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. The "Gasparilla Festival" became a stand-alone event in 1913, and with exception of hiatuses during the world wars and on two other occasions, it has been celebrated every year since. [18] Outside of Gasparilla season, the Jose Gasparilla II can usually be found moored near the northern end of Bayshore Boulevard within sight of downtown. Lane Riverfront Park to . [6], In some versions of the story, Gaspar began life as a poverty-stricken Spanish youth who kidnapped a young girl for ransom. [18], As the scheduling of the Parade of Pirates has shifted over the years, the dates of the other two large parades of the season have generally shifted as well, with the Children's Parade held one week before and the Krewe of San'Yago Illuminated Knight Parade held two weeks after the main Gasparilla Parade. [33][6][34], Besides the three main parades and the many galas, parties, and fundraisers hosted by individual krewes, Tampa has long hosted a variety of other Gasparilla-related events from approximately January through March. An average of over 300,000 people attend the event, which contributes over $20 million to the local economy.[38]. Pirates. Most stories agree he was an aristocratic Spanish Navy Officer who later. [23][3][7] While none of these stories can be verified, researchers have found record indicating that Gmez lived in several locations around southwest Florida from about 1870 until his death, including the Florida Everglades, Key West, Tampa, Pass-a-Grille, and the Ten Thousand Islands. "Pirate State (of mind); When bad boys make for good fun: Pirates have shed their villainous image in Florida". 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 . The 1935 edition had the largest prize purse on that year's PGA Tour ($4000), but with the deepening of the Great Depression, the tournament was discontinued thereafter. [1] (For comparison, Spain had just agreed to transfer all of Florida to the United States for $5 million. The first seaborne "invasion" came in 1911, and YMKG has organized a theatrical pirate invasion and parade almost every year since. Courtesy of the Florida Archives. "That's my uncle and my mother going to Coronation back in 1950," said. He was well known along Florida's Gulf coast as an expert hunting and fishing guide, boat pilot, and an eccentric teller of tall tales, mostly about himself. Jos Gaspar, also known by his nickname Gasparilla (supposedly lived c. 1756 - 1821), is an apocryphal Spanish pirate who terrorized the Gulf of Mexico from his base in southwest Florida during Florida's second Spanish period (1783 to 1821). 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. Some guys will be walking with their grandfathers in this parade and certainly their fathers, Chapman said. [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. Boca Grande [was then] the principal town of Gasparilla Island, and . & 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. We estimate that 9400 Little Gasparilla Is Unit E2 would rent between $3,776 / mo. [35], Other large-scale events held during the Gasparilla season include the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts (established 1970), the Tampa Rough Rider's St. Patrick's Day Parade (first held in 1977), the Gasparilla Distance Classic road race (established 1978), the Gasparilla Film Festival (established 2006), the Gasparilla Music Festival (established 2013), and the Gasparilla Bowl college football game (renamed in 2018). In order to accommodate the parades, many streets will be closed. This is an all-day event though and so much more than a parade. The two most common throws before that were plastic or metal commemorative coins produced annually by various krewes and spent gun cartridges. Courtesy of Dan Barnes / Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. [1][8], In all versions, the renegade settled along the virtually uninhabited southwest coast of Spanish Florida around 1783 and turned to piracy aboard his ship, the Floriblanca. [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. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Empathizing with his friend's plight, Gaspar eventually allowed Lopez to return home. Several episodes in Gaspar's career first mentioned in the brochure have been repeated and expanded upon in later retellings, including the tale of the "little Spanish princess" and the details of his dramatic demise. There are 65 different krewes, a lot of family-style krewes, mixed krewes as far as male-female, cultural I think that we have everything you could possibly imagine and if we dont, well find room for it, he said. And on that legend, Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla was founded 100 years ago. His family has been a part of the fun for decades. Gasparilla Pirate Fest is on January 28, 2023 with the Parade of Pirates stepping off at 1pm. Here's how to map out your day! [28][23][3][15][22], The first known written account of Jos Gaspar comes from an early 1900s brochure for the Gasparilla Inn Resort in the recently established tourist town of Boca Grande, Florida on Gasparilla Island in Charlotte Harbor. He claimed to have seen Napoleon as a youth in France (or, alternatively, was drafted into Napoleon's army), sailed the world as a cabin boy on a merchant ship, served as a scout for the U.S. Army during the Seminole Wars, served as a coastal pilot for the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, was involved in filibustering (and perhaps pirating) in Central America and the Caribbean, and escaped a Cuban prison just before his scheduled execution, among other remarkable exploits spread out over the entirety of the 19th century. Hundreds of thousands will crowd the streets to participate in another day of bead-throwing and. [31], The Sant'Yago Illuminated Knight Parade (sometimes referred to as the "Gasparilla Night Parade") has been organized since 1972 by the Krewe of the Knights of Sant'Yago. He was popular in the court, but when he spurned one lover for another, the jilted lady levied false charges against him, often said to involve the theft of the crown jewels. Several semi-theatrical events around Gaspar's "pirate invasion" have become traditional: The Children's Gasparilla Extravaganza is held on the Saturday prior to the main parade, currently the second-to-last Saturday in January. When efforts were made by local leaders and activists to integrate in 1991, the Krewe of Gasparilla canceled that years parade but allowed it in 1992. A note on the following images: While the krewes of the 21st century are more inclusive, Gasparilla was segregated by gender until the 1960s and by race until the 1990s. The truth is that there never was a pirate named "Gasparilla.". Updated: Mar 1, 2023 / 06:30 PM EST. The fantastical biography was penned by publicist Pat Lemoyne, who combined and embellished tall tales attributed to well-known and recently deceased local fishing guide "Panther John" Gomez to create the legend of the pirate Gaspar, which Lemoyne freely admitted was "without a true fact in it. The History of Gasparilla Legend has it that a Spanish pirate named Jos Gaspar terrorized his way up and down the west coast of Florida in the late 18th and 19th centuries. [49], The Parade of Pirates has been held every year since 1947 with two exceptions: in 1991, when a controversy over inclusion saw Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla refuse to participate, and in 2021, when the parades and most related events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [42][43] Besides promotional material and contact information for the Gasparilla Inn, the brochure prominently featured the "Story of Jose Gasparilla," the "last of the Buccaneers" who it said had terrorized the Gulf of Mexico for almost 40 years. [8] Around noon on the Gasparilla Day, members of YMKG set sail across Tampa Bay from near Ballast Point Park to downtown aboard the Jose Gasparilla, a 165' long flat-bottomed steel barge which was specially built and decorated for this purpose in 1954. [3][7][5][18], In 1949, a retired Pat Lemoyne gave a history lecture at a Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce function in which he cheerfully admitted that his biography of Jos Gaspar was a "cockeyed lie without a true fact in it" and that he had written the brochure in a dramatic style that "tourists like to hear". [50][51], In 2001, the Parade of Pirates was held a week earlier than usual to coincide with Super Bowl XXXV, which was played in Tampa the next day. [1][15] Besides planning Gasparilla and its own private events, YMKG raises money for various charitable causes and annually endows several college scholarships through its community fund. Part of the weekend programming includes the Emerging Artists Program, which provides . But city leaders have made a lot of changes over the past decade to keep drinking under control. In the late 1800s, Gmez lived in a shack with his wife on otherwise uninhabited Panther Key, a small spit of land near Marco Island in the Ten Thousand Islands region of Southwest Florida. [18][7][3][16], And while rumors of mysterious maps and gold coins have prompted professional and amateur treasure hunters to conduct many searches for Gaspar's lost cache over the years, there has been no documented recovery of any part of his plunder or the remains of his many alleged victims. before plunging into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico within sight of the shore. [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. The story of Gasparilla and his pirates has lent a certain flair of mystery and adventure to Florida's West Coast since the late 1800s. 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! [8] Archives in Spain make no mention of Gaspar as a member of the Spanish court or an officer in the Spanish navy, the U.S. Navy has no documentation indicating that any of its vessels ever encountered a pirate named Gaspar or a ship named Floriblanca, and neither Gaspar nor anyone claiming to be a member of his crew are mentioned in the records of hundreds of piracy trials from the era, which was well after the "Golden Age of Piracy". The story of Jos Gaspar's life and career vary in different tellings, especially regarding his origin. Though written in the style of a light adventure novel, the narrator claimed that it was a true tale gleaned from a "mouse-eaten Cuban manuscript" supposedly written by Jos Gaspar's cousin Leon and corroborated with an old map found at a used bookstore, neither of which were made public. [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. [3][2], There is also no physical evidence to support Gaspar's existence. Last year about 1,500 boats joined in on the invasion. 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. Members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, accompanied by a flotilla of hundreds of private boats, sail across Tampa Bay to downtown Tampa on the Jos Gasparilla, a 165' long "pirate" ship which was specially built for this purpose in 1954. Taking inspiration from Mardi Gras krewes, there was a hierarchy in place with a "king and queen" of Gasparilla crowned each year and debutante balls for young women. [1], While Gaspar is a popular figure in Florida folklore, there is no evidence that he actually existed. Planning to attend Gasparilla this year? [18] In 1913, "Gasparilla Carnival" was organized as an independent event, as it has remained ever since. 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.. Like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, partying at Gasparilla can get pretty rowdy. Tampa's most prized tradition was sparked 118 years ago and continues to be shrouded in some mystery. Initially, they modeled themselves after the Krewe of Rex and were knights or reflected royalty. 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. Captured and given the choice between prison and joining the navy, he chose to go to sea, where he served with distinction for several years before leading a mutiny against a tyrannical captain and fleeing to Florida with a stolen ship. YMKG was instrumental in establishing the Inter-Krewe Council, which has grown to include more than 60 other Krewes. "[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. Chapman serves as the King for Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla this year. It centers on a fictional pirate, Jose Gaspar, and a prominent bunch of Tampa citizens who. The Gasparilla Pirate Festival (often simply referred to as "Gasparilla"[1]) is a large parade and a host of related community events held in Tampa, Florida almost every year since 1904. [1] Most of his surviving crew were captured and hanged, but a few escaped or were imprisoned. [17], In 1949, Fort Myers author Jack Beater published a mass-market paperback version of the Gaspar legend called The Gasparilla Story. Most stories agree he was an aristocratic Spanish . If you're looking for something to do that combines culture and the outdoors, the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts is the hot ticket this weekend. The legend states that Gaspar terrorized the western coastal waters of Florida in the late 18th to early 19th century. The following year was the first invasion by boat. in the manner of the buccaneers! More than a century. 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. [56] However, due to practical concerns, participation in the Parade of Pirates has been limited to fifty krewes per year, with smaller krewes taking turns on a rotating basis. [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. [11], The old wooden ship was in serious need of repairs and renovation by the early 1950s, so with financial assistance from the city of Tampa, YMKG commissioned the $100,000 Jose Gasparilla II, which was constructed from a 165-foot-long (50m) steel barge to which masts and other elements were added so that it resembles an 18th-century West Indiaman. "I used to watch it from the rooftops,". "Pirates" with Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla really embrace their roles in the 1954 invasion. [16] All versions of the Gasparilla legend claim that he and his crew constructed a "regal" home base on the island, with some specifying that it consisted of over a dozen buildings plus a tall watchtower perched atop an "ancient Indian mound" filled with gold and bones.
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