Gasparilla is a major event; with numerous parades and events. The highlight is the 4.5 mile parade largely along Bayshore Boulevard, with around 175 professionally built floats, many "manned" by local Krewes. In addition to floats there are some local school bands. It is said that this parade now is the third largest parade in the US. Spectators line the parade route seeking beads thrown from floats and parade participants. Needless to say, there is a very large police presence, but law enforcement maintains a low profile. The crowd is typically loud, happy, and boisterous, but we did not see any instance of crowd misbehavior.

The parade is organized by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (YMKG), a local organization modeled after the "krewes" of Mardi Gras in New Orleans who play the parts of Gaspar and his crew. On Gasparilla Day, members of YMKG don pirate regalia and sail across Tampa Bay aboard the Jose Gasparilla II, a 165-foot-long "pirate ship" which is actually a steel barge converted to look like a large West Indiaman. The barge can accommodate 600 passengers but the number is kept down to around 450 for added safety. Firing loud mini-canons and accompanied by hundreds of private boats, the pirates make their way to the Tampa Convention Center, where they demand that the mayor surrender the key to the city in a playful ceremony. Gaspar and his crew then stage a "victory parade" featuring 50 additional krewes, about 140 floats, and dozens of other community organizations. Parade members throw beads and other trinkets to a crowd - this year - of about 300,000. (The cold weather likely reduced attendance.) The parade has always been held along Tampa's waterfront near downtown Tampa, and since 2011, it has ended along the Tampa Riverwalk, where festivities continue into the nighttime hours.

We had a very good time!

This was the fifth time we bought tickets for the First Mate section. Our first time was in 2018 and we would have returned in 2019 but the parade date conflicted with a major medical appointment. Our second time was in 2020. The 2019 Parade was cancelled (COVID) and we had a wedding to attend on the 2022 Parade Day. The First Mate section is private, with just two rows of chairs in essentially a private seating area with a security crew manning the entrances.

An additional selling point for the First Mate section is porta-potties in a private seating area that serve just a limited number of parade spectators. (We knew what porta-potties in the public areas look like after a day of Gasparilla partying.)

This year we made a pre-Gasparilla scouting trip to the area to figure out how to get to our shopping stop at Publix and to see where we might park.

On parade day, the morning was c..o..l..d, around 41F. So we were bundled up leavinbg the house at 7:20AM (for a parade that would not begin until 3PM! Our traffic plan worked perfectly; and again Jay dropped off Joyce and our goodie wagon at Publix, just a few blocks from our excellent parade-watching seats. But Jay found his planned parking spot closed to the public for parade day, and he spent about 20 minutes finding a parking lot.

Yes, we had a great time. There were things to do to pass the time until the start of the Pirate Parade including watching the "invasion" of Tampa, talking to people in our section, and enjoying our snacks and drinks.

While we had a great time, there were a couple of "lessons learned" about our attending this Gasparilla Pirate Parade. For the 2023 parade, we carried all of our drinks, food, chairs, and other parade gear in our collapsible beach wagon. This worked amazingly well. Somehow our memories became short for 2024, and we did not use the beach wagon that year, instead pulling a cooler that had two roller wheels. Let's just say that we learned the value of that beach wagon and brought it for the 2025 parade.