{"id":130800,"date":"2026-01-24T23:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T23:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/130800\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T23:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T23:56:09","slug":"gasparilla-childrens-parade-brings-pirate-themed-fun-to-bayshore-boulevard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/130800\/","title":{"rendered":"Gasparilla Children\u2019s Parade brings pirate-themed fun to Bayshore Boulevard"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tampa Bay\u2019s<\/a> youngest buccaneers took center stage Saturday as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/gasparilla\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Gasparilla <\/a>Children\u2019s Parade returned to Bayshore Boulevard. Organizers estimate about 150,000 people attended the pirate-themed celebration, making it the largest youth parade in the country.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Families lined the bayfront in full pirate attire, armed with bags, baskets and nets to catch beads as floats rolled by.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">How the day unfolded:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The festivities kicked off with Tampa police hosting a bicycle and pedestrian safety rodeo, fitting kids with helmets before leading them on a guided ride.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">MORE NEWS: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/news\/teens-saved-woman-house-fire-honored-community-heroes-childrens-gasparilla-parade\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Teens who saved woman from house fire honored as community heroes in Children&#8217;s Gasparilla Parade<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">From there, pirates took to the skies with daytime and nighttime air shows featuring formation flights and a skywriter. Younger children under 5 enjoyed a half-mile mini-parade of their own before the main event began.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The main event:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">More than 125 floats and groups participated in the parade, including local krewes, dance teams, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/nhl\/lightning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>, the FOX 13 team and community organizations.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/vlcsnap-2026-01-24-18h27m30s069.png\" alt=\"\" data-v-0dea8073=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Netflix\u2019s\u00a0&#8220;Love on the Spectrum&#8221;\u00a0stars Madison and Tyler served as grand marshals, with the celebration wrapping up in a &#8220;Piratechnic&#8221; firework finale over the bay.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Why you should care:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The Gasparilla Children\u2019s Parade offers families a kid-friendly way to take part in one of Tampa\u2019s most iconic traditions, turning the waterfront into a safe, alcohol-free festive space for children to celebrate too.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/vlcsnap-2026-01-24-18h27m39s643.png\" alt=\"\" data-v-0dea8073=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Gasparilla season continues next Saturday with the Gasparilla Pirate Invasion, scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. To learn more, click <a href=\"https:\/\/gasparillapiratefest.com\/pirate-fest\/&gt;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: This article is based on on-scene reporting and observations from FOX 13 News at the Gasparilla Children\u2019s Parade, including interviews with attendees and information provided by event organizers.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\/hillsborough\/tampa\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tampa<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/gasparilla\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gasparilla Pirate Invasion<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. &#8211; Tampa Bay\u2019s youngest buccaneers took center stage Saturday as the Gasparilla Children\u2019s Parade returned to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130801,"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-130800","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\/130800","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=130800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}