[13] In addition to the krewes, high school and university marching bands and drill teams often participate, and many local businesses and organizations build and enter their own elaborate floats from which they also throw trinkets to the crowd.
King Daniel: Gasparilla King of the Pirates by Susan Wolf Johnson Gasparilla a longtime family affair for YMKG King Richard Chapman Lemoyne described Gmez as a "colorful" eccentric who claimed to have been a pirate in order to sell fake treasure maps to "the gullible" for a "fancy figure". The connection was first made soon after his death in 1900, when a promotional pamphlet for a Charlotte Harbor resort hotel (see below) claimed that the late John Gmez was the primary source of its tale of the pirate Gasparilla. Barkley & Queen Stella Taliaferro, King W. Reynolds Beckwith & Queen Mary Cotter Lucas, King Tod Ford Gillett & Queen Daisy Giddens, King E.P. Since 2005, it has been held on the last Saturday in January. European nations began to make a concerted effort to suppress piracy in the early 1700s, and by 1730, every major pirate of the "golden age" era had been killed. I cover health care for WUSF and the statewide journalism collaborative Health News Florida.
The History Of Gasparilla And Its 'Mystic' Pirates WFLA | What is Gasparilla? Part of the weekend programming includes the Emerging Artists Program, which provides . Recent examples include September 2019 episodes of the TV series, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 17:26. [7][3], In still other versions, Gaspar was a brilliant Spanish admiral of questionable character who actually succeeded in stealing the crown jewels. The first Gasparilla parade was held in May 1904, after Tampa Tribune society editor Louise Frances Dodge and Tampa's director of customs George Hardee decided to combine elements of New Orleans Mardi Gras with a pirate theme to promote and enliven Tampa's May Day celebration. [20], Though very popular now, beads were rarely seen at Gasparilla Parades before the 1990s. Over the next decade, the pirate parade was staged as an occasional add-on to other community events, with the highlight of the early period being the first seaborne invasion in 1911. Some versions of the story claim that one of the escapees was John Gmez, who would tell the tale to subsequent generations. The Children's Parade was first held in 1947 and has grown over the years, usually drawing about 100,000 attendees. [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. 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. 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. 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. [3][1], Though the brochure presents its "romantic" history of Gaspar as well-established truth, it is entirely fictional. Gaspar's Grenadiers Promoting More Than Just a Parade Gaspar's Grenadiers, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla's outreach pirates, visit hospitals, assisted living centers, children's venues, and schools, in full pirate attire to engage the community and spread the fun of Gasparilla. Once the invasion begins, the boats need to arrive at the convention center within 90 minutes so the pirates can confront the mayor precisely at 1 p.m. Hell hopefully hand over the key to the city so the parade can start and everything can wrap up by early evening. [3][45][42], In 1923, author Francis Bradlee obtained a copy of the Gasparilla Inn brochure and, assuming it was factual, included Gaspar in a book he was writing about piracy in the West Indies. [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. [17][18], Parade participants on floats and on foot have traditionally tossed souvenirs as they make their way along the route, but the specific items have changed over time. Empathizing with his friend's plight, Gaspar eventually allowed Lopez to return home. [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. On Saturday, several hundred thousand people will line Bayshore Boulevard and the streets of downtown Tampa for the invasion and parade. "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. Gasparilla, the city's most popular annual event, centered around a pirate-themed parade, resulted from a conversation seeking to spice up an existing parade.. [52] Later in 1991, the Krewe of Gasparilla agreed to accept black members and allow more krewes to participate in the parade, and Gasparilla returned for 1992. His exploits came to a sudden end in 1821 when, to avoid being captured by the U.S. Navy pirate hunting schooner USS Enterprise, he wrapped himself in anchor chains and threw himself overboard while shouting ""Gasparilla dies by his own hand, not the enemy's! [3] It was authored by publicist Pat Lemoyne for the Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railway Company, which had just opened the resort. Though people dressing up in costumes and invading the city may seem like silly fun, the tradition has also played an important role in Tampas high society. [11], The membership of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla is overwhelmingly made up of Tampa's business and civic leaders, which meant that for many decades, the organization was exclusively white and male, leading to some resentment from unrepresented groups. Title. [1], While Gaspar is a popular figure in Florida folklore, there is no evidence that he actually existed. 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. We went with these friends to find it", "Looters Preying on Florida's Ancient Sites", "Archaeology - Division of Historical Resources - Florida Department of State", "The Legend of the Pirate Gasparilla the REAL Facts", "Demystifying the lives of Panther Key John Gomez: From Pirate to Pilot", "Tampa family finds a good pirate story in the attic", "Box found in Tampa attic has coins, a map, a hand and a mystery", "Tampa family finds pirate treasure in grandpa's attic", "Florida family finds 'pirate treasure' in attic", "Seed for Gasparilla was planted in Tribune's old newsroom", "The History of Gasparilla Pirate Fest - Tampa, Florida", "Bad Boy Mowers Signs on as New Bowl Game Title Sponsor Bowl Game Changes Name to Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl", "Treasure hunters seeking Gasparilla's gold featured on Discovery and Travel Channel", Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jos_Gaspar&oldid=1136505197, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Since no one organization controls the names "Gaspar" or "Gasparilla", they are used by many businesses, organizations, and events in the greater, The legend of Gasparilla has been featured in several television shows and publications over the years. [1] Most of his surviving crew were captured and hanged, but a few escaped or were imprisoned. The disappearance of a Tampa Bay blue blood rattles the skeletons in his family's closet.
See Gasparilla photos from every decade since the first invasion in 1904 [3], Gmez's uncertain birth was said to be just the beginning of an exceedingly long and adventure-filled life. For all the art lovers out there, the 2023 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts is returning to Tampa this coming weekend. Situated along Garrison Channel in downtown Tampa, Sparkman Wharf (615 Channelside Dr, Tampa, FL 33602) is Tampa's new outdoor waterfront destination.
Gasparilla Festival of the Arts returns to Tampa. Here's what to know 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. Chapman serves as the King for Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla this year. However, no evidence has been found to support this claim. [22][27][23] Most of his supposed birth years would have made him one of the oldest people in the world in 1900, when he died in a boating accident. Also, they saw pretty early on that this could be a neat attraction and a neat tourist draw to a city that didnt really have much of a tourist industry aside from the Tampa Bay Hotel and the fact that the railroad did come here. [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. "I used to watch it from the rooftops,". This week on Florida Matters, we take a deep dive into the past and present of Gasparilla. Gasparilla began in 1904 when Miss Louise Francis Dodge, society editor of the Tampa Tribune, and George W. Hardee, then with the federal government in Tampa, conspired to promote the City of Tampa and its May Day celebration. [24] In 1885, he told state census takers that he had been born in Corsica,[25] and reported to the 1900 US Census that he was born in Portugal in 1776. in the manner of the buccaneers! The annual Gasparilla celebration is one of Tampa Bay's biggest social events, drawing in hundreds of thousands of people to dress up as pirates and eat, drink and be merry. [3][18][7][5], Inspired by the story of Gaspar, the city of Tampa organized a pirate-themed May Day festival in 1904. , Man charged after dead body, infant found in apartment, Infants death linked to contaminated breast pump,, Carjacking suspect caught after wild chase in L.A., CAT scan: Pet goes through X-ray machine at Virginia, Bradenton family home ransacked by intruders: police. [39][40] To tie these events together in the public eye, Visit Tampa Bay, the local tourist bureau, has run multimillion-dollar promotional campaigns across the United States, Canada, and Europe to attract visitors to the area during "Gasparilla Season". [14][3] In addition, few pirates of any age based their operations along Florida's west coast. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. 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. [9] This is unlikely, as there is no record of Lafitte spending time on the southwest Florida coast, and he died in Mexico before Gaspar's supposed demise. [27][22][23] His tall tales were usually shared in very informal settings during fishing trips and hunting expeditions and are only documented in a few personal accounts in newspapers and magazines and in his obituary. King C. Norman Stallings Jr. & Queen Amanda Williams Samson Ph.D. King George M. Steinbrenner III & Queen Tracy Johnson Romano, King J. Eugene Fogarty Jr. & Queen Julia Webb Brabson, King Jack L. Romano & Queen Elizabeth Grace Quisenberry, King William T. Branch M.D. "[3][31], Beater published several additional books about southwest Florida; some marketed as fiction, some as non-fiction, and some as guidebooks for tourists, all including tongue-in-cheek dramatic tales about Gaspar and other pirates. But Westcott, who has never missed a Queen's Party, fails to attend his own coronation .
2023 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts to take over Julian B. Lane It all started in the newsroom of the now-defunct Tampa Morning Tribune, where Society Page Editor Louise Francis Dodge sought to . World War II froze Gasparilla from 1941-47, diverting funds to buy war bonds, and leaving 33rd king and queen, James T. Swann Jr. and Queen Ruth Binnicker, on the throne, the only royals to marry . Subject. The first seaborne "invasion" came in 1911, and YMKG has organized a theatrical pirate invasion and parade almost every year since.
Kings & Queens - Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla [57][3], The issue grew into a heated controversy in 1990, when the city planned to stage the Parade of Pirates a week earlier than usual to coincide with Super Bowl XXV, which was to be played at Tampa Stadium in January 1991. 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. Florida Matters wants to include you in our conversations on topics important to the greater Tampa Bay region. [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. However, many children of krewe members don costumes to ride aboard floats and toss beads and trinkets to the crowd, and various youth organizations such as sports and dance teams also participate. [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.
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