The November Card Show by the Bay falls on Thanksgiving weekend — Saturday, November 28 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Sunday, November 29 from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park, 950 Lake Carillon Drive, St. Petersburg, FL 33716. Admission is $2, kids are free, and the show runs more than 100 dealer tables.
Thanksgiving weekend is one of the best-attended editions of the year, and for good reason. Families are together, out-of-town relatives are in town, and a $2 card show with free kids admission is a genuinely appealing alternative to a fourth consecutive day on the couch. It is also prime holiday shopping territory. If somebody on your list collects, this floor gives you real options at every price point — a graded rookie, a vintage single of a favorite player, a sealed box, a starter binder, or a stack of dollar-box cards for a kid just getting started. Dealers know the audience and price accordingly.
The show bills itself as Tampa Bay's largest sports card show, and the dealer base is genuinely statewide — sellers travel in from Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando, Naples, and the Panhandle, so inventory turns over meaningfully between editions rather than being the same tables recycling stock. Sports cards anchor everything: baseball, football, basketball, and hockey across vintage, junk-wax, and modern, with graded slabs, rookie cards, star and Hall of Fame singles, autographs, relic and patch cards, and numbered parallels. Beyond the sports side there is a strong non-sports selection, a healthy Pokemon and modern TCG presence, comics, and sports memorabilia including signed balls, jerseys, helmets, photos, and pennants. A number of dealers here actively buy collections, so it works as a venue for selling as much as buying.
The Carillon Park venue is among the more comfortable rooms on the local circuit. It sits just off SR 688 (Ulmerton Road) in the Carillon business district, roughly midway between Tampa and downtown St. Pete with easy I-275 access. Parking is on site and plentiful. The ballroom is climate controlled with wide aisles, and the hotel's restaurant and restrooms are right there — which matters when you are making a day of it with family in tow.
Expect Saturday to be busy. Arrive near the 10:00 AM open if you are hunting rather than browsing, because the underpriced raw material moves in the first ninety minutes. Sunday's earlier 9:00 AM start and shorter day run quieter, and the last couple of hours are traditionally when dealers thinking about pack-out accept offers they would have declined the day before.
Bring cash in mixed denominations — most dealers now take digital payment, but cash still moves negotiations and speeds up dollar-box digging. Bring a want list written by set and card number. Bring penny sleeves and toploaders. If you are selling, sort and roughly price your material beforehand and be honest about condition; the buyers here look at cards every weekend.
For table availability or show information, email [email protected] or call or text 813-390-3687.
