Gasparilla

The end of a long day!

We caught a bead!:) It was pretty hard to catch them because there had to be at least 15 rows of people so it was hard to get up there!

Waiting for the parade to start!

People parachuting

So, Gasparilla is a huge event in Tampa! It only happens in January. Bascially it is about a pirate Jose Gaspar who terrorized the coastal waters west of Florida during the early 19th century. The number of ships that fell prey to Gasparilla and his buccaneers during later years is not known, but he continued to ravage Florida waters until December 1821. As he was going to retire there was 1 ship he couldn't resist. Thinking it was a merchant ship he and crew decided to pillage the ship. However, as they got closer they realized it was the United States Navy. A bloody battle ensued, leaving Gasparilla's flagship burning to ruin. As the story goes, just as the commanding officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise was boarding the defeated ship, Gasparilla seized a heavy chain, wrapped it around his waist and neck and leaped into the water, brandishing his sword in a final gesture of defiance as he sank into the sea.

Gasparilla..the extravaganza. When Jose Gaspar died, he supposedly left an untold fortune in buried treasure somewhere along the Florida coast. Though that treasure has never been discovered, the story of the swashbuckling Gasparilla was unearthed and his memory revived in 1904 when Tampa's social and civic leaders adopted the pirate as patron rogue of their city-wide celebration. Miss Louise Frances Dodge, society editor of the Tampa Tribune, was planning the city's first May festival. At the suggestion of George W. Hardee, then with the federal government in Tampa, she decided to develop a theme for the affair based on the legend of Gasparilla.
Secret meetings gave birth to the first "Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla," whose forty members planned to surprise the populace with a mock pirate attack on Tampa. Masked and fully-costumed, the first krewe arrived on horseback and "captured the city" during the Festival Parade

The kids parade was fun but on January 30th the "adults" have a parade and I guess people say it is quite a sight! Anyhoo, Emily had a great time and I was glad she got some beads!:)