{"id":132743,"date":"2026-01-26T22:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/132743\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:40:13","slug":"meet-the-only-all-female-gasparilla-krewe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/132743\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the only all-female Gasparilla krewe"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Batton down the hatches!<\/p>\n

The Gasparilla Parade of Pirates is now just a few days away, and one all-female krewe is ready to rock the boat as they have for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n

It may be tucked away in storage now, but the Krewe of Ann Jeffrey\u2019s massive float is ready to sail down Tampa\u2019s Bayshore Boulevard.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

The Krewe of Ann Jeffrey is the only all-female pirate krewe participating in Tampa’s Gasparilla\u00a0
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According to pirate lore, the krewe got its name from Ann Jeffrey, a beautiful woman who turned down Jose Gaspar’s proposal
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The group, now 75 strong, raises money for adults with disabilities
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This year, the Krewe of Ann Jeffrey is in position 52 at the Pirate Fest Parade<\/p>\n

Purposely built with a DJ stand on the bow, a bathroom at the stern, cup holders, electricity and even a second-story crow\u2019s nest, the Krewe of Ann Jeffrey knows how to leave its mark on the iconic Gasparilla parade.<\/p>\n

Tampa native Susan Toll founded the group 19 years ago, but it almost didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got to the office, we were told that the gentleman that was supposed to meet us had gone to lunch,\u201d Toll said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Well, there he goes right there,\u2019 So we kind of chased him down the hall, made him listen to us, and then when he saw our presentation and he saw everything about Ann Jeffrey, he even said to us, \u2018I can\u2019t believe that no one has come up with this before.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

According to pirate legend<\/a>, Jose Gaspar, Gasparilla’s namesake, had proposed to a beautiful woman he kidnapped named Ann Jeffrey. She denied him, but, surprisingly, Gaspar spared her life.<\/p>\n

Lore said Gaspar felt he should\u2019ve \u201cseized the moment\u201d with Ann. That phrase is now a rallying call for the 75-strong Krewe of Ann Jeffrey.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur crew is filled with professional women. We have educators, we have nurses, we have doctors, we have military, we have first responders,\u201d Denise Chenoweth, president of the Krewe of Ann Jeffrey, said. \u201cTo be that special part of Jose Gaspar\u2019s story as an all-female krewe, and that highlight piece, we\u2019re pretty proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bling is a big part of the krewe, from their bedazzled tricorn hats, to their unique jackets, all reflecting the different lives of the women that make up the krewe.<\/p>\n

Alongside raising funds, for maintenance, insurance and other expenses, the krewe also donates proceeds to organizations supporting adults with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, I think about how this little idea on a napkin has grown,\u201d said Toll. \u201cAnd we have some of the most beautiful women.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Batton down the hatches! The Gasparilla Parade of Pirates is now just a few days away,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4323,274,36011,276,115,135,137,136,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-132743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-andy-cole","9":"tag-app-top-stories","10":"tag-gasparilla-pirate-festival","11":"tag-hillsborough-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-tampa","14":"tag-tampa-headlines","15":"tag-tampa-news","16":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132743","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=132743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}