TAMPA – There’s one thing that any first- timer to Gasparilla festival – a 107-year old Tampa tradition – will be struck by. Its sheer size.
Held on Saturday, 28 January, this annual pirate-themed event is a must for any festival lover or pirate at heart. The carnival attracts some 400,000 participants and 60 pirate krewes. The uniform of the day: Pirates’ hats, eye patches, frills, lace, buckles, swords, pistols and lots and lots of beads.
Gasparilla has almost all the same elements as Cayman’s own Pirates Week festival on what can only be described as monumental proportions.
Like Cayman’s, the festival kicks off with a variety of family friendly events in the run-up to the main event, including the Gasparilla Season Kick-Off Party, Children’s Extravaganza and Miss Gasparilla Pageant to name just a few.
Notorious invasion
The main event is held on the last Saturday of January. There’s the notorious invasion. Gasparilla’s is led by Ye Mystic Krewe aboard the Jose Gasparilla pirate ship, which is flanked by hundreds of more modern day boats, sailing into downtown Tampa where they ceremoniously seize the key to the city from the mayor.
There’s then an extravagant brunch at the Tampa Convention centre, followed by the parade. And what a parade it is with more than 100 floats snaking down Bayshore Boulevard, flanked on either side by crowds at least five people deep.
In true US patriotic fashion, the armed forces and the police kicked off the parade, with troops garnering huge applause. These were followed by marching bands and then eight stunning Budweiser Clydesdale horses.
Even politicians took to the parade route, waving and tossing beads, along with a smattering of sports personalities. Mayor Bob Buckhorn, US Representative Kathy Castor and Tampa Bay Ray stars Matt Joyce, David Price and James Shields were among them. High school football players, cheerleaders and the fire crew traversed the parade route as well, joining in all the fun.
With the pageantry over, the motley krewes and swashbuckling pirates followed with all the colour and flamboyancy of mardi gras. Floats were a feat of engineering. Cannons were fired. Music boomed, and sparkling beads in a kaleidoscope of colours were thrown from all directions. It seemed everyone in the crowd had a bead-catching technique.
The parade over, partygoers and pirates alike flocked to the Gasparilla Pirate Fest Stage for a post-parade concert and street festivities. For the less energetic? It was time to head back home and battle post-festival traffic
History of Gasparilla
The name and foundation of Tampa’s traditional Gasparilla carnival came from the legendary pirate Jose Gaspar who terrorized the coastal waters of West Florida during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Gaspar, given to calling himself Gasparilla, served as a lieutenant in the Royal Spanish Navy for five years until 1783 when, upon seizing command of a Spanish sloop-of-war, he with his fellow mutineers set sail for the Florida straits. And, so the young Spanish aristocrat-turned-pirate began an adventurous life as an outlaw of the sea. The number of ships that fell prey to Gasparilla and his buccaneers is not known, but he ravaged Florida waters until December 1821, when following a bloody battle with a US Navy ship, Gasparilla’s ship was left burning to ruin. Legend says that in defiance Gasparallia seized a heavy chain, wrapped it around his waist and neck and leapt into the waters brandishing his sword.
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