Tampa’s 2023 Gasparilla pirate parade is a major event build by city leaders around 100 years ago. It is specially build for visitors. In this particular event, around 300k people will in Bayshore Boulevard. There are more than 150 floats, bands and assorted krus toss beads and jewelry into the crowd.
HISTORY OF THE EVENT –
It all started with a fictional pirate, Jose Gaspar. The festival was founded in 1904 by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, a prominent organizers of the event that sees pirates “invade” the city. Pirate costumes are worn by both the crowd and the Krus. The atmosphere will be loud with music, cannon fire and cheering revelers who will find alcohol stations along the parade route.
The male, white founders of Gasparilla bear little resemblance to today’s roster of more than 60 krus, which now includes Latino, female, and black krus, and other ethnic, cultural, and historical subjects.
A pirate with Gasparilla’s Ye Mystic Krewe hands out beads during the Gasparilla Parade of Pirates along Bayshore Boulevard in 2022. The parade returns on January 28.
The schedule for Saturday
Timings: From 11:30 am to 1:00 pm on Saturday, the fully rigged pirate ship Jose Gasparilla will lead a dramatic flotilla of hundreds of private and police boats. Boats will surface at the south end of Hillsborough Bay as the flotilla cruises across the bay into the Seddon Channel with cannon fire at approximately 1:00 p.m. and docks at the Tampa Convention Center. Then the mayor will hand over the key to the city.
Parade of Pirates: Ornate floats and krewes will shower the streets with pearls and treasures. The parade begins at Bay to Bay and Bayshore Boulevards and ends at Cass Street and Ashley Drive. It runs from 2pm to 6pm
Pirate Festival: This year brings an expanded Pirate Festival that will take place along the Riverwalk in downtown Tampa. There’s a live entertainment before and after the parade at Curtis Hixon Park and MacDill Park. 9 a.m. to 8 p.m
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