The Spark
“We were always the sponsor at someone else’s event,” Tammy told me. “You cannot call the shots when you are a sponsor. I thought, why not do it ourselves.” She laughs when she says it, though the point lands. “Ignorance is bliss. If you do not know that you cannot do it, you are going to make it happen.”
Thirteen years later, that impulse has grown into SAVOR, a full-scale food and wine festival that started on Clearwater Beach and now lives on St. Pete’s waterfront. The move followed the city’s rise, and her own. “I moved to St. Pete in 1994. You could shoot a cannon downtown and hit nobody,” she said. “The renaissance over two decades has been incredible, inspirational, beautiful.”
A Women-Led Operation With a Neighborly Feel
Tammy is frank about the field she works in. “It is very rare in the food and wine world that it is woman-owned,” she said. “That was important for me, to help create a culture of women helping other women.” Her agency teams today are almost entirely women, from strategy to the on-the-ground crew. The vibe is deliberate. “We only work with the nice people,” she said. “It is a family. We bring the band back together every year, and we keep adding more.”
That ethos shapes who participates and how guests experience the weekend. Pricing sets expectations, and hospitality carries them through. “We try to create a dinner party for four thousand guests who are like-minded and want a great time,” Tammy said. “The crowd is professional, mostly women, very clean energy. Nobody gets out of control.”
From Radio to the Festival Stage
Tammy’s media background is not just a line in her bio. It informs how SAVOR tells stories. “I was in radio in the eighties. Artists came through our station all the time. Being around that kind of creativity taught me to love different, to be open to people and cultures,” she said. She brings that lens to chefs who spend most days behind the pass. “Chefs get stuck in the back of the house. We want to pull them forward, give them the spotlight, show their personality, show where the ideas come from.”
This year, that shows up in a bigger public stage and a chef competition guests can actually watch. “Our chefs asked for a larger audience. So the competition happens during the event now, with celebrity and media judges on stage at noon,” she said. “It becomes education and entertainment at once.”
St. Pete, On Purpose
Tammy speaks about the city like a local who has watched it change in real time. Waterfront museums, the Edge, murals, music, neighborhoods you can walk, places that feel safe and clean. “Arts, eats, and beats,” she said, referencing SAVOR’s mantra. The idea is to celebrate what the city already does well, then gather it in one place so guests can try it in an afternoon. “We want you to savor the food, savor the art, savor the experience. Dress in a way that makes you feel like a piece of art. Express yourself while our chefs express themselves.”
Big Brands, Local Flavor
SAVOR works with national labels because large events require partners with reach. It also leaves room for Florida producers and smaller outfits. “We are very picky. Not everybody is right for the event, and we cannot house everyone. We have to be safe, we have to fit inside the footprint, and we want the experience to feel good,” she said. Inside the tents you will find recognizable names next to local projects, plus spirits and non-alcoholic activations. “It is all about pairings,” Tammy said. “Afternoon, brunch energy, bubbles, then food that plays well with it, mocktails that work too.”
She loves when guests leave with practical language for what they enjoy. “Knowledge is power,” she said. “Ask for a lighter style, ask for less oak, ask for something good for brunch. We want people to feel dangerous in a good way, like they can shop with confidence for a dinner party.”
Mentorship and the Human Side
The mentoring thread runs throughout her story. “It is young women and more seasoned women, helping each other, answering questions, seeing things from different angles,” she said. The festival is also a place to discover talent. She tells me about a chef who once cooked for Ludacris, about a pastry chef planning cocktail-inspired cupcakes, about a cheesemonger moving to town who can lead pairing sessions next year. “We get ideas from our guests, from media partners, from people in the crowd who know someone doing something great. It is a group effort.”
A Survivor’s Clarity
Tammy’s philanthropy is not a side project. It informs how she runs everything. She founded Glam-A-THON more than twenty years ago after her own breast cancer diagnosis. “I went through six surgeries. Moffitt saved my life. I wanted to help women directly, so we fund mental health, nutrition, lifestyle therapies. We donate to people, not research,” she said. “Knowledge is power. If you know something is wrong, you can fix it.”
That perspective ties to a sustainability push at SAVOR this year. “We are working with the Sierra Club on a food audit and composting, using materials that return to the earth faster. The idea is to have a great weekend, then leave the place better.”
What Never Changes
Events scale. Footprints expand. Stages get taller. Tammy keeps returning to the same core. “We will always raise the bar for next year,” she said. “But the family feeling stays. The kindness stays. The focus on making chefs and makers feel seen stays.” She smiles again at the original impulse. “If you do not know that you cannot do it, you will make it happen.”
SAVOR St. Pete returns to Vinoy Park on November 1-2, 2025. Guests can explore chef demos, tasting tents, and a full weekend of food and wine experiences along the waterfront. Tickets and VIP passes are available at https://savortheburg.com.
Find more local tastings and wine events happening around St. Pete on our This Week in Wine page.