TAMPA, Fla. – This weekend, Tampa’s streets were overrun by swashbuckling pirates, facing an unexpected adversary: an uncharacteristically brisk Florida winter.
“We enjoyed ourselves, but the cold was intense,” Carolina Valdes remarked to News 6 as she departed from the lively Gasparilla parade route on Saturday.
Valdes made the journey from Orlando to partake in Gasparilla for the fourth year in a row. This beloved annual event, steeped in pirate lore, stands as Tampa’s oldest tradition.
“The crowd was noticeably thinner compared to previous years,” Valdes noted.
Despite the fierce winds and biting cold rain, many attendees encountered by News 6 seemed undeterred in their festivities.
“Don’t be a typical Floridian,” advised Lisa Razler. “Make sure to dress appropriately for the weather.”
As the day grew longer, the winds grew stronger.
“Sometimes you gotta be up north on a Florida day,” Cowboy Gatz said, as he stopped to talk to News 6 in downtown Tampa between hopping from bar to bar.
Hours after the winds had died down and the invasion of pirates came to an end, volunteers with “Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful” braved the frigid temperatures Sunday morning to clean up Bayshore Boulevard in the aftermath of Gasparilla.
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.
