Tampa’s Gasparilla pirate festival: ‘Time flies when you’re having rum’

The infamous Jose Gasparilla II ship invades Tampa, Fla. with its loud cannons and rowdy pirates on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Madilyn Gemme/Fresh Take Florida)

Up and down Tampa Bay’s shore on Saturday, people donned fake tattoos, paraded with stuffed parrots, put on quirky pirate costumes, and, yes, drank a lot of alcohol.

Every year, an estimated 300,000 participants come to Tampa for the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, a mock attack by a band of pirates called Ye Mystic Krewe. The pirates’ plot is simple: storm the shores, take the city’s key, and parade down Bayshore Boulevard.

Before Gasparilla got underway, temperatures in the early morning hours were in the 40s. Jennifer Prowell, 33, opted for “cocktails and cuddles” to keep warm instead of bundling up.

Prowell, 33, said she came to Gasparilla with seven friends to escape the seriousness of the world and drink rum. She said that with grim scenes like the terrorist attack in New Orleans, communities must gather and celebrate one another.

“That’s why we throw on our $10 wigs and dress up like our real pirates,” she said.

The New Year terror attack in New Orleans, in which a driver slammed his vehicle into crowds in the streets, killing 14, was on the minds of those at Gasparilla. Some former attendees said ahead of the event that they had decided it was safer to stay home this year and avoid any possible threat. Other regulars came as they have in years past.

There was a noticeable police presence, with officers on bikes, cars, and motorcycles and law enforcement on roofs and in helicopters.

Next to the Tampa Convention Center, Aaron Strynar, 27, moved through the crowd, cheering on fellow participants, “ Time flies when you’re having rum.”

Attendees of all ages participated in the festival with a group of Florida State University students drinking a gallon of “borg,” a concoction of vodka, Liquid I.V., Mio and water.

Pirate-goers donned all kinds of quirky costumes. Hidden under a 6-and-a-half-foot puppet-like costume, Dennis Martin, 62, towered over parade-goers as “Skully the Pirate,” a costume he put together about six years ago and has been parading around Gasparilla every year since.

“It’s like walking around like a rockstar,” Martin said.

Music pulsated from every direction through the streets of Tampa as attendees bobbed their heads, swayed their hips and pumped their fists. Along a bridge overlooking the Garrison channel on Harbour Island Boulevard, electronic dance music blasted as people chugged their drinks.

Standing on the edge of the bridge, a person funneled his drink through a fake skull and tailbone as others mixed energy drinks with alcohol.

Later on in the festivities, the first crack of a cannon startled parade-goers. But as a three-masted ship draped in colorful flags approached the Tampa Convention Center, the sardine-packed crowd began to whoop and holler.

Boaters slung beads into throngs of people clamoring to catch the plastic booty. One set of beads fell directly into an unsuspecting woman’s nachos.

Attendees came to Tampa from across the country to experience the 100-year-old tradition.

Kristi Asero, 54, traveled from South Carolina to celebrate her friend’s 49th birthday. Although some at her party hesitated to participate after the recent attack on New Orleans, they decided it was worth creating more memories. 

“You are never too old to party,” she said.

Closer to home, Gasparilla is a family tradition for life-long Tampa-area residents and an opportunity for community service.

Jim Arena, 54, is a Krewe of Sant’ Yago member, the third pirate krewe that was founded to join the original Ye Mystic Krewe in storming the city.

Arena takes after his father, who was one of the founding members of the Krewe back in 1972. As custom within Sant’ Yago’s Krewe, he must complete 100 hours of community service to be promoted from squire to knight.

The Krewe of Sant’ Yago finds many ways to give back to the community, Arena said, such as handing beads out to children in local hospitals or awarding scholarships to students.

Hector Lamb, 41, said four generations of his family have attended Gasparilla, stretching as far back as the 1960s.

Lamb is a member of the Rough Riders, a civic organization named after Former President Theodore Roosevelt. His grandfather was the third king of the Krewe of Sant’ Yago. For Lamb, Gasparilla is for the community, and his role as a Rough Rider is a way to give back.

“Gasparilla particularly means to me is one day where the community absolutely comes together and celebrates everything it means to be a Tampanian,” he said.

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Libby Clifton and Gabriel Velasquez Neira report; produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporters can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected]. You can donate to support our students here.