So, what did you do Saturday night? If you weren’t in Ybor City you missed a big party with bunches of your neighbors. Tampa’s largest annual night street party thundered down Seventh Avenue and thousands of people were there to soak it in. The weather was perfect and the noise levels deafening at times during the beer-soaked bash.
The Krewe of the Knights of Sant’ Yago, started in 1972, has hosted this largest night parade in the Southeast, according to the group’s website, for years. The organizers mixed things up a little bit this time around. For the last several years TV personality Jerry Springer has led the charge. This year they tapped another one of the MOR-TV family, Divorce Court’s presiding Judge Lynn Toler, as a special guest.
Tampa’s Mayor Bob Buckhorn taunted balcony dwellers, asking them to scream if they wanted some of his plastic treasure. Buckhorn, who says he loves parades, continued his annual tradition of bringing his wife and daughters along to help throw beads to the citizens of Tampa.
Tampa Bay Rays centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier and pitcher Jake Odorizzi were in the house riding the Rays float. They took part in a meet-and-greet prior to the start of the parade.
It’s a family affair: Jesse (center) brought the family and his dog Chance to the parade. Chance got most of the beads but didn’t care so much for the noise.
Richard P. Russo Jr. El Rey (King) XLIV and Marlo M. Caldevilla La Reina (Queen) XLIV of the Krewe of Sant’ Yago, the 44th Royal leaders of the group, watched the festivities from their elevated stage.
It’s hard to estimate how many strings of beads are thrown in one night. At the end of the raucous parade thousands of people can be seen choking under the weight of neck-fulls of the plastic trinkets.
Sarah Howland, who says she is an attorney in New York but grew up in Tampa, decided to take advantage of the large crowd. She lifted her top, she says, in protest of the inequality of the law that allows men to bare their nipples in public, with the same behavior getting women in trouble. Perhaps her protest worked. She was approached by the Tampa Police Department (seen in the photo) who asked her to use her best judgment. When she did not immediately cover up she was not arrested. Howland told CL she was willing to go to jail to deliver her message. She didn’t have to.
But wait! There’s more. Whether you were able to attend the night parade or not, you can still get your Gasparilla on. Here’s a list of upcoming events that are all part of the Gasparilla season.
Feb. 20 and 21 Gasparilla Distance Classic
March 5 and 6 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts
March 12 and 13 Gasparilla Music Festival
March 30 to April 3 Gasparilla Film Festival
April 1, 2016 Gasp! The Gasparilla Fringe Festival
This article appears in Feb 11-17, 2016.
