Revelers in festive dress fill downtown Tampa, Florida, for the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Revelers clad in pirate finery have packed the waterfront in Tampa, Florida, to celebrate the arrival of a flotilla of boats for the annual Gasparilla Pirate Fest. The invading pirates docked on Saturday to make a final demand for the key to the city. Once ashore, the festivities celebrating their yearly invasion included an afternoon parade through downtown and live music. The Gasparilla Pirate Fest has been a fixture in Tampa nearly every year since 1904 and is named for the mythical pirate Jose Gaspar. There’s not much evidence he actually existed. But according to legend, he plundered ships and captured hostages in the Gulf of Mexico from the 1780s until around 1821.