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Post-parade cleanup event aims to keep Tampa beautiful ahead of Gasparilla and NHL Stadium Series weekend

By Heather Healy
Published  January 25, 2026 3:07pm EST
Tampa
FOX 13 News

The Brief

    • Dozens of volunteers helped to pick up leftover beads and trash along Bayshore Boulevard, helping to get Tampa Bay beautified for the upcoming Gasparilla and NHL Stadium Series weekend.
    • This is the first-ever trash pickup event right after the Gasparilla Children’s Parade.
    • Next weekend’s After Gasparilla Cleanup will be at seven different locations across the area.

TAMPA, Fla. - From leftover beads to leftover trash, the remains of this year’s Gasparilla Children’s Parade are just the start of what’s to come to Tampa Bay next weekend.

"Today is actually our first time ever doing an ‘After the Kids Gasparilla Parade cleanup,’" Sarah-Nicole Green, projects coordinator for Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, said.  "We're really excited to see how much trash we can collect before the big one next week."

By the numbers:

Last year, more than 450 volunteers helped clean up Tampa Bay after Gasparilla. Picking up more than 6,000 pounds of leftover beads, equaling out to 35,000 strands. And that's not including the more than 7,500 pounds of trash removed from our city streets. 

What they're saying:

"We are in the last home stretch, getting all the last supplies, signing up everybody. It's going to be a really fun day. We set up, we're ready for all the volunteers at 8 a.m., and we're out there. We have the beads. It's kind of like a big competition too, because we're all trying to find the craziest things, the most fun beads, all that good stuff, so it's really just a good day of giving back to our community," Green said.

MORE NEWS: Children's Gasparilla 2026: Photo Gallery

And this is just the start. Next weekend, tens of thousands of people will crowd the streets of Tampa and along Bayshore Boulevard for Gasparilla’s Pirate Invasion, Parade of Pirates and stage performances. Not to mention, there will also be a hockey game happening at Raymond James Stadium.

"This is pretty non-traditional, right? And it'll be the first time that an outdoor game and a football stadium has taken place in the state of Florida. So with great partners like the Tampa Bay Lightning as well as the NHL who's been innovative, right, to figure out how to create the ice science behind this to make this possible, but also Raymond James Stadium and the Bucs and everyone who's come together to make this a reality," Claire Lessinger, vice president of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, said.

Big picture view:

The weekend festivities serve as a good reminder for all of us to not only have fun in our city, but keep it clean and beautiful.

READ MORE: Gasparilla Children’s Parade brings pirate-themed fun to Bayshore Boulevard

"It's really important that we all do our part, and I love working for Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful because I get to give our beautiful community residents the opportunities to volunteer. Not everyone quite knows that. Again, we have all of the supplies, we make it really easy for you," Green said. "So if you just want to take a nice walk down Bayshore, then just come and get a bag and a grabber and do two-in-one, because it's really that we keep our community clean." 

What's next:

Next weekend’s After Gasparilla Cleanup will be at seven different locations across the area. 

For more information on the cleanup, click here.

TampaGasparilla Pirate Invasion