Swashbucklers, revelry and the hunt for hidden treasure. The trio comes together just once a year at Tampa Bay’s Gasparilla Carnival. The seasonal celebration pays homage to Tampa’s last great mythical buccaneer, Jose Gaspar, known for terrorizing West Florida’s coastal waters during the late 18th-early 19th century. When Gaspar died, folklore tells of buried fortune, still undiscovered, somewhere along our coast.
In 1904, social and civic leaders chose Gaspar as Tampa Bay’s carnival poster-pirate and overall inspiration. Tampa Tribune society editor, Louise Frances Dodge, was slated with the task of planning the city’s May Day festival, and chose Gaspar as her debaucherous yet loveable muse
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