Gasparilla Pirate Festival

The Gasparilla Pirate Festival (often simply referred to as "Gasparilla") is a large parade and a host of related community events held in Tampa, Florida almost every year since 1904. The centerpiece of the festivities is the Parade of Pirates (often referred to as the Gasparilla Parade), which is a friendly invasion by the mythical pirate José Gaspar (also known as Gasparilla), who is a popular figure in Florida folklore despite the fact that he did not exist. The parade is organized by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (YMKG), a local organization modeled after the "krewes" of Mardi Gras in New Orleans who play the parts of Gaspar and his crew. On Gasparilla Day, members of YMKG don pirate regalia and sail across Tampa Bay aboard the Jose Gasparilla II, a 165-foot-long (50 m) "pirate ship" which is actually a steel barge converted to look like a large West Indiaman. Firing loud mini-canons and accompanied by hundreds of private boats, the pirates make their way to the Tampa Convention Center, where they demand that the mayor surrender the key to the city in a playful ceremony. Gaspar and his crew then stage a "victory parade" featuring 50 additional krewes, over 100 floats, and dozens of other community organizations along a route traveling 4.5 miles (7.2 km) down Bayshore Boulevard, throwing beads and other trinkets to a crowd of about 300,000. The parade has always been held along Tampa's waterfront near downtown Tampa, and since 2011, it has ended along the Tampa Riverwalk, where festivities continue into the nighttime hours. Gasparilla began as a surprise "pirate invasion" on horseback during the city's May Day festival in 1904. 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. 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. Scheduling varied from May to February before World War 2, after which the parade was usually held on a Monday in late January or early February. Since 2005, the Parade of Pirates has taken place on the last Saturday in January. Over time, the formerly one-day event evolved into a "Gasparilla season" which runs approximately from the beginning of the year until mid-March. Two other major parades during this time are the Gasparilla Children's Parade, which is held on Bayshore Boulevard one week before the main parade, and the Sant'Yago Illuminated Knight Parade, which is organized by the Krewe of the Knights of Sant'Yago in the historic neighborhood of Ybor City two weeks after the main parade. 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. The Gasparilla Pirate Festival has been popular in Tampa since its inception and has grown into the third largest parade in the United States. Taken together, the events of Tampa's Gasparilla Season have an estimated local economic impact of about $40 million. From Wikipedia