As a Cajun American growing on a bayou outside of New Orleans, I assumed there could never be or would never be another person in the entire world who loved throwing or receiving parade beads more.

And then I moved to the Tampa Bay area.

It's a place where middle-aged, high-society women dress as marauding murderous lady pirates, ride on floats and drink Root Beer-flavored Schnapps out of a flask, while paradegoers — drunk on booze and adrenaline — shriek like Screech Owls for trinkets worth less than pair of socks at a second-hand store.

It's all thanks to the myth of pirate Jose Gaspar — who allegedly hung out in the late 1700s along Florida's west coast causing trouble.

History shows he may have marauded closer to Gasparilla and Captiva Islands, well south of the Tampa Bay area.

But no matter — some Tampa society folks got together more than a century ago and created the myth — Jose Gaspar, the courtly Pirate, was once here!

The first parade in 1904 featured pirates on horseback. Within a few years came the water invasion — an actual pirate ship invading the city.

And the actual mayor of Tampa is forced to hand over the keys to the city to members of the original Krewe — Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla.

I thought Cajuns and NOLA peeps (New Orleans natives) were the only people filled enough Gris-gris superstition and mischievous joie de vive to enjoy a parade. I mean, we made Mardi Gras for crying out loud. (You might hear something different from the fine people of Mobile, Alabama, but they are filthy liars.)

And I must tell you — I may have been wrong.

Parade Route

In this Gasparilla invasion and parade, there are more than 50 Krewes on 90 elaborate floats throwing hundreds of thousands of beads to hundreds of thousands of people. (Crowd estimates for 2016 are 200,000 plus.)

There are 130 units in all; we are talking marching bands and community groups, etc. in addition to the floats.

There are cannons and explosions, blaring music and filthy scurvy pirates roaming down Bayshore Boulevard.

It all starts at Bayshore and Bay to Bay Boulevards.

The 3.8 mile route starts down Bayshore, turns onto Brorein Street and then north on Ashley Drive.

It finally ends in Downtown Tampa at Ashley Drive and Cass Street.

And all along the route, both on the Bay side and the terra firma side, there are people clamoring for beads.


Parade Pirates on floats hang their beads for their "ships," but walkers have to hang their beads on themselves.

Behind the scenes: Beads, beads, beads!

Bay News 9 Photojournalist Bobby Collins went behind the scenes to see who is supplying the pirates with the booty parade goers so desperately hope to claim.

It’s Jennifer Hauanio’s family over at Buccaneer Beads.

"It is a happy time," Jennifer said, as this bead emporium celebrates its 10th anniversary.

But it’s also a hectic time.

An employee sorts through the hundreds of thousands of beads flying out the door at Buccaneer Beads in Tampa.

In the days leading up to the much tamer, alcohol-free children’s parade and this weekend’s bacchanal, parades, throws-- as the beads are called-- are flying out of the shop as fast as the employees can pack them up.

"We will sell thousands of cases. And it depends on the length, the size of the beads which determines the case load," said Jennifer.

You can fit 60 dozen standard size 33-inch bead in a case. That's 720 strands at about $50.

And prices go up the bigger the bead and the longer the strand. Like up to $100!

But price isn't the only deciding factor in bead purchasing.

Sometimes what Krewe members buy depends on whether they are riding on a float and walking on the side of their Krewe’s float.

The Pirates load their necks and arms up with beads, and the lug a multi-hooked bead belt strapped around their waist.

In the beginning of the parade, some walking pirates look like they are wearing a bead skirt.

“Some of the larger beads are more substantial they've got more weight so they'll go a little bit further, but you know they get heavy as well--so it really depends on how weighed down you wanna be," Jennifer said.

Physics and stamina count.

But so do the parade goers counting on these wanna-be law breaking maniacs!!

"It's about having fun you are going out there and making people smile,” said Jennifer.

And what is Jennifer’s job like as she runs a massive warehouse near her storefront getting orders in a back loading dock and rolling them out on dolly within minutes?

"It's an experience. It's actually a fun job. It may be stressful at times, but what's better than beads."

Nothing.

Well maybe a doubloon.