Don't bother preparing your famous pasta salad or cheese dip. Coolers and picnic baskets won't be allowed in Coachman Park. Event organizers say checking coolers for alcoholic beverages holds up the lines at festival entrances. And leave those big umbrellas at home, too. Organizers say they can block spectators' views of the stage.

Beer and wine will be sold at the festival. Remember to bring I.D. Do not bring alcoholic beverages with you to the park. A special section of the park will be designated as a non-drinking area.

Remember to pack a sweater or light jacket. It may be warm when you get to the park, but it can get cool along the waterfront at night.

Keep pets, skateboards, in-line skates, portable grills, tape recorders and camcorders at home.

There are no seats at the park so bring a lawn chair or blanket. Don't forget to pack sunscreen, sunglasses, a camera and a rain poncho. And parents who bring young children might want to pack coloring books and toys.

A shower may delay a performance, but it shouldn't cancel it. Organizers will attempt to notify the media if an entire day of performances is canceled. There is no scheduled rain date.

No squatter's rights. Any tarps or blankets left overnight will be removed.

Don't worry if you can't get a front-row seat. The festival will have two large video screens so folks in the back can see the performers.

The entire park is handicapped-accessible. There are designated handicapped parking areas at the bridge tender's lot on Drew Street and at Harborview's parking lot near the stage.

Prefer water over land? Some speakers will be aimed toward boaters who anchor offshore.

What to eat

Food and drinks will be available from the following vendors:

C&S CONCESSIONS: Two booths. One will have gyros, spinach pies, souvlakis, chicken over rice, Greek salads and Greek sausage. Another will sell London broil, Italian sausage, Polish sausage, steak burgers, French fries, black beans and rice.

CRAB TRAP: Soft shell crab sandwich, snapper sandwich platter, crab cake platter, crab fritter platter, stone crab claws

MARK ENOCH SPECIALTY FOODS: Chicken on pita, steak sandwich, Italian sausage sandwich, grouper sandwiches, gyros, funnel cakes, butterfly fries

JUST DESSERTS: Ice cream bars, yogurt bars

ALESSI CONCESSIONAIRES: Three booths. One will sell colossal onions, smoked turkey legs, grater taters, jumbo eclairs and cinnamon stix. Another will have beignets and coffee. A third will sell fresh-squeezed lemonade.

HOOTERS: Chicken wings, buffalo shrimp, bleu cheese and celery

PETE & SHORTY'S: Shorty burgers, steak bites

SISTERS CAESAR SALAD: Ceasar salad in bread bowl, chicken Caesar, soup choice/chili in bread bowl

MRS. B'S: Barbecue ribs, barbecue chicken sandwich, pork sandwich, greens, gumbo, sweet potato pie, cookies

ROMANO'S MACARONI GRILL: Pasta Milano, shrimp scampi, cannoli, meat ravioli, fried calamari, fried mozzarella

THURSTON'S ITALIAN ICE: Ice cream, Italian ice, boiled peanuts, churros, soft pretzel

Schedule

Today

6 -- 7 P.M.: Mike MacArthur Group (quartet led by tenor saxophonist who toured with Maynard Ferguson for two years)

7:45 -- 9 P.M.: Lavay Smith and her Hot Skillet Lickers (one of the top swing and jump blues bands in the country, fronted by a vocalist known as the diva of the swing scene)

9:30 -- 11 P.M.: Stanley Clarke (virtuoso bassist, fusion pioneer and film composer whose 1998 Jazz Holiday appearance drew a record crowd)

Saturday

12:45 -- 1:45 P.M.: U.S. Air Force Band (jazz ensemble fronted by saxophonist and flutist Senior Master Sgt. James M. Larimer)

2:15 -- 3:30 P.M: Yellowjackets (a Grammy Award-winning band that plays everything from be-bop to fusion)

4 -- 5:15 P.M.: Tim Hockenberry Band (jazz and R&B vocalist who has shared the stage with B.B. King, Roberta Flack and Robert Cray)

5:45 -- 7 P.M.: Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band (Latin jazz group that earned No. 1 spot in the World Beat Group category of Down Beat magazine's 55th annual readers' poll)

7:30 -- 8:45 P.M.: Bellevue Cadillac (swing septet from Boston that was a crowd favorite at last year's Jazz Holiday)

9:30 -- 11 P.M.: Patti Austin (vocalist best known for her chart-topping single, Baby Come to Me, a duet with James Ingram)

Sunday

1 -- 2 P.M.: Nu Soul Company (one of three local bands that won Clearwater Jazz Holiday's Band Search contest)

2:30 -- 3:45 P.M.: Oleta Adams (vocalist whose recording of Get Here became something of a people's anthem during the Gulf War)

4:15 -- 5:30 P.M.: Fred Johnson (a local veteran jazz singer and community arts director for Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center)

6 -- 7:15 P.M.: Monty Alexander (Jamaican-born pianist who has accompanied many well-known musicians including Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Natalie Cole)

7:45 -- 9 P.M.: Terence Blanchard (trumpeter, award-winning composer and orchestrator of film and television scores who emerged on the New York jazz scene in the 1980s, becoming part of a group of young musicians that included hometown colleagues Wynton and Branford Marsalis)

Jazz after hours

The stage may shut down at 11 p.m. today and Saturday, but that doesn't mean the music stops. The After Hours Jam sessions, a festival tradition, will feature big-name acts and local musicians, in a laid-back setting at the Belleview Biltmore Resort and Spa, 25 Belleview Blvd., Belleair.

Hours are 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. Admission is free. Call (727) 442-6171.

Jazz on Sunday

The third annual Jazz Worship Service will be at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church, 110 S Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater. The Jack Wilkins Jazz Ensemble and the combined choirs of Peace Memorial and Church of the Reconciler will provide music for the service. The jazz ensemble will accompany gospel songs, hymns and spirituals as well as play instrumental music. Call (727) 446-3001.

Jazz on the run

How about a run before Saturday's performances? More than 1,000 runners and walkers are expected to participate in the Shells Jazz Bridge Run. The Clearwater Breakfast Sertoma Club is organizing the 5K run, which starts at 8 a.m. Participants should meet at Harborview Center next to Coachman Park in downtown Clearwater. For more information, call race director Stu Johnson at (727) 595-2586.

Clearwater Jazz Holiday 2000

WHEN: Today through Sunday

WHERE: Coachman Park, Clearwater

ESTABLISHED: 1980

ATTENDANCE EXPECTED: 100,000

COST: Free

QUESTIONS: (727) 461-5200 or www.clearwaterjazz.com

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