All Things Gasparilla

[Julia Gorzka]

I'm gathering insights, advice and tips on the various ways you can enjoy Gasparilla...

Building upon my 7 years living on the parade route and experience as Queen Venus XXXVIII riding on the Krewe of Venus royal float - here's my 2 cents:

Don't have plans yet and wondering where you can watch the parade outside of the big crowds? the closer you can be to the start of the parade route the better. The crowds don't start getting thick until after Howard Avenue.

Best side to catch most beads? Bay side - once the parade starts you can't cross the street. This means come early, spread out a blanket, chairs and you are set for the day. The latecomers can not walk on your stuff or block your view because the bay side is the exclusive domain of early birds. I personally find this rule very annoying - you can cross the street at Mardi Gras so why not Gasparilla? but I digress...

Me? I love Gasparilla - the festivities, the merriment, the open container laws are suspended for a day (no glass please!) This year I'll be mixing Bloody Mary's by 8am as my guests arrive and to walk over to the convention center and board the Krewe of Venus boat to join the flotilla for the invasion. It's a whole other world from the water - bead tossing between boats and people watching. Post-invasion this year I'll be enjoying the parade around my building so if you are going to a party at 345 Bayshore look for me and say hi!

[Andrew Hill]

I hate to rain on the parade, so to speak, but as someone who spends his days trying to model behavior for young people, I find Gasparilla more than just a bit troubling.

People drink - I get that. People also like to do silly things and have parades - I get that too. What I have trouble understanding is just how so many Tampanians (the vast majority from S.O.K. it seems) are able to put aside propriety and sobriety so easily and in such dramatic fashion. What message does this mass departure from the rules of civil society send to our kids. It's okay to get drunk at 9:00 AM? It's okay to bare one's breasts as long as there are beads involved? It's okay to throw up on lawns, sidewalks and alleyways as long as it's February? Or are we all just hoping they won't notice? (Trust me -- kids notice EVERYTHING.)

Each year I experience the lead-up to Gasparilla with the nagging sense that maybe this will be the year that one of my students literally drinks herself to death or gets raped. Maybe this will be the year that one will get mugged, beaten up or arrested. Naturally, when confronted with these issues, the kids respond with classic teen invincibility and assurances that they'll be at so-and-so's house most of the day. (Of course, so-and-so's parents will be trashed as well, so it's hardly the safe haven one might expect.)

Tampa needs to rethink this public, drug-induced (yes, alcohol IS a drug, folks) debauchery. Watching the captains of local industry, the Kings and Queens of faux society and the parents of our future leaders dress up, act up and possibly even throw up is behavior unbecoming members of a civilized community. Next time you worry about your kids getting drunk and in trouble or worse, look in the mirror -- they learned it at home.

[Grant Rimbey]

Sorry, one more:

"Homeowners exposing crude, dark sides of Gasparilla get help from YouTube"

http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2009/02/still-working-.html