all day Saturday and Luau BBQ Lunch on Sunday. Passes go on sale this Friday May 7th. Buy early (before July 1st) and you will automatically be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a Luna Ukulele.

​VIP PASS is $150 for players and $50 for non player spouses
Click link below and select pass type and quantity

https://square.link/u/OuYnfc9d square.link/u/OuYnfc9d

Artist's teaching and/or performing

Steven Espaniola www.stevenespaniola.com
It’s rare when an artist arrives on the scene offering a refreshing new spin on a traditional genre of music. Steven Espaniola is that artist. Raised in Aliamanu, Hawai’i and now residing in the California Bay Area, Steven is a self taught multi-instrumentalist Hawaiian artist specializing in Ki Ho'alu (Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar), ‘Ukulele, Upright Bass, and Leo Ki'e Ki'e (Traditional Hawaiian falsetto). Of Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese and Spanish descent, his ethnicity is as diverse as his unique sound which preserves the integrity of the traditional with a flourish of the modern.
His debut recording entitled Ho’omaka, “to begin”, features a mesmerizing collection of traditional and original Hawaiian mele recorded by Na Hoku Hanohano and GRAMMY® Award winning producer Dave Tucciarone. Ho’omaka will be sure to transport the listener to the Hawaii of yesterday with soaring falsetto vocals, nahenahe slack key guitar and rhythmic ‘ukulele. Steven Espaniola’s highly anticipated and critically acclaimed debut album will carry you on a musical journey you won’t soon forget. In 2007, Steven's musical efforts earned him the recognition of "New Artist of the Year" at the Hawaii Music Awards.

​**Victoria Kolasinski**, aka Viggy is a fresh face on the ukulele teaching artist scene. She’s been playing the ukulele for over ten years, but started taking this musical wonder seriously about five years ago to get through the pandemic. She started posting on Tiktok, and before she knew it, thousands of people followed along and were asking for tutorials and more uke videos. Thus, Jiggy with Viggy was born! You can find Viggy on the 2025 Summer issue of Ukulele Magazine along with other featured “Next-Gen Ukers.” She specializes in fingerstyle arrangements of modern and classic pop songs and also teaches strumming, moveable chords, and percussive techniques for all levels in an easy-to-understand approach. She spends her days arranging songs, teaching private lessons, and making fun, educational, and kinetic ukulele videos on her social pages. Aside from ukulele, Viggy loves movies, bird-watching, a good cuppa cawfee, her boyfriend Jake, and cat Morty.
Viggy jiggywithviggy.com/

**Tom Hood and The Tropical Sons **Singer, Songwriter, Performing Music Artist. Tom has been writing music and performing since 1976. He currently performs solo and with with his bands, The Tropical Sons & The Burnt Fuses in Florida and his other bands The Trailmen & The Happy Campers in New York. He is also know for his writing, recording and performances with Lex & The Hood, The Unknown Gentlemen and Empty Suits.
His music is widely available on all major music sites including Spotify, Amazon and Apple Music Tom plays guitar, ukulele, harmonica, bass and sings lead vocals. He is Kala Brand Ambassador
Tomis president of The Tampa By Ukulele Society one of the worlds largest ukulele clubs with over 4000 members.
He is actively engaged with numerous charitable projects yearly and supports PBS and Community Radio.
He is a member of BMI and has over 200 original songs in his catalog. Tom owns all content and rights and offers 1 stop shop for music supervisors. His music is available for licensing in commercials, movie and television productions
Tom Hood & The Tropical Sons ​tomhoodmusic.com

Bonnie Kahn & Moon Dog Ukulele

Moon Dog is the culmination of a young 11 year old girl's dream. It wasn't until that young girl, Bonnie Kahn, met Dan MacFarlane several years later that her dream became a reality. Performing as Moon Dog, Bonnie and Dan perfected a song list, started performing at local open mics, and, finally, started gigging. Since then, others have joined Moon Dog and the current version of Bonnie's dream, Moon Dog Ukulele. has Frank Kahn on percussions, Tony DiGiorgio on uke bass, Dave Helm on lead ukulele and guitar. Featuring the soulful vocal stylings of Bonnie Kahn, we're proud to introduce you to Moon Dog Ukulele.
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