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.

Arr! Gasparilla in Tampa is Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. Attendees can witness the "pirate invasion" as Jose Gasparilla ship sets sail at Hillsborough Bay

Every year, an estimated 300,000 participants come to Tampa for the 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 city’s key, and parade down Bayshore Boulevard.

Tampa’s signature pirate event got off to a chilly start, but things warmed up as the day and parties progressed.

Gasparilla became a time-honored tradition in 1904 after local planners decided to make the legend of Gasparilla into the theme for that year's May Day celebration, said Gasparill

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

Whether by land or by sea, thousands of people crowded Tampa’s waterfront along Bayshore Boulevard on Saturday for the annual Gasparilla Parade of Pirates. It started with the usual invasion at the Tampa Convention Center,