. [1] Most of his surviving crew were captured and hanged, but a few escaped or were imprisoned. Krewes are centered around various ethnic, cultural, and historical themes or favorite charity causes, and much like the krewes of Mardi Gras, members often spend a great deal of money on elaborate costumes, beads, and floats. Though it once had the reputation of being the most "adult-oriented" parade of Tampa's Gasparilla season, the city has tried to reduce public drunkenness and other unruly behavior in recent years and has promoted the parade as a family-friendly event, with some success. [46] The fair moved to much larger grounds east of Tampa in 1976 and Plant Field is long since demolished, but the basic parade route has remained the same, traveling north up Bayshore Boulevard and ending in or near downtown, approximately 4.5 miles (7.2km) in total. [38], The theme of the Gasparilla Festival was inspired by the legend of the pirate Jos Gaspar, who supposedly operated off the west coast of Spanish Florida from the 1780s until the 1820s. Culbreath Jr. & Queen Deborah King Davis, King Max H. Hollingsworth & Queen Patricia Shannon Smith, King Gus J. Perdigon D.D.S. It all started in the newsroom of the now-defunct Tampa Morning Tribune, where Society Page Editor Louise Francis Dodge sought to . The Gasparilla parade in 1910 was the last year the invasion was done on horseback. The annual Gasparilla celebration is one of Tampa Bays biggest social events, drawing in hundreds of thousands of people to dress up as pirates and eat, drink and be merry. But Westcott, who has never missed a Queen's Party, fails to attend his own coronation . [32][35], In 1904, members of the Tampa business elite staged a surprise pirate "invasion" during the city's previously sedate May Day celebration. )[13], During the treasure distribution process, a lookout spotted what appeared to be a vulnerable British merchant ship sailing nearby. The city has been celebrating the legend of mystical pirate Jose Gaspar since the first Gasparilla in 1904. [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. [2] No contemporaneous mention of his life or exploits have been found in Spanish or American ship logs, court records, newspapers, or other archives, and no physical artifacts linked to Gaspar have been discovered in the area where he supposedly established his "pirate kingdom. Chapman serves as the King for Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla this year. Whatever his supposed origins, the legends agree that Gaspar fled to the virtually uninhabited southwestern coast of Spanish Florida in the 1780s and established his "pirate kingdom" on Gasparilla Island in Charlotte Harbor, south of Tampa Bay. Look closely and you can spot pirates on the Jose Gasparilla II in 1959 enjoying some adult beverages as they invade the city. It's Gasparilla arts season. The Gasparilla Innin 1913]. The Gasparilla holiday was created more than 100 years ago as a way to lure people to visit Tampa. 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. Lane Riverfront Park to . [52] However, in 2018, the city did not change the regularly scheduled date of the parade to avoid the NHL All-Star Game and related activities, which were held at Amalie Arena in downtown Tampa over the same weekend. [18] Since 2011, the parade route has ended at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park along the Tampa Riverwalk, where festivities continue into the evening.
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. [46] The pirate festival took a brief hiatus from 1906 until 1910, when it was revived as part of a community celebration marking the opening of the Panama Canal. Thats my uncle and my mother going to Coronation back in 1950, said Chapman as he held up a photo taken during the Krewes Coronation Ball many decades ago. Gasparilla faced controversy in the early 1990s for being a mostly white, male event. & Queen Jane Wallace, King Lee M. Bentley & Queen Dada Pittman Glaser, King G. Pierce Wood Jr. & Queen Patricia C. Williams, King W. DeHart Ayala & Queen Sandra Louise Fogarty, King Michel G. Emmanuel & Queen Caroline E. Murphey, King James W. O'Neal & Queen Helen Parkhill Murphey, King John Germany & Queen Suzanne Galloway Adams, King John H. Boushall Jr. & Queen Jane Gray Hanlon, King Fred R. Martin III & Queen Camille Amanda McWhirter, King James L. Ferman & Queen Mary Winifred Wilson, King Russell S. Bogue Jr. & Queen Darby Crowder, King L.G. [28] It is billed as a "family friendly" event, as unlike during the Parade of Pirates, alcohol is not allowed along the parade route, which runs along Bayshore Boulevard and is about half as long as the main Gasparilla Parade. On Gasparilla Day, members of YMKG don pirate regalia and sail across Tampa Bay aboard the Jose Gasparilla II, a 165-foot-long (50m) "pirate ship" which is actually a steel barge converted to look like a large West Indiaman. The first seaborne "invasion" came in 1911, and YMKG has organized a theatrical pirate invasion and parade almost every year since. [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. [3][15][5][2] Despite claims that he was the most feared pirate in the Gulf of Mexico for several decades, searches of contemporary American newspapers have found no mention of the name "Gaspar" or "Gasparilla" or of a pirate ship called Floriblanca, and searches of U.S. Navy archives have found no mention of Gaspar in ships' logs or in official court records of the hundreds of piracy trials held during the era. so you can be prepared. Tampa's most prized tradition was sparked 118 years ago and continues to be shrouded in some mystery. Part of the weekend programming includes the Emerging Artists Program, which provides . ", "You could have a vacation here but there was really no reason to. [17] The first occurrence consisted of several dozen local businessmen disguising themselves as pirates, riding horses through town to simulate a surprise pirate invasion, and encouraging startled observers to follow them to the May Day festival.
In the first portion of the show we speak with Rodney Kite-Powell, the Saunders Foundation Curator of History at the Tampa Bay History Center. [14] While scattered seaborne attacks by privateers and others were still an occasional issue when Gaspar supposedly arrived at Charlotte Harbor in the 1780s, the navies of Britain, France, Spain, and the newly independent United States were actively patrolling nearby waters, making it improbable that a pirate could successfully harass shipping for decades at the enormous scale claimed in the various stories about Gasparilla. Most agree that Gaspar was born in Spain about 1756, served in the Spanish Navy until turning to piracy about 1783, and met his end in southwest Florida during a battle against the United States Navy in late 1821. [3] The brochure also claimed that the bulk of Gaspar's vast treasure cache "still lies unmoved" somewhere in the vicinity of Boca Grande. Once they had the idea for Gasparilla, Louise Frances Dodge and George Hardee invited members of Tampas high society to form a secret group called Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. Since then organizers have worked to diversify the festival and include more krewes for all races and genders. [3][18][7][5], Inspired by the story of Gaspar, the city of Tampa organized a pirate-themed May Day festival in 1904. 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. [16], The Krewe of Gasparilla was Tampa's only Gasparilla krewe until the woman-only Krewe of Venus was organized in 1966, the Ybor City-based Krewe of the Knights of Sant'Yago was organized in 1972, the Tampa Rough Riders were organized in 1978, and many more were established after YMKG opened up participation in the parade to more krewes in the 1990s. Columnist Stephanie Hayes will share thoughts, feelings and funny business with you every Monday.
Travel through time with our '100 doubloons' of Gasparilla in Tampa Bay [29] Assuming that the story of Gasparilla as described was authentic, Bradlee included many details in his book Piracy In The West Indies And Its Suppression without attempting to verify the information. Im passionate about highlighting community efforts to improve the quality of care in our state and make it more accessible to all Floridians. Initially, they modeled themselves after the Krewe of Rex and were knights or reflected royalty. [1], While Gaspar is a popular figure in Florida folklore, there is no evidence that he actually existed. "Pirate State (of mind); When bad boys make for good fun: Pirates have shed their villainous image in Florida". Kite-Powell said it wasnt always easy to pull off such an invasion by sea. [12] Gaspar had decided to retire after almost four decades of pirating, and he and his crew gathered on Gasparilla Island to split the wealth he'd gathered throughout his career, which some versions of the story value at the enormous sum of $30 million. However, African-Americans and others among Tampa's diverse population felt left out of the planning and organization of the events, with some observers questioning the tradition of local elites dressing as pirates and pretending to plunder the city. [36], A wide variety of local businesses, organzations, and smaller events ranging from restaurants to beauty pageants to classic car shows and food festivals also use the names "Gaspar" or "Gasparilla"; according to the Florida Department of State, over 100 entities have registered related names. So they wanted to have this thing that could maybe draw people from outside the city to come into Tampa for a couple days and have a party.. However, when the pirates fired a warning shot, their intended victim raised an American flag to reveal that it was no merchant vessel, but the United States Navy pirate hunting schooner USS Enterprise in disguise. To learn more about ChatGPT and how we can inspire students, we sat down with BestReviews book expert, Ciera Pasturel. And a few pigs and chickens didnt make it from one end of the invasion to the other.". "That's my uncle and my mother going to Coronation back in 1950," said. [26] Meanwhile, various contemporary letters and news articles report that Gmez claimed at different times to have been born in 1778, 1781 or 1795 in Honduras, Portugal, or Mauritius. The legend of Jos Gaspar, according to an account by Andr-Marcel d'Ans and translated by Marie-Jole Ingalls, Gaspar was a Spanish naval officer, who in the early 1780s mutinied against his.