Pirate Fest Schedule of Events

The Seminole Hard Rock Gasparilla Pirate Festival is Tampa's signature event, hosted by Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla for more than 100 years. Hundreds of vessels form a flotilla behind the Jose Gasparilla II, the world's only fully-rigged pirate ship, which sails into the Tampa Convention Center basin so the pirate captain can demand the key to the city from the Mayor; more than 300,000 pirate-garbed onlookers then watch a parade of more than 100 floats travel 4.5 miles along Bayshore Boulevard beside Hillsborough Bay into downtown, the third-largest parade in the United States. The festival is free to attend, with live music stages at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park and MacDill Park, and reserved parade seating sold separately.