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Downtown

Treasures unveiled at Gasparilla exhibition

Visitors to the Henry B. Plant Museum can get a glimpse of the festival's swashbuckling past.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published January 14, 2005

Take a look at the first Gasparilla queen's crown. Made of gilded cardboard embellished with pearl corsage pins, it was worn by Mary Lee Douglas in 1904.

Admire jeweled, velvet coronation robes from the 1950s, one bright red for pirate's blood, another sea-green for the ocean water.

These and other treasures are on display as part of Henry B. Plant Museum's annual Gasparilla exhibit.

"A lot of people come in and think we have the crown jewels of London because of all the glitz and glamor," said Susan Carter, curator and registrar of the Henry B. Plant Museum.

This year's exhibit, Gasparilla: A Tampa Tradition, opens today and runs through Feb. 20 in the museum at the University of Tampa, formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel where the first Gasparilla Ball was held.

Visitors can follow the evolution of the Gasparilla festival through photographs, films, authentic costumes and artifacts, including a cannon from the Jose Gasparilla ship put into service in the 1930s.

In early days of Gasparilla, pirates rode horses and wore masks as they came into town. And they kept their booty; townspeople didn't get any beads or coins.

New to the exhibit this year are gowns worn by the queens of 2002, 2003 and 2004, on loan from their owners.

For last year's centennial celebration, Tampa residents dug up relics for the museum's permanent collection. Barbara Woods donated four jugs given as gifts by the king (her father) to his court in 1931. On the labels, a skull sits above crossbones inscribed with:

Wild Goats Blood

For Conspicuous Bravery

and the Capture of Tampa.

Gasparilla: A Tampa Tradition runs today through Feb. 20 at the University of Tampa's Henry B. Plant Museum. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. Suggested donation is $5 for adults and $2 for children. For information, call 254-1891.

[Last modified January 13, 2005, 10:13:09]