Today, Gasparilla announced that its pirate fest and children’s parades are postponed until April, and another Gasparilla-related event is now pushed back, too.
Today, Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF) development director Ferdian Jap told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that he and GIFF executive director Monica Varner have decided to delay their late-March event until May. GIFF was one of the first local events to get nixed during the pandemic this year, and Jap said GIFF does not have an exact date for May 2021 quite yet. "Everything is fluid," he added.
The parade and film festival postponements beg the question: What about the other Gasparilla-related events?
In a text message with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Gasparilla Music Festival (GMF) executive director David Cox pointed out that GMF hadn't even announced 2021 dates yet. The 2020 edition in March was the last music festival to happen in Tampa Bay before lockdown.
"But even in an unusual year such as 2021, our intention as always would be to take place after the Gasparilla Invasion and related festivities. We hope to make an announcement soon along with info about tickets being released," Cox said.
In October, the Gasparilla Distance Classic—which hosts several races on Bayshore Boulevard in late February—announced plans to still have an in-person event in 2021.
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