Editing Guavaween (section)

=== The End of Guavaween ===
Guavaween in its heyday reached an estimated attendance of 120,000 people,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.tbo.com/events/timeline-a-history-of-guavaween-19954|title=Timeline: A history of Guavaween|date=2010-10-29|work=TBO.com|access-date=2018-09-20}}</ref> but with that brought problems of property damage, arrests and medical emergencies. The following year, the area was enclosed by fencing to aid in crowd control. In 1992, the Artists and Writers Ball who had co-sponsored the event parted ways with the Ybor Chamber of Commerce, which was the other major sponsor. As the cost of the event increased and the funds decreased, it was decided in 1995 to begin to charge admission.<ref name=":0" /> The event continued to be strong, with artists such as Rihanna performing in 2005,<ref name=":0" /> just a few months after the American release of her first album in August.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2005-08-01-otv-rihanna_x.htm|title=USATODAY.com - Rihanna has her day in the sun|website=usatoday30.usatoday.com|access-date=2018-09-20}}</ref> During these years, the activity continued to struggle with its image, with the attendees pushing the envelope on dress and behavior and the local chamber of commerce and the city council concerned about the image projected. At the same time the costs to host the activity continued to rise seeing the entry fee of $4 in 1994 increase to $17 in 2015.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.tbo.com/events-tampa-bay/guavaween-returns-to-ybor-city-with-1000-costume-contest-20151020/|title=Guavaween returns to Ybor City with $1,000 costume contest|date=2015-10-20|work=TBO.com|access-date=2018-09-20}}</ref> As prices increased efforts were made to decrease expenses. The first step was to remove motorized vehicles from the parade in 2009, which allowed them to eliminate the barriers between the attendees and the parade for an estimated savings of $4,000. 2009 brought with it other changes as well; it had an attendance of only 15,000 people.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tbo.com/south-tampa/guavaween-attendance-down-but-organizers-still-pleased-56859|title=Guavaween attendance down, but organizers still pleased|date=2009-11-02|work=TBO.com|access-date=2018-09-20}}</ref>  Using horses to draw the floats in 2009 simply did not prove effective and by 2012 the parade had been eliminated. In 2015, the death throes of Guavaween had started. The fencing came down and the entrance fee eliminated, resulting in the elimination of the ability of attendees to consume alcohol since the city ban on drinking in the streets returned. The activity lost more patrons with this move and a loss of income from ticket sales. The last attempt to revitalize the event was the hiring of an outside event firm to organize the event.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/business/retail/ybor-citys-guavaween-gets-new-promoters-new-concept/2185332|title=Ybor City's Guavaween gets new promoters, new concept|date=2014-06-20|access-date=2018-09-20}}</ref> They changed the activity from a street party attracting tens of thousands to a music festival. Part of the reasoning was that the roots of the event stemmed for the ideas of the [[Artists and Writers Ball]]. The event now changed from an outdoor activity to indoor music at selected locations throughout [[Ybor City Historic District|Ybor]]. Ticket prices now were $20 the day of the event and $85 for VIP tickets.<ref name=":1" /> It also morphed to a strictly adult event since all venues served alcohol, preventing anyone under 21 from attending, which hurt attendance even more since in the past many of the attendees were local college students and other young adults. At this point, attendance had dropped below 5,000.The contract signed with the event company was for 3 years, finishing in 2017. In 2018, the official Guavaween website was made available for purchase. The last Facebook update was in 2016.