hello and welcome back to Brightside for our Gasparilla 10 Tampa Bay special I'm Jenny Dean are you ready for a big Pirate Invasion that's gonna happen right here in Tampa in a little more than 24 hours and then there is going to be a parade of pirates like you have never seen before but before we look forward we do always like to look back and we're gonna go way back to More Than A Century of tradition behind Gasparilla Jabari Thomas takes you back to the very beginning foreign Tampa Bay has ce
lebrated The Life and Legend of Jose Gaspar for more than a hundred years with a large parade and Festival known as the Gasparilla Pirate Fest it's hard to know what's real about the life of Jose Gaspar experts seem to believe that he was a Spanish Navy man who turned pirate to spite the government true or not the idea of Gaspar was enough to start Gasparilla in 1904. ye Mystic crew of Gasparilla says it was an event to promote the city of Tampa there was a secret plan to take Tampa in a mock pi
rate attack with costume Buccaneers on Horseback a couple of years later the crew used the ship to capture the city and the pirate vessels got bigger and more elaborate over the years in modern times the crew sailing the only fully rigged pirate ship in the world comes from the south end of Hillsboro Bay followed by hundreds if not thousands of boats to take over the city kidnap the mayor and demand the key to the city it is quite the sight to see for sure it is so exciting to be a part of that
but I gotta tell you shiver me timbers was cold out this morning but everybody's wondering what the forecast is going to be like tomorrow morning Grant and as we go throughout the day tomorrow for the parade yeah so I tomorrow is going to be a little cool so everyone's going to be saying shiver me timbers tomorrow morning just like this morning but the thing that will be different about tomorrow well in addition to the fact there'll be Pirates coming into downtown Tampa temperatures are going to
warm up really nicely tomorrow we'll be in the 40s to start but as that evasion begins as that flotilla begins to head into downtown Tampa temperatures will be climbing into the 60s by around 1 o'clock will be at 66 degrees we'll round out the day with temperatures in the lower 70s tomorrow afternoon now we will see a little bit of cloud cover roll in ah no worries there wind speeds will be up a little bit though that'll be something to watch out on the water we are expecting someone of a chop
on the base so that flotilla will have to be mindful of those conditions out on the bay with wind speeds anywhere between 15 to 20 knots at times here's where we start up your morning this morning though Jenny's in downtown Tampa temperatures are at 49 degrees she's got several layers on you'll probably want those too 54 in St Pete we've got 40s and a lot of other places even some 30s over the Nature Coast let's get you into your Friday over the next 12 hours a cooler day today with high tempera
tures leveling off in the middle 60s Jenny back out to you well it sounds like it's going to be perfect weather for the parade but you know people aren't just thinking about the weather when you get hundreds of thousands of people gathering in one general area they're going to be fighting traffic to get to the festivities and of course we want to get you here as simple as possible bright side Sarah Rosario brings you up to speed with what you need to know if you're coming to Tampa with more than
300 000 people expected to line the streets of Bayshore for Gasparilla unfortunately with the invasion of pirates comes the invasion of traffic let me bring you up to speed on what you can do to avoid traffic hassles and options for places to park getting around during Gasparilla especially if you're in downtown Tampa or you want to get here to Bayshore Boulevard it's definitely not easy with pirates tying down the bay and dozens of road closures it's best to plan ahead so you can enjoy the fes
tivities if you're trying to find a place to park the city of Tampa recommends prepaying for parking and reserving your spot in one of eight downtown Tampa garages from there you may want to consider taking the free Jolly Trolley with more than 50 road closures the parade begins at bay to bay and Bayshore and ends near Ashley Drive and cash Street in downtown Tampa if you live close consider walking using those e-scooters or even Bike Share if you have to drive you may want to carpool and stay u
p to date with street closures on your phone the city of Tampa has partnered with transport patient apps like Park Mobile Waze and Uber to make sure that parade goers have the latest street closures available parking in some of the neighborhoods that line the streets here along Bayshore Boulevard but be careful because Towing will be enforced so be sure to read those signs very carefully watch out for pedestrians again and the barricades posted and have fun all right you can also use the tico st
reet car for free I love taking the streetcar it's going to be running from 8 A.M until 2 A.M so you can park your car at some of the parking garages or Lots in Ybor City then just hop on the streetcar Hart is also offering free bus shuttles from 9 30 to 7 P.M all you need to do is head to 10tampabait.com you can find out more information about that that would really help you a lot if you really don't want to deal with all of the hassle of being in and around the parade route okay so whether you
're regular and you know the drill you know what to do when you come down here or whether this is your first time we still like to get the details and the reminders and that is why we have Mickey and Stephanie here from event Fest you guys have been doing this for many years now and what are some last minute reminders that you have for people that that they may need to know just some things that we need to be aware of when we come down here absolutely thanks for having me and you totally touched
on it we love the shuttles and such that come in it's such a way to decongest Bayshore and the traffic down here so I always recommend those downtown garages than to walk on over you're talking about fighting those crowds one of the ways that we try to help people with the ability to do that is by offering some reserved seating options which we still have some available those are available at gaspillatreasures.com they range from simple reserved bleacher seats to fully catered buffet and sort o
f a VIP experience and then when does everything really get underway I mean things really get started in the morning right absolutely so people definitely are out here when our crew is out here early in the morning kind of holding down that spot for their family and friends but the day technically opens on Bayshore at noon that's when we have some different sponsor activities and things that get started and then the parade of course starts at two o'clock and The Invasion happens too right around
then too right at noon or 11 30 yeah so the invade Asian leaves Ballast Point earlier in the morning just after 11 and then it docks at the Tampa Convention Center at 1 pm so exciting and I know you guys had some last minute reminders we are seeing tons of people out here on Bayshore this morning people loving to get their running they're biking in I know they're closing down Bayshore tonight at 10 but it's not really for people who are out to exercise absolutely so we close um Bayshore both si
des of the street tonight at 10 o'clock as you mentioned and we just ask for the folks who are maybe on scooters or bikes or wanting to get their morning running to choose an alternate route for tonight and for tomorrow we have so many things with the event of this magnitude so many different vehicles moving barricades and Tents and different things around it's just we want to make sure that safety is our number one priority and we just ask that pedestrians and such if you could stay off Bayshor
e just for another you know 24 hours until we get through this get through the cleanup and then you can have it back on Sunday yes but get out here and enjoy the festivities it is so much fun we have our Pirates here joining us and by the way I'm letting the mayor know I'm fully with the Pirates you know I'm we're going to invade Tampa tomorrow and we are going to have a blast but I know Megan you mentioned safety is a priority it's something that is always top of mind when it comes to Gasparill
a the parade of course all about the fun but it is important to be responsible so I want to go back to Caitlyn and Frank they are in studio and they've got three things they got three things that you need to know about staying safe this weekend hello Safety First fun is a close second though but uh we want to chat about boat safety yeah it sounded like a boat out there that was a truck the Coast Guard will be out in full force during tomorrow's Boat Parade to reduce any chance of accidents out t
here they'll be enforcing safety zones other regulations too any vessels without a motor or under 10 feet long are not allowed in that boat parade jet skis also are banned yeah see when you see it and you point your finger that really emphasizes it right there extra patrols will also be on the ground along the parade route tomorrow the Tampa Police motor unit says they will be all hands on deck as you would imagine before during and even after celebrations they'll have multiple units out to moni
tor the crowds and officers are also trained to look for alcohol-related offenses like underage drinking and drunk driving and law enforcement leaders say you should have a plan in place in case you get lost in the crowd police suggest if you bring your kids with you that you take a photo of them even give them some contact information in case they get lost or separated and if you go in a group pick a designated meeting spot ahead of time always a good idea please encourage you to reach out if y
ou notice anything suspicious if you see something say something and we've got the beads on this morning's a popular thing to have on out there but you don't want to throw them in the water Johnny keep it clean out there that is absolutely right we are going to talk more about that after the break because it is so important that you do your part to help clean up before you even leave all of the festivities making sure that you're cleaning up and then of course Caitlyn has a story that you are no
t going to want to miss we will be right back the big parade is coming up on Saturday and this is the newest addition to this year's Gasparilla coming up on bright side we're going to take you on the ship for a sneak peek look who we found over here we got you the mayor [Music] oh boy this is what led up to this weekend's Gasparilla Invasion pirates from you Mystic crew descended upon City Hall earlier this week they went to take mayor Jane Caster hostage of course she met with them to try and n
egotiate a peaceful surrender of the city but of course they're not willing to do that their message surrender or face The Invasion and guess what the mayor is going to have to face the invasion tomorrow and of course you're going to see some famous faces at Gasparilla tomorrow WWE Hall of Famer Nature Boy Ric Flair will be the Grand Marshal for the parade Flair has a home in Tampa and joining him in the Gasparilla honorary Community hero is Sergeant Major Matt Parrish who is a Green Beret so it
should be a truly special time and a good time at Gasparilla of course means getting into costume and it's marked by of course the beads everybody loves getting the Beats but as Brightside anchor Frank Wiley shows us many times these necklaces they wind up getting into the water a parade of pageantry sails through Tampa Bay around this time every year Pirates ships and Good Times comes with it also tradition brings trash Bunches of beads gifted during Gasparilla sometimes the necklaces for what
ever reason are tossed into the water it litters the surface eventually sinking to the bottom where it looks like ships wrecked enjoy the event but do so responsibly our actions matter people's choices matter Melissa dude runs volunteer services at the Florida aquarium our marine life can get entangled and that debris in the beads or they can ingest it mistake it for food so a couple times a year volunteer divers dig out what they can find whatever beads they don't grab in a roundabout way makes
it to your stomach they start to decompose and when they do they break down and they start leaching chemicals if animals are ingesting these Plastics and then it's going to bioaccumulate up the food chain right so we're one of the top predators we eat some of the fish enough to motivate most folks to do good by not littering for those who want to do better there's this any beads that you collect along the parade route or through the festivities if you bring them back to the aquarium you can don
ate them back to us and what we will do is give you half off your admission to come in the idea show you up close that our Wildlife deserves to be treasured in Tampa Frank Wiley 10 Tampa Bay and it's not just beads in the water there's also of course the litter on the streets keep Tampa Bay beautiful they are ready to get out and help clean everything up after all the fun each year the group works with volunteers and the city to pick up the beads and the trash all along Bay Shore Boulevard and o
f course the nearby streets and neighborhoods the cleanup starts Sunday morning bright and early at 7 30 a.m and they still need volunteers but they are asking you to register we have a link for you to do that right at 10tampabay.com all right Girls Just Want to Have Fun isn't that the truth well the Bonnie Reed crew they are ready to celebrate Gasparilla in style and on a new ride this year brightside's Caitlin lockerby met up with one of the founding members of that a pirates of the pirate Que
ens Make Way for a new float in this year's Gasparilla Parade the Bonnie Reed crew will be cruising down Bayshore on this new pirate ship I'm going to stand up here in fact my name is on this bead hook here Camille Matthews helped found the crew in 1994 and was behind the push for this new and improved float that artist Jason hallfish brought to fruition we've been working on this for about a year uh really close with the crew obviously but you know from design to build a fabrication to finish f
loat that's about what it took well it's an all-female crew so I survived that putting front and center the Pirates the crew represents and Bonnie and Mary Reed we have the two female pirates up here that was the important part we have wood steel PVC fiberglass so it's all that combined you can't miss this floating down Bay Shore the audience is so fun they always seem to love the music and of course beads Pro tip from this pirate if you want to catch the most treasure if they want to score a lo
t of beads the best thing to do is have the names of the crews hold them up we're number 38. yes so if you hold up Bonnie Reed crew you will be getting a lot of beads from the crew when we come back we are going to be finishing up our special guest Marilla show here on 10 Tampa Bay with a pirate from the Mystic crew of Gasparilla we'll be back foreign yes we are and of course what would Gasparilla be without Pirates Bob Kelly is joining me with the Mystic crew of gas grill above how long have yo
u been a part of gas grill this is my 30th year 30 years what's your favorite part I still love The Invasion you know seeing all the boats out on the bay you know all the people coming in it's just it's amazing to see it from the Gasparilla ship it's even more amazing to see it from overhead I think it's truly special because it's so unique to Tampa that we have this type of Celebration and that we just love Pirates well and you note that you know even with the celebrations we've had with the li
ghtning with the bucks on the water most places like this in the entire country so this is what's wonderful to show off Tampa and show off the Waterfront the way we do absolutely we've got about 30 seconds any last minute tips for all these part-time pirates that become pirates for one day out of the year and come down to celebrate pace yourself you know you don't have to start drinking at eight o'clock in the morning it's a long day if you're going to be on the water captaining a boat stay sobe
r be safe get everybody home safely tomorrow yes let's do that and of course no beads in the bay we want to keep our beautiful Bay clean and nice for many gasparillas to come Bob thank you so much we look forward to the big Invasion tomorrow I know you're probably not going to sleep tonight at all you guys are so busy I'm already dressed it's anyway thank you so much and before we go we do want to put up a QR code on our screen so that you can find out everything you need to do all you need to d
o is hold your phone up and scan it on your phone camera and that takes you straight to our Gasparilla guide that covers everything from event schedules to parking where to find bathrooms and so much more you guys thank you so much for joining us out here along Bay Shore Boulevard beautiful Bay Shore for our special Gasparilla Brightside show on 10 Tampa Bay we hope you have a safe and wonderful day and weekend and of course for the Gasparilla Asian tomorrow we'll see you then
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🏴☠️ Happy Gasparilla Parade greetings from Downtown Tampa Bay 🏴☠️ ❤️