Sunday runs seven hours at the Special Events Center
The 67th Annual Gem, Mineral and Jewelry Show opens at the Florida State Fairgrounds on Saturday, November 7, and closes on Sunday, November 8. The Tampa Bay Mineral and Science Club presents it. The event page puts Saturday at 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Seven hours of show floor fit inside a single day room. Sunday admission reads $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and military personnel with ID, and free for children 12 and under. Parking reads $10 online and $12 onsite. The parking product on the fairgrounds portal covers November 7 and 8, allows one entry, and routes cars through the MLK entrance.
Gate 3 sits at the end of the drive
The show occupies the Special Events Center. The venue map places that building at the MLK Blvd Entrance, Gate 3, and the event page repeats the instruction to enter through MLK. The hall measures 40,000 square feet under 25-foot ceilings. A folding acoustical wall divides the floor into 15,000 and 24,000 square-foot sections. The venue lists complimentary wifi throughout the building and utilities accessible through the floor and wall. The show description adds an indoor, air-conditioned hall, a concession stand with lunch and refreshments, and an ATM.
A vendor room opens before the floor does
More than 60 vendors bring slabs, cabochons, beads, gemstones and jewelry. A dealer who arrives before 10 a.m. and leaves after load-out needs a wider window than the show itself.
The Dayuse Tampa listing carried 14 cards on October 21, 2026. Four sit near the grounds. Quality Inn & Suites Tampa near Fairgrounds and Casino prices at $65 for the day, carries a $6 booking fee, and posts three windows: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. The middle window matches the Sunday floor. The first covers morning set-up. The third covers teardown and the drive home.
Quality Inn and Conference Center Tampa-Brandon prices at $60 with a $6 fee and posts 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Clarion Pointe Tampa-Brandon Near Fairgrounds and Casino prices at $65 with a $6 fee and posts 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sleep Inn near Busch Gardens - USF prices at $95 with a $5 fee and posts 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Downtown carries four higher-priced cards
Aloft Tampa Downtown is $109 with a $7 fee and a 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. window. Westin Tampa Waterside is $129 with a $9 fee and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Le Meridien Tampa, The Courthouse is $129 with a $9 fee and one window, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Hotel Flor Tampa Downtown is $139 with a $9 fee and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The page publishes no city average rate. Each card carries its own fee between $5 and $10, so compare the base rate and the fee together.
Seven partner hotels carry no day rate
The fairgrounds publishes its own hotel ladder on the trip planning page. Holiday Inn Express & Suites sits 0.2 miles out and directly across the street from the grounds. Wyndham Garden lists 1.5 miles, Staybridge Suites 2.7, Hilton Garden Inn 2.8, Courtyard 4.4, Cambria 5 and Hampton Inn & Suites 5.0. Every entry carries a Distance field, and two of the seven contradict that field in their own body copy: Wyndham Garden writes just one mile, Hilton Garden Inn writes less than 2 miles. The page prices none of the seven, and none of the seven appears among the 14 priced day cards on the Tampa listing.
Florida restricts day-use booking
hotelslots.org covers 46 states and 103,857 hotels. Its home page answers the state question in the FAQ block: a few states (FL, HI, IA, WA) restrict day-use bookings under state travel laws. The platform serves no Florida directory page, and both /directory/florida and /directory/tampa return HTTP 404. Read the card sheet as a market reading and confirm the slot with the property before the trip.
The platform publishes one discount band on its home page, 30-75% less than nightly rates, and a $0 fee line for the platform itself. Every card in the Tampa set carries a booking fee between $5 and $10. Read the fee line on the card before comparing two day rates.
What the Sunday booking looks like
A shopper who drives in on Sunday morning takes the 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. window at the Quality Inn near the grounds and pays $65 plus the $6 fee. A dealer who needs the floor before opening and after closing takes the 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. window and adds the 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. window, or takes the 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. window alone after a morning at the hall. Each window books as its own product on the card.
A household of two adults pays $16 at the gate and $10 for the online parking pass. A senior or military guest swaps one $8 ticket for a $7 ticket with ID, and a child of 12 or under enters free. The concession stand sells lunch and refreshments inside the hall, and an ATM sits in the building.
