{"id":121463,"date":"2026-01-17T02:54:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/121463\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T02:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T02:54:25","slug":"childrens-gasparilla-parade-ye-mystic-krewe-members-sharing-traditions-with-their-own-young-pirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/121463\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade: Ye Mystic Krewe members sharing traditions with their own young pirates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Children\u2019s Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade memories shared <\/a> <\/p>\n

One week before the Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade, members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla reflected on their own memories of the longstanding tradition they used to attend as youngsters. FOX 13’s Ariel Plasencia reports.<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – One week before the Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade, members of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla (YMKG) reflected on their own memories of the longstanding tradition they used to attend as youngsters.<\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

The Gasparilla<\/a> ties run deep in Tampa native L.B. Sierra\u2019s family.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ: Pat Maroon, former Lightning forward, named grand marshal of Gasparilla Pirate Fest<\/a><\/p>\n

“Our family has been a part of this for over 50 years,” Sierra, a YMKG pirate, told FOX 13.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Sierra\u2019s father helped found “Gaspar\u2019s Grenadiers,” the community outreach committee within YMKG. Sierra remembers attending the Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade as a child, including watching cannons on the floats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That was before they had the gates along the route, and it was a little more chaotic!” Sierra added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: Children\u2019s Gasparilla names Love on the Spectrum stars as grand marshals<\/a><\/p>\n

Believe it or not, at first \u2014 there were no barricades and no Bayshore Boulevard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“It was a little five-block thing on Franklin St. in downtown Tampa<\/a>,” Fred Dobbins, who works on the YMKG history committee, told FOX 13. “And if 500 people showed up, it was a big deal.”<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

The Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade has certainly gotten much bigger since then. And in 2002, the city moved to Bayshore Boulevard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I mean, everybody wanted the beads, but it was always \u2014 I remember the warm shells,” Sierra added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ: Children\u2019s Gasparilla 2026 Guide: Here\u2019s what to know<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

That\u2019s what fellow YMKG pirate and Tampa native, Jeramiah Bustin, remembers, too. Pirates would walk up and down the route with revolvers.<\/p>\n

“They would literally fire up five or six shells in the air. And then they’d open the revolver, and you’d hear (the shells) clanking on the ground,” Bustin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Everybody said, \u2018Oh my gosh, we have pirate shells!\u2019” Sierra added. “And they’re warm, and you feel them in your hands, especially on a cold day. It was just really, really cool.”<\/p>\n

Today, only certain YMKG pirates on certain floats fire those revolvers during the parade. But watch out for beads, beads \u2013 and more beads, of course!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

And for the YMKG pirates who attended the Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade as children, they\u2019re now excited about continuing on with their own kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They kind of just sit there with silver dollar eyes,” Bustin said of his two boys. “And they throw beads. And of course, they start throwing beads faster as the parade keeps going. So, they have a good time.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

It\u2019s something Sierra gets to experience for the first time this year when he takes his 4-year-old daughter on the float for her inaugural ride.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I have no idea how many beads she’ll go through. I’ve heard rumors from other parents and the little pirates. They churn through beads and footballs and cannonballs,” Sierra told FOX 13. “So, we are excited to see what she can do.”<\/p>\n

The Source: Information in this story comes from interviews done by FOX 13’s Ariel Plasencia.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>Gasparilla Pirate Invasion<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade memories shared One week before the Children\u2019s Gasparilla Parade, members of Ye Mystic Krewe of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,31383,629,115,135,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-121463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-gasparilla","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}