TAMPA, Fla. — Gasparilla Pirate Fest is a rite of passage experience for the Tampa Bay area. And if you've never witnessed the pirate invasion, we've got a full breakdown of everything you need to know to have a fun weekend.
You can check out a full schedule of events here. It all kicks off at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning with the Gasparilla Flotilla. It's a boat parade with hundreds of water vessels taking over the waterways. It all begins with Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla invading the Tampa Convention Center and stealing the key to the city.
The festivities continue until 8 p.m., ending at Curtis Hixon Park in downtown Tampa. With a full day of invasions, parades, and concerts — the safety planning behind it all is extensive.
From a remote location:
A lot of the safety coordination that takes place for Gasparilla is what you don't see while enjoying the festivities.
Who answers the call when you need help? It takes a coordinated effort by a
team of 911 call-takers and dispatchers to manage the everyday emergencies in the city and additional calls for service during a large-scale event like
Gasparilla.
The TPD Tactical Dispatch Team is composed of a group of dispatchers trained in tactical, investigative, and specialized emergency communications that come in handy during weekends like Gasparilla. This team is deployed for large-scale events or unplanned critical incidents.
"If it's an incoming call that comes in, it's definitely going to be through our communications bureau here," Emily Denny, the tactical dispatch supervisor, explained. "Any information that needs to go out to the officers is typically going to go through the operations center. Which, that is, you have a representative of every entity... and then we get the information out to the officers from that center."
Denny explained additional dispatchers are brought in to work Gasparilla weekend. A tactical team of dispatchers is also in place, bringing additional experience with large-scale events to the dispatch response process.
From the water:
Tampa Police will have a dive team deployed with water vessels at the ready for emergency response.
"It includes all the vessel prep, we have seven vessels that are currently in our fleet on the marine units fleet," Chris Audet, a diver on the TPD dive team, said. "And through all the other departments, the corresponding agencies that are going to be assisting, there's approximately 60 to 70 law enforcement vessels that are going to be out there, it's going to be quite a big show."
The advice from the dive team to make the most of the weekend, plan ahead. "My message of safety is [to] get here early," Audet said. "If you're going to have beverages, if you will, I mean it's Gasparilla, we all know what's going to happen-- you need to anchor up. You need to stay in position and enjoy the day in that location."
Audet emphasized this isn't the day to test your boating skills. If you're new to driving a boat, the low speed of the parade is not ideal for those without experience.
"If your mission is to get here and just start driving around continuously, that's probably not going to bode well for you because at some point in time... I'll end up putting you in a position," Audet explained. "If you can't find a spot, this is a U.S. Coast Guard-controlled zone. So we'll have full authority to say 'hey, this is where you're going to be here.' This is where you're going to be and hopefully, people aren't drinking in excess or driving unsafe. Everybody has to drive slow and anybody that excessively comes up on lane, if you will, or drives fast is going to be dealt with in an enforcement type of manner. You will have many, many law enforcement agencies out here doing DUI enforcement."
For the day of the parade, there will be a new set of rules in place on the water.
"It will include a 100-yard safety zone around the Jose Gaspar while it is transiting those waters," Lt. Com. Eunice James, Chief of Waterways Management Division for the USCG, said. "Mariners are advised to stay at least 50 feet away from the vessels participating in the boat parade."
In order to keep the parade safe, unmotorized vessels, jet skis, and vessels less than 10 feet in length are prohibited from participating, according to the USCG.
From the ground:
Law enforcement in Tampa said they’re gearing up for record crowds in this year's Gasparilla Parade of Pirates.
“This is game day for us," Roy Paz, Master Patrol Officer with the Tampa Police Department, said. "We are very excited about Gasparilla.”
For Tampa police's motor unit, there's an element of entertainment involved as the 14-man crew performs circles and line drills.
"A lot of people like to claim spaces. They'll go and rope out an area at Gasparilla," Paz said. "And one of the things that we do is as we're going down the parade route, we look for things like that and we're reminding them, you can't do something like that.”
The motor unit is just one element of a large ground force that will be on hand for the big day.
"We'll be out there in uniform, we'll be out there in plain clothes," Interim Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said. "So we're gonna have a high presence."
Being a motorcycle officer during the Gasparilla parade is a high-visibility job that comes with its own dangers, according to Paz.