TAMPA, Fla. — After COVID-19 kept the pirate invasion at bay in 2021, Gasparilla was a huge success in its return to the Tampa Bay area this year.

The party may be over for some pirates, but for many, the fun continued Sunday. Volunteers, including a group from the USF running club, must clean up after Saturday's festivities.

What You Need To Know

  • Volunteers are working to pick up garbage left after Gasparilla

  • The city was expecting to break the trash record of 37 tons

  • Officials are encouraging pirates to return beads, not throw them out

  • The beads can be cleaned and reused and help a nonprofit training program

Despite the cold weather, the city estimated the Gasparilla festivities drew more than 300,000 spectators. 

The streets were jam-packed, as crowds came out to see parades on the water and in the streets. Only five arrests were reported throughout the day, Tampa police said.

The main things volunteers found left behind were beer cans, and of course, beads. The city of Tampa said it expected the Gasparilla trash record of 37 tons to be broken.

Spectators who still have beads and are expecting to throw them out are urged to return them instead because they can be cleaned, repackaged and reused the next parade season, helping reduce the environmental impact from the microplastics in the beads. In 2020, with the help of more than 300 Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful volunteers and city staff, more than 4,000 pounds of beads were delivered to the MacDonald Training Center for reuse. That amounts to around 130,000 individual bead necklaces. 

Another benefit of the Bead Reuse Program is the vocational skills gained by the MacDonald Training Center, a local non-profit working to empower people with disabilities, in the effort.

Starting Monday through May 2022, Gasparilla revelers are encouraged to take unwanted beads to any of the following Tampa collection sites during the sites' regular business hours.

  • Kate Jackson Community Center, 821 S Rome Avenue
  • Loretta Ingraham Recreation Complex, 1611 N Hubert Avenue
  • Copeland Park Center, 11001 N 15th Street
  • MacDonald Training Center, 5420 W Cypress Street