Gasparilla Pirate Festival • Tampa FL

Get your eye patches, peg legs and swords ready, because Tampa's Gasparilla Pirate Festival is one of the hottest annual events in Tampa. With over one hundred years of history, the Gasparilla Pirate Festival has been held since 1904. The festival was inspired by local legend. The story goes that José Gaspar a former officer in the Spanish Navy turned pirate, spent almost forty years pirating ships all around the Gulf of Mexico. Today, the celebration focuses on a parade and local "krewes" who put on sponsored events throughout the town.

Could you think of a better way to spend a winter vacation in Tampa than by dressing up the entire family in pirate getups and wandering the streets of Tampa seeing all the city has to offer? It isn't rare for the festival to see over 400,000 attendees on certain years depending on the events offered. All sorts of military events take place at the festival. Attractions of past years include a parachute demo by US Special Forces and the faux pirate invasions.

Each year the festival kicks off with a fake invasion by José Gaspar. While it's all in good fun, this is no small-scale invasion. A 165 feet long pirate ship and an armada of nearly one hundred other pirate ships sail into the harbor. It's an exciting event, with the pirates even intimidating the mayor into handing over the keys to the city. But whether or not the mayor actually gives in, the pirates still assume their parade of victory throughout the town.

The city even attempts to defend itself from the pirates. A ship from a local museum, the SS American Victory staves off the pirates for as long as it can manage, but every year they end up surrendering. The festival ends with the pirates repatriating the keys to the city back to the mayor, and in one last final pirate blowout, the entire fleet sails off into the sunset on Tampa Bay.

While the festival is a family-friendly event all around, there's also a separate children's parade, and bands from local high schools take part in the parade. The Gasparilla Pirate Festival is the perfect event for spending some family time while getting to know more of Tampa's history. It's a great way to experience the city's culture and take part in it. From the staged presentations and the main attractions of the pirate invasion to the numerous restaurants and "krewes" getting into the spirit, you won't find a better annual event in Tampa than this pirate festival.

The festival takes place toward the end of January to the beginning of February, making it the perfect time to get out of the northern cold. Also, the festival is the central piece to the city's Gasparilla season, with other events like the Gasparilla Film Festival, the Gasparilla Music Festival and the Gasparilla Distance Classic (a road race) all taking place around the same time of year. If you're looking for a great way to experience Tampa in the winter months, make sure you check out what Gasparilla-themed events are taking place!

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