Pirates Raid Tampa

by starz | January 28, 2007 at 01:53 pm | 644 views | 1 comment

Tampa Bay was taken over by party people this weekend. The yearly celebration has beads, music, parades, and drinking galore. Nothing like paying homage to those murdering pirates who sacked the city many years ago. Hundreds of thousands fill the Florida streets for parades, and peeing on stuff. There is even a children's Gasparilla Parade held earlier in the week. You can never teach the children early enough that binge drinking, and floats go hand in hand!

Tampa, Florida - Pirates invaded Tampa Bay with their jubilant jewels. Merrick and Reid Westlund have been coming here for years, but this year it’s different because they’re on the lookout for someone special.

Their father Rory decided to take part and throw beads from the Rough Rider float.

He’s one of thousands taking part in the Gasparilla fun. One woman had to go back to her hotel room with her children to drop off all their beads. Then they headed out to collect more.

Gasparilla is Tampa's own homegrown craziness, our wildest uncle dropping in once year for some fun and leaving a big mess behind. It's temporary insanity sailing in on a pirate ship, swashbuckling its way ashore and taking the town. (Which is easy enough, since the mayor hands over the keys.)

Tomorrow, a bunch of bigwigs will put aside their weekend khakis and golf dates to don pantaloons and eye patches. They are The Krewe, the official big dog band of pillaging pirates.