The Gasparilla Pirate Festival is a beloved Tampa tradition that celebrates the legend of the mythical pirate Jose Gaspar, who supposedly operated in Southwest Florida in the early 1800s. The festival features a mock invasion of Tampa Bay by a flotilla of pirate ships, followed by a parade of pirates and floats along Bayshore Boulevard. The festival also includes live music, food, drinks, and entertainment for all ages.

The Gasparilla Pirate Parade, a 4.5 mile parade largely along Bayshore Boulevard, with around 175 professionally built floats, many "manned" by local Krewes, is a super fun event. In addition to floats there are some local school bands. It is said that this parade is somewhere between the third and fifth largest parade in the US. Spectators line the parade route seeking beads thrown from floats and parade participants. The crowd is typically loud, happy, and boisterous. We did not see any crowd misbehavior for this Gasparilla Pirate Parade. Needless to say, there is a very large polioce presencce, but law enforcement maintains a low profile.

Want some beads; they are plentiful, especially when "collecting" from the First Mate seating section.

We had a very good time!

This was the first time we bought tickets for the First Mate section. The First Mate section is private, with just one row 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 that the porta-potties are inside a private seating area that serves just a limited number of parade spectators. (You don't want to know what the porta-potties in the public areas looked like and smelled like after a day of Gasparilla partying.)