The Children’s Gasparilla Parade brings family-friendly pirate revelry to Tampa on Saturday, Jan. 18, a G-rated counterpart to the bacchanal that will take over Tampa the following weekend.
The alcohol-free version will have a day full of fun, with the kids as the stars.
Gasparilla dates back to 1904, when Tampa city leaders came up with a “pirate invasion” on horseback during the city’s May Day festival and it later evolved into its own pirate-themed parade and festival based on the story of the mythical pirate Jose Gaspar (also known as Gasparilla). It has whiffs of Mardi Gras, with lots of beads and trinkets thrown to a crowd that is often dressed up as pirates themselves…