The Gasparilla Pirate Festival, held each January, is Tampa's most characteristic event — a vast, chaotic, jubilant parade that has celebrated a fictional pirate invasion of the city since 1904. The festival begins with an "invasion" of Tampa Bay by the Jose Gasparilla II, a full-rigged pirate ship sailing up the Hillsborough River under the escort of hundreds of smaller boats. The ship's crew fires cannons at the city, the mayor "surrenders," and the parade begins.
The parade down Bayshore Boulevard — the world's longest continuous sidewalk — draws over 300,000 spectators and involves hundreds of floats, bands, and costumed revellers. Beads are thrown from floats in the Mardi Gras tradition. The atmosphere is festive and heavily lubricated; the parade runs for hours.
The festival actually consists of several separate events over two weekends: a family-friendly parade (Gasparilla Distance Classic) earlier in the month, the main adult invasion parade, and the children's parade on separate days. If you are in Tampa in late January, Gasparilla is unmissable — or, if crowds and noise are not your thing, very missable. Plan accordingly: downtown hotels sell out months in advance.