Our live updates for Gasparilla 2025 have concluded. Read more about the festivities here. TAMPA — Shiver me timbers: It was an especially cold morning for those pesky pirates invading Tampa again, but it warmed up as the festivities progressed Saturday.

Every year, an estimated 300,000 participants come to Tampa for Gasparilla Pirate Festival, a mock attack by a band of pirates called Ye Mystic Krewe. The pirates’ plot is simple: storm the shores, take the key to the city and parade down Bayshore Boulevard.

TAMPA, Fla. — Thousands of pirates are invading Tampa Bay looking for treasure in the form of beads and medallions. It's a tradition that has been going on now for more than 100 years.

Gasparilla Pirate Fest has live music at stages located along the Tampa Riverwalk that run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park (at Ashley Drive and Twiggs Street) and MacDill Park (at Ashley Drive and Whiting Street).

While the legends of José Gaspar are full of alleged adventure and swashbuckling, history tells a different story.

Shiver me timbers” took on greater meaning Saturday when revelers at the Gasparilla Parade of Pirates were met with an especially cold morning that started in the low 30s. But as the sun shown on a bright,