Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Plotting a course

By JULIE GARISTO
Published January 26, 2006

	[Times photo (2005): Skip O’Rourke]
	If you plan to see the Jose Gasparilla and its crew of pirates invade Tampa at the start of the Gasparilla festival, prepare to arrive early.
	Ahoy, ladies Two members of a female Krewe say being a pirate wench at Gasparilla is addictive fun. But they could do without the flashers. She sews for swashbucklers As the costume designer for three Gasparilla parade krewes, Lauren Whitman has created hundreds of Spanish-inspired outfits since the Mystic Krewe of Santa Margarita first commissioned her four years ago.

The annual Gasparilla invasion in Tampa on Saturday is a fun time, to be sure. But let's face it: It can be a big pain, too, with crowds, parking and those dreaded portable toilets. With that in mind, we've compiled a survival guide that can help keep your inner pirate from going arrrggghhhh!!!

PARKING

Consider these garages downtown, and be sure to get there early (Like 8 a.m. early. It's the only sure way.):

- Tampa Convention Center, Brorein and Tampa streets: $1.60 per hour (or $9.50 daily maximum)

- South Regional Garage, 301 Channelside Drive: $10 flat rate per vehicle.

- Fort Brooke Garage, northwest corner of Florida Avenue and Whiting Street: $10 flat rate per vehicle for full day or $1.60 per hour.

- William F. Poe Garage, 800 N Ashley Drive: $4 flat rate per vehicle.

- Curtis Hixon Garage, 600 N Ashley Drive: $4 flat rate per vehicle.

There will be a limited number of spaces available in the parking lots under the Expressway and the price will be a flat rate of $10 per vehicle.

In Ybor City, consider parking at the Palm Avenue garage at 2010 N 13th St. and the Centro Ybor garage at Sixth Avenue and 15th Street, which will be open at the regular weekend rate of $1 for the first three hours; daily maximum is $8.

Yes, you can take the streetcar from Ybor and it's cheap, but it's very s-l-o-w. And crowded. If you're in a hurry, consider calling a cab early to get you there. Here's where you can catch the trolley:

- Centro Ybor (Eighth Avenue and 16th Street).

- Palm Avenue (Eighth Avenue and 13th Street).

- Downtown at the Southern Transportation Plaza directly across from the Tampa Convention Center. One-day unlimited pass is $4 (exact change required). Purchase your ticket from the streetcar conductor.

Don't park illegally and figure you'll just pay the ticket. Parking enforcement in the area of the festivities and the neighborhood bordering the parade route will begin at 4 p.m. today. Tickets for illegal parking will be issued until 7 p.m. Friday, and then the tow trucks arrive. Cars parked illegally from 7 p.m. Friday through the end of Gasparilla will be towed.

Free parking is available at Raymond James Stadium. (Enter Lot 1 from Martin Luther King Boulevard.) Round-trip shuttle service from the stadium to downtown is available from 9 a.m. to midnight. Shuttle stops are at Jefferson and Whiting streets (eight to nine blocks from the Convention Center) and at Hyde Park Avenue and DeLeon Street (near the center of the parade route).

Between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday, the Jose Gasparilla sails into Tampa Bay accompanied by a flotilla of pleasure boats, then sails between Davis Islands and Harbour Island and docks near the Tampa Convention Center, where the mayor surrenders keys to the city.

The parade begins at 2 p.m. at Bayshore and Bay to Bay boulevards. It continues north along Bayshore Boulevard to the Platt Street bridge, continues east on Channelside Drive, turns north on Florida Avenue to Jackson Street, where it will turn east and end at Marion Street.

Reserved seats are $24. Call (813) 353-8108 for availability.

If you want to catch the invasion, get downtown by 11 a.m. and make your way to Harbour Island to the Wyndham hotel. They have a spacious waterfront expanse of concrete, and vendors set up to sell food and beverages. You can mingle with the boaters and catch some beads as they're tossed from the invasion boats.

Another good viewing spot is from the convention center. For the parade itself, any spot will do, but if you're near the end of it by Platt Street, there's a chance you can catch a tired, drunken pirate and persuade him or her to give up more beads.

The parade will be broadcast live on WFLA-Ch. 8, beginning at 2:30 p.m.

The street festival with carnival rides and games runs from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. along Franklin Street downtown, between Whiting and Brorein streets. Admission is free.

- The Invasion Stage (Bayshore Boulevard and Platt Street): 10 a.m., Quick Shot Paulo; 11:30 a.m., Saint Tone; 1 p.m., Pride; 5:30 p.m., Citizen Kane.

- The Gasparilla Pirate Fest Stage (Brorein Street and Florida Avenue): 10:30 a.m. North 2 South; noon, Big Fish; 1:30 p.m. Erin Gill; 5:45 p.m. Mark Wills.

- Gasparilla City Center Stage (Florida Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard): 11 a.m., Basic Rock Outfit; 1 p.m., Shifty Eyed Dog; 5:45 p.m. Sweet Spot.

Susan B. Robinson, special events supervisor of the city's parks and recreation department, says there will be roughly 600 to 1,000 portable toilets.

Wear comfortable shoes. There's a lot of walking.

Don't forget sunscreen and water.

Watch out for flying beads. They hurt if they smack you in the face.

- JULIE GARISTO, Times staff writer

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 15:29:26]