Ten years after starting as a small competition inside a single Tampa gym, FitFest returns to the Florida State Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday as Florida's largest sports festival and fitness expo, spanning more than 150,000 square feet of the Expo Hall and pulling in a headline guest that local hockey fans won't want to miss: Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
FitFest founder and CEO Chris Zamudio joined Bloom Tampa Bay host Amber Freeman ahead of the weekend to preview the tenth-anniversary event, demonstrating an easy at-home exercise and walking through what's new for 2026, according to WFLA. Zamudio originally launched the festival a decade ago as a small community competition hosted out of a single local Tampa gym, according to a report from FOX 13 Tampa Bay, which noted he built the event to bring local fitness enthusiasts of different disciplines together under one roof.
That roof has grown considerably. What began as the Tampa Bay Strength and Fitness Expo was rebranded and expanded into a multi-sport competition, wellness vendor showcase, and public fitness class series, per FitFest's own event listing. In 2026, the operation split into a two-part annual model in the region, pairing an April “Stadium Edition” inside Raymond James Stadium with this weekend's “Fairgrounds Edition,” which fills the Expo Hall with indoor competition stages and vendor booths.
A Decade of Growth Measured in Attendance
Last year's Fairgrounds gathering gives a sense of scale: more than 10,000 athletes and spectators attended the 2025 FitFest at the Florida State Fairgrounds alongside nearly 100 health, equipment, and nutrition exhibitors, with the station reporting the turnout broke previous attendance records for the expo. This year's event again includes vendors, group fitness classes, and, as Zamudio's Bloom appearance emphasized, more competitions than in years past.
Those competitions carry their own decade milestone. The Tampa Bay Games CrossFit competition is marking its 10th anniversary at this year's FitFest, running alongside Grapplerz Fest jiu-jitsu and Olympic weightlifting events, according to event coverage shared on Facebook. Panel appearances from five-time CrossFit Games athlete Colten Mertens and fitness influencer Larry Wheels round out the competitive slate.
Vasilevskiy Headlines a New Guest Lineup
FitFest organizers describe this year's celebrity draw as a new special guest lineup, and the marquee name is unmistakably local: two-time Stanley Cup champion Andrei Vasilevskiy is scheduled for an appearance and meet-and-greet Saturday, offering fans selfie sessions and limited autographed merchandise packages, per FitFest's Facebook promotion. It's a rare crossover between the region's professional hockey scene and its grassroots fitness community.
For runners who'd rather participate than just watch, the weekend also includes the Florida State 5K, which winds through the fairgrounds behind a rolling DJ truck and hands out finisher medals designed with a rotating Ferris wheel, according to race organizer ITS YOUR RACE. Race entry doubles as general admission into the main FitFest expo halls, so runners don't need a separate ticket to browse vendor booths afterward.
What It Costs to Get In
Standard admission for the August 15-16 event ranges from $25 to $48, with children five and under admitted free, according to the Florida State Fairgrounds. Parking runs $10 if purchased online or $12 on-site, and tickets include access to vendor booths, live competition stages, and group exercise classes.
Zamudio's involvement in youth fitness predates FitFest's expansion into a two-day expo. He has previously coached youth functional fitness divisions in the Tampa Bay area, using weightless movement modifications to teach agility, body control, and injury prevention to children, a 2018 report from WTSP found, with those youth programs emphasizing body mechanics before adding resistance training.
A Bigger Economic Picture
FitFest's growth mirrors a broader trend across the state. Participatory and spectator sports tourism generated $111.2 billion in direct national spending in 2025, with Florida ranking second nationwide for overall sports tourism economic performance, according to a 2026 industry report from Sports ETA. The sector has become a major driver for hotel, dining, and retail spending across the region, and events like FitFest, with thousands of athletes and spectators converging on the fairgrounds for a weekend, are part of that equation locally.
Whether this year's turnout will top 2025's record numbers remains to be seen, and organizers haven't released final registration totals for individual competition stages like powerlifting and jiu-jitsu ahead of the weekend. For now, the tenth-anniversary edition of FitFest opens Saturday at the Florida State Fairgrounds, with Vasilevskiy's meet-and-greet, the Tampa Bay Games finals, and the Florida State 5K all sharing the same weekend on the fairgrounds calendar.
