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Little pirates have their day

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN
Published January 21, 2007

TAMPA - The smell of saltwater mixed with grilled onions permeated the air as Carol Smith set up her lawn chairs. She secured her canopy under blue skies and smoothed out her blanket on the grass. She was ready for the parade. Just four more hours to go.

The Gasparilla Children's Parade, the G-rated version held a week before its raunchier and rowdier sister event, has become so popular and grown so big that revelers show up hours before the featured parade begins to secure front-row seats.

Smith of Valrico is one of them. She loves it and hates it.

"The children's parade is great, but I see the bleacher seats going up and the corporate tents popping up, and I don't like what it's become," she said Saturday, as her 3-year-old granddaughter rolled around underneath the family's canopy overlooking Hillsborough Bay. "Still, it is much better than Gasparilla, where you have nothing but drunks."

Saturday, thousands of adults and children alike lined up along Bayshore Boulevard's balustrades to scream for beads. Their wagons were decorated as pirate ships and treasure chests, their cheeks painted with cuts and scars.

It was an all-day outing, beginning with a bicycle rodeo, followed by a preschool stroll. An invasion featuring Red Baron Squadron's aerobatic performances and the U.S. Special Operations Command Parachute Team preceded the parade, which included 109 units and 3,500 kids participating.

Marie Fellenbaum of Clearwater arrived at 9 a.m. with a convoy of relatives. Twenty-five family members in all, from Pennsylvania and Ohio, Tampa and Kissimmee. They used the day to celebrate grandpa Jess Shartle's 80th birthday, which falls around the children's parade each year.

This is the family's fifth year setting up camp along the parade route. They brought sandwiches and fruit, cupcakes and drinks. They also had party games - bubbles in treasure chest containers and a popup pirate game to keep the kids entertained before the parade.

"Every year, I think it gets bigger and better," Fellenbaum said. "Each year, there are more things for the kids to do."

Gwen Lee, a 32-year-old student from Lutz, marveled at the new displays, which included a simulated ride on a rocket ship.

"Ever since we had kids, we only do things that you can do as a family," she said as her girls, ages 7 and 10, whizzed by on their shoes with wheels in their soles. "This is one of our favorites."

Dong-Phuong Nguyen can be reached at nguyen@sptimes.com or 813 269-5312.

[Last modified January 21, 2007, 00:57:26]