Saturday, St. Pete Beach Mayor Maria Lowe and rapper Forgiato Blow continued to discuss his plans for Sunday's Blue Wave Float Party.

  • Mayor Maria Lowe said she's concerned about safety
  • Blow vows to "keep the party safe, clean, no drugs, no alcohol"
  • 18,000 people are expected to attend

While Blow assures the party will consist of people "just coming out to have a great time," the mayor remains unsure.

“I think it's gone well beyond the initial Facebook social media pages and now it’s entered a high-impact social media event where the numbers could go well beyond our capacity,” Mayor Lowe said.

Blow said he expects around 18,000 people to show up to his float party, which is scheduled to run from noon to 6 p.m.

“Keep the party safe, clean, no drugs, no alcohol,” he said. “I’m strictly enforcing that. Just everyone come out and ride the wave.”

This isn’t the first time the mayor has asked Blow to cancel his get together. Blow won’t cancel it, and she can’t force him to, so now she’s asking people not to come to St. Pete Beach on Sunday.

“I hope the people decided that this isn’t the float party that they want to be at, that they want to be at one that’s permitted,” she said.

Forgiato didn’t get a permit for the party because he said when he started out, he didn’t expect many people to come. The city requires events with 200 people or more to have a permit.

“Obviously social media and the media took it to the next level,” he said. “We didn’t know how big it was going to be so we didn’t have a permit.”

Blow said once the interest grew, he didn’t get a permit because what they’re doing is not illegal.

“What we’re doing is public and not illegal,” he said. “There’s no signs that says no floats. Everybody has floats, so there’s no difference.”

Mayor Lowe said she’s worried about safety when it comes to an event of that size.

“I have two fire stations, and if 18,000 people are here and those roads are blocked, how long do you think it’ll take my firefighters to get to you,” she said.

Blow said his party will end at 6 p.m. He says he's stay afterward to help clean up any mess left behind, and the city will rake the beach before sunset.