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Children’s Gasparilla Parade memories shared
One week before the Children’s Gasparilla Parade, members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla reflected on their own memories of the longstanding tradition they used to attend as youngsters. FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - One week before the Children’s Gasparilla Parade, members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (YMKG) reflected on their own memories of the longstanding tradition they used to attend as youngsters.
The backstory:
The Gasparilla ties run deep in Tampa native L.B. Sierra’s family.
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"Our family has been a part of this for over 50 years," Sierra, a YMKG pirate, told FOX 13.
Sierra’s father helped found "Gaspar’s Grenadiers," the community outreach committee within YMKG. Sierra remembers attending the Children’s Gasparilla Parade as a child, including watching cannons on the floats.
"That was before they had the gates along the route, and it was a little more chaotic!" Sierra added.
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Believe it or not, at first — there were no barricades and no Bayshore Boulevard.
"It was a little five-block thing on Franklin St. in downtown Tampa," Fred Dobbins, who works on the YMKG history committee, told FOX 13. "And if 500 people showed up, it was a big deal."
Dig deeper:
The Children’s Gasparilla Parade has certainly gotten much bigger since then. And in 2002, the city moved to Bayshore Boulevard.
"I mean, everybody wanted the beads, but it was always — I remember the warm shells," Sierra added.
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That’s what fellow YMKG pirate and Tampa native, Jeramiah Bustin, remembers, too. Pirates would walk up and down the route with revolvers.
"They would literally fire up five or six shells in the air. And then they'd open the revolver, and you'd hear (the shells) clanking on the ground," Bustin said.
"Everybody said, ‘Oh my gosh, we have pirate shells!’" Sierra added. "And they're warm, and you feel them in your hands, especially on a cold day. It was just really, really cool."
Today, only certain YMKG pirates on certain floats fire those revolvers during the parade. But watch out for beads, beads – and more beads, of course!
And for the YMKG pirates who attended the Children’s Gasparilla Parade as children, they’re now excited about continuing on with their own kids.
"They kind of just sit there with silver dollar eyes," Bustin said of his two boys. "And they throw beads. And of course, they start throwing beads faster as the parade keeps going. So, they have a good time."
It’s something Sierra gets to experience for the first time this year when he takes his 4-year-old daughter on the float for her inaugural ride.
"I have no idea how many beads she'll go through. I've heard rumors from other parents and the little pirates. They churn through beads and footballs and cannonballs," Sierra told FOX 13. "So, we are excited to see what she can do."
The Source: Information in this story comes from interviews done by FOX 13's Ariel Plasencia.