A high-energy group portrait of approximately ten people celebrating at the Gasparilla Pirate Fest. Many are wearing pirate-themed attire, including red bandanas, gold jewelry, sunglasses, and colorful beaded necklaces. They are smiling and shouting toward the camera, with several individuals making "rock on" hand gestures while leaning against a metal crowd-control barricade. The outdoor background features palm trees and a residential building under an overcast sky.
Partygoers at the Gasparilla parade in Tampa, Florida on Jan. 31, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

Shiver me timbers took on new meaning last Saturday when Tampa staged perhaps its coldest Gasparilla day parade on record.

Highs topped out in the 50s for the day then dropped as the afternoon went on and rain joined the party—but pirates still expected hundreds of thousands of revelers to witness the flotilla invasion (rerouted this year due to high winds) and parade on Bayshore Boulevard.

The final Gasparilla parade of Gaspy season happens on Feb. 14 with the Knight Parade, ahead of other Gasparilla-tagged events like the film festival, music festival, distance classic, and community clean up.

All photos by Dave Decker/Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

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This article appears in Jan. 29 – Feb. 04.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...

Dave Decker is a songwriter and photographer living in Tampa Bay.