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Guavaween revelers take over Ybor

With great weather, partiers from all over the United States get into the Halloween spirit, which for some is a serious affair.

By EMILY NIPPS AND AMBER MOBLEY
Published October 29, 2005

TAMPA - Few take Guavaween more seriously than 49-year-old Paul Danko, a Sarasota landscaper who dressed like Batman for the 12th straight year on Saturday night.

He stood in his black rubber suit along Seventh Avenue, alone and unsmiling, posing for pictures with children and tourists. Other Batmans occasionally walked by and gave him an approving nod, acknowledging Danko's getup was clearly superior.

Halloween is Danko's favorite holiday, but he wishes more people would get into the spirit - and costume. For every costumed partier, there were several who just showed up in street clothes, drinking beer and wearing beads.

"People used to be more into dressing up, but it seems to be fading out," Danko said.

"Yeah, that's what we noticed," said Roberto Mercado of New York, who dressed as a Brazilian dancer with a towering fruit headpiece and a bikini top, as did his wife, Cynthia. "It's still fun, but not as many people are dressing up like they did a couple of years ago."

Pete Auksel lives in the Chicago area and came to Tampa for his fourth Guavaween. He loves watching the aliens, French maids and Richard Nixons stumble out of bars. He loves catching the beads from floats and draping them around his neck. But he doesn't much care for dressing up himself.

"That's just not one of my things," he said. "I'm an observer."

This year's, Guavaween theme "Sin in the City," seemed like the perfect opportunity for exhibitionists and lewd minds to get creative, but police were pleased to find a relatively tame crowd walking up and down the streets. "This has been a good night so far, a very peaceful crowd," Tampa Police Officer Richard Harrell said. "Sometimes there's nudity and different things, but we haven't seen much of that tonight. I didn't see anyone expose themselves (during the parade)."

But the party wasn't tame.

Geoff Stephen, a 25-year-old from New Port Richey, dressed as a beer bottle with rubber breasts. "It's every man's dream," he said.

Earlier in the day, it was family time for thousands of parents and kids as they filled the festival plaza and surrounding streets for the Guavaween Family FunFest.

The Deguire family from Lutz - dad Dan, mom Crystal and child Aidanc - dressed like Anakin, Princess Leia and (a miniature) Darth Vader from the movie Star Wars.

"He's really beginning to like Star Wars," Dan Deguire said about son, Aidanc, 2.

Whether costumed or not, rolling in strollers and wagons or being carried in a parent's arms, children listened to music, ate sugary snacks, rock climbed, played games and participated in other activities from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Family time has been a part of Guavaween for four years, "and it's just been growing and growing and growing," said Charles Cox of CC Event Productions which produces Guavaween for the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce. "This is usually a night party. Still, Halloween is a holiday and we wanted to make it a family affair," Cox said.

Guavaween gave Hillsborough County schoolchildren a $1 discount to encourage family attendance, said Cox.

FunFest admission was $3 without the discount.

The regular price quadrupled to $12 for the night event.

Guavaween patrons wanting to save money could take advantage of the cheaper rate by coming earlier in the day. That bothers Monica Barksdale, 28, of Tampa.

"I see them every year I come," she said, "and it seems like they're coming earlier and earlier each year."

Barksdale brought her two children, Jakimmie Barksdale, 13 and 7-year-old Deon Barksdale, who was dressed as the Grim Reaper.

"I feel like if it's time for the kids, you shouldn't have the alcohol, she said."

Some of Ybor City shops, pubs and restaurants are open for regular business during the FunFest, which means some alcoholic beverages are for sale, but most bars don't open until an hour after the FunFest is over, said Cox, and Guavaween's temporary beer stands are also closed until at least 4 p.m.

The adult activities start at 6 p.m.

The Tampa Police Department and the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department provide security.

"So there's really not much to encourage them to come," Cox said, "and most of the people who come for the nighttime activities are at home sleeping or getting their costumes together."

That was the M.O. for Stephen McIsaac and Matt Manning, both 25, of Boston.

"We just woke up," said Manning.

Both men said last year the drinking and merriment didn't start until at least 4 p.m. so they weren't going to stay the entire afternoon.

"We're looking for something to eat and then we're going back to the hotel and get dressed," said McIsaac.

Although they were dressed in T-shirts and jeans, McIsaac and Manning would be back later that night dressed respectively as Napoleon Dynamite and his best friend and sidekick Pedro Sanchez, dorky high schoolers from the popular independent film Napoleon Dynamite.

Darise Middleton, 34, of Tampa also decided to eat in Ybor with friends, and not family, during the FunFest. Still, he said,"it's a good family atmosphere out here. Relaxing.

"But," he said with a smile, "we'll be back out here tonight when it gets wild."

[Last modified October 29, 2005, 22:23:02]