In order to accommodate the parades, many streets will be closed. Gasparilla Pirate Festival - Wikipedia The story of Jos Gaspar's life and career vary in different tellings, especially regarding his origin. Gaspar instantly regretted the deed and took her body to a nearby island, which he named Useppa in her honor, and buried her himself. [36] Under the guise of "Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla" (YMKG), an organization modeled after the New Orleans Mardi Gras krewes, the "invaders" donned pirate costumes and rode through the streets on horseback encouraging residents to follow them to the festivities. Ye Loyal Krewe of Grace O'Malley formed in 1992 and was first all-female group. The photo below shows a prominent businessman in Tampa in the typical dress of a knight riding a horse, very much as Rex Lieutenants do to this day, as they precede the king's float on Mardi Gras day. Rainy weather helped to dampen the crowds, and the replacement was considered a "flop". At least a portion of the Gasparilla Parade of Pirates has traversed Bayshore Boulevard into downtown almost since its inception. King Daniel: Gasparilla King of the Pirates - amazon.com Tampa producer and Blair Witch director are making movies about military, Brain-eating amoeba infection kills person in Florida, Florida bill targeting unions emerges in House, 2019 Tampa Bay Rays spring training schedule. The fast-food . His family has been a part of the fun for decades. [55] The current ship has crossed Tampa Bay to lead every Gasparilla invasion since its launching in 1954 except for 1971, when bad weather and rough seas cancelled the flotilla, though not the parade. [20], Though very popular now, beads were rarely seen at Gasparilla Parades before the 1990s. [19] So many beads are thrown that in recent years, the city has organized post-parade volunteer cleanup efforts which annually collect thousands of pounds of plastic from the parade route and nearby Tampa Bay. Were not like Mardi Gras were fun, people are having a great time but its much safer and much smarter, he said. But Westcott, who has never missed a Queen's Party, fails to attend his own coronation . [8] Different versions of the story say that he was either a Spanish nobleman and advisor to King Charles III of Spain who was exiled after a romantic scandal in court, a traitorous admiral of the Spanish Royal Navy who stole a ship and fled when his treachery was revealed, or an ambitious young officer in the Spanish navy who was driven to mutiny by a tyrannically cruel captain. Floats need to be in place on Bayshore Boulevard early Saturday morning for the Parade of Pirates to start at 2 p.m. Barnes said this years parade will have 114 floats. The Gasparilla Innin 1913]. The ball is also where Chapman had his first date with his wife. Here's who does", "Tourism boosters hope Gasparilla 'season' lures more travelers to Tampa Bay", "Tampa's Old Guard Wary of Diluting Gasparilla", "Is Gasparilla's treasure real? The brochure was produced and widely distributed by the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway, which built the resort at the end of its rail line. King CVII James A. Turner III & Queen CVII Martha Davis Straske 2022. Most importantly, if at the end of day, when I talk to the Tampa Police Department and the mayors office, (and they tell me) everybody got home safely, there werent significant numbers of incidents, people had a fun day and we showcased the rich, diverse culture of TampaI am just as happy as I could possibly be that we were able to pull off such an amazing event and that were able to do it year after year without significant incidents.". The mayor playfully refuses, and the pirates declare that Gaspar will arrive with an "invasion force" on the following Saturday to steal the key to the city. [18] Since 2011, the parade route has ended at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park along the Tampa Riverwalk, where festivities continue into the evening. Situated along Garrison Channel in downtown Tampa, Sparkman Wharf (615 Channelside Dr, Tampa, FL 33602) is Tampa's new outdoor waterfront destination. The Gasparilla Pirate Festival (often simply referred to as "Gasparilla"[1]) is a large parade and a host of related community events held in Tampa, Florida almost every year since 1904. According to several studies, the Parade of Pirates alone has a local economic impact of over $20 million, and the combined events bring in over $40 million. Many of the same krewes - large and small - also participate in the Gasparilla Children's Parade and the Sant'Yago Knight Parade. [32][33], In 2015, Lopez's great-grandchildren found a box in their late grandfather's attic which appeared to contain the items found by Ernesto Lopez along with his wedding photo. [9][10][11] The "pirate ship" fires a near-continuous barrage of loud mini-canons during its journey between Davis Island and Harbour Island accompanied by hundreds of smaller private boats. Jos Gaspar's legend is celebrated in Tampa, Florida during the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which was first held in 1904. The fantastical biography was penned by publicist Pat Lemoyne, who combined and embellished tall tales attributed to well-known and recently deceased local fishing guide "Panther John" Gomez to create the legend of the pirate Gaspar, which Lemoyne freely admitted was "without a true fact in it. A look back at the costumes, floats and festivities over the years. Tampa's most prized tradition was sparked 118 years ago and continues to be shrouded in some mystery. Looking at old photos from past festivals, you can see pirates with drinks in their hands, and the Jose Gasparilla II used in modern invasions is essentially a floating bar. Several semi-theatrical events around Gaspar's "pirate invasion" have become traditional: The Children's Gasparilla Extravaganza is held on the Saturday prior to the main parade, currently the second-to-last Saturday in January. This page was last edited on 3 March 2023, at 20:52. The Children's Parade was first held in 1947 and has grown over the years, usually drawing about 100,000 attendees. [1] Most of his surviving crew were captured and hanged, but a few escaped or were imprisoned. The first invasion by boat was in 1911. The Gasparilla holiday was created more than 100 years ago as a way to lure people to visit Tampa. [5][6] Besides the three large parades, the city hosts many other community events during this time, including the Gasparilla Film Festival, the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, the Gasparilla Distance Classic, the Gasparilla Music Festival, the Gasparilla Bowl college football game, and a lineup of many other events that varies from year to year. For several decades, the parade route ended at Plant Field, where the Florida State Fair was taking place, drawing more attendees to the simultaneous events. During the parade, members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla along with dozens of other krewes throw beads, coins, and various souvenirs to the throngs from about 100 floats, most of them pirate-themed. [1] (For comparison, Spain had just agreed to transfer all of Florida to the United States for $5 million. 'Ted' DeLaVergne & Queen Emala Parkhill, King Lemuel P. Woods & Queen Elizabeth Dawson, King Gordon L. Gibbons & Queen Lucile Trice, King James E. Wall Jr. & Queen Phyllis Turner, King W. Frank Hobbs & Queen Sylvia Corral, King G. Richard Griffin & Queen Louise Lykes, King Henry Weidman & Queen Sara B. Johnson, King David A. Falk & Queen Mary Frances Swann, King LeBron Kinchley & Queen Peggy Van Dyke, King James T. Swann Jr. & Queen Ruth Binnicker, King H. Phillip Hampton & Queen Mary Ellen Cook, King William C. McElmurray & Queen Lucy Ann Forgy, King W. Howard Frankland & Queen Mary Julia Dupree, King Charles G. Baskerville & Queen Shirley McKay, King Gilvie L. Reeves & Queen Patricia Lowry, King Carlton C. Cone & Queen Suzanne Lowry, King John A. In Johnson's first novel, it's the summer of 1972, and Daniel Westcott, 68, has been named king of the pirates, to be crowned at the annual Gasparilla Queen's Party. "In 1783, having become a traitor and a pirate, Jos Gaspar gave the name of "Gasparilla" to himself as well as to his ship and the island in Charlotte Harbor, on the west coast of Florida near. [3][18][22], Despite his obvious lack of fact-checking, Bradlee's book was used as a source for later works such as Philip Gosse's Pirates' Who's Who and Frederick W. Dau's Florida Old and New, the authors of which also took Gaspar's authenticity for granted. Gaspar is said to have taken many ships and held many female hostages for ransom while preying on shipping in the Gulf of Mexico from Louisiana to the Spanish main aboard his flagship, the Floriblanca. The event proved popular, and leading citizens organized "Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla", an organization based on the krewes of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, to run the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival. YMKG was instrumental in establishing the Inter-Krewe Council, which has grown to include more than 60 other Krewes. Captured and given the choice between prison and joining the navy, he chose to go to sea, where he served with distinction for several years before leading a mutiny against a tyrannical captain and fleeing to Florida with a stolen ship. Then we meet Don Barnes, Executive Officer ofYe Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, the group that helped found the festival. For decades, many members of YMKG walked the parade route armed with six-shooters or other handguns loaded with blanks which they frequently fired in the air. [32] The Knight Parade features a similar mix of participants as the Parade of Pirates, with most of the floats are brightly illuminated since the event begins after dark. This krewe of pirates performed the first invasion in 1904, riding into Tampas May Day parade on horseback and throwing a big gala that evening. "Gasparilla Island" appears on Spanish and English maps made in the early 1700s, and contemporary documents suggest that the barrier island was named for Friar Gaspar, a Spanish missionary who visited the native Calusa in the 1600s. But city leaders have made a lot of changes over the past decade to keep drinking under control. [37][38] Other local organizations have taken on the Gasparilla / pirate theme, most prominently the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who first took the field in 1976 and installed a replica pirate ship in the stands of their home field at Raymond James Stadium. However, the diary was said to have been lost, and no other evidence was disclosed.[7][5]. [3], Gaspar has been associated with various other pirates, both historical and not. [46] The second Gasparilla the following year was not a surprise, as every automobile owner in town was invited to join the mounted pirates in the parade. [15][36], Tampa now hosts many community events during its "Gasparilla Season", which runs approximately from January to March. Some versions of Gaspar's story claim that he often partnered with the real pirate Pierre Lafitte and that Lafitte barely escaped the battle in which Gaspar was killed. [3][7] While the USS Enterprise was assigned to the West Indies Squadron tasked with suppressing piracy in the Caribbean, it is documented to have been in Cuba in December 1821, not in Charlotte Harbor, where Gaspar's last battle is said to have taken place. Courtesy Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System], [Burgert Brothers | Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System], [DAVID KADLUBOWSKI | Tampa Bay Times], [PENDYGRAFT, JOHN | St. Petersburg Times], [ | Tampa Bay Times], Gasparilla Festival of the Arts returns to Tampa. Chapman serves as the King for Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla this year. Alcohol has long played a role in Gasparilla, as it has with Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans. Is Tampa's Gasparilla pirate festival origin in fact, or fiction? [7][3], Other versions of the story state that Gaspar was a nobleman who achieved a high rank in the Spanish Royal Navy and became a councilor to King Charles III of Spain. The two most common throws before that were plastic or metal commemorative coins produced annually by various krewes and spent gun cartridges. Against a colorful backdrop of pirates, family secrets, and intrigue, Susan Wolf Johnson's King Daniel shines as a literary lighthouse on rocky shores. In 1988, the Parade of Pirates was moved to the first Saturday in February to make it easier for residents of other communities to take part in the festivities. Gasparilla is one day out of the year, you celebrate the tradition, but really 364 days out of the year youre here working, being part of Tampa, you live here, you worship here, you support all of the organizations here, you try to make this a great place, said Chapman. Captiva Island was said to be where his captives were held, Sanibel Island was named after Gaspar's love interest, and his home was on Gasparilla Island - "Taking the best of everything when a capture was made, he chose the best of the islands in Charlotte Harbor for his own secret haunts," it declared. While some feel that the widespread use of the name constitutes a "co-branding" which promotes all similarly named organizations and Tampa in general, others believe that overuse could "water down what it means", and that the potential failures or missteps of one event or organization might reflect poorly on all the others.
