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Pirates Split With City's Key

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

The pirate-laden Jose Gasparilla leaves Channelside Bay Plaza during the Gasparilla March Triumphant: The Return to the Sea on Saturday night. Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla had earlier refused to return the key to the city, which was taken during its invasion Jan. 26.

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By GEORGE WILKENS The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2008

Updated: 02/09/2008 11:45 pm

TAMPA - The mayor's plan to take back the city failed miserably Saturday when she was sucker-punched by a boatload of Gasparilla pirates.

As part of the daylong celebration at Channelside Bay Plaza, the marauding pirates were to return the key to the city taken during their invasion Jan. 26.

They didn't follow the plan.

"We are pirates and we are takers, not givers," declared Preston Farrior, captain of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. "We never give back our booty."

The denial did not faze Mayor Pam Iorio.

"Citizens of Tampa, everything is OK because I changed the locks," she said.

Questioned later, she said the pirates' tactic was not unexpected. "No key, but a lot of fun," she said. "A lot of people are really having a good time."

Filing through the crowd of several thousand, the mayor posed for snapshots, received beads, and even donned headphones for a couple of radio interviews.

Heeding the 6:45 p.m. "all pirates to the ship" call, the 500-member crew ambled back aboard the Jose Gasparilla, which they had arrived on two hours earlier.

Beads and doubloons continued to rain on the crowd as the U.S. Coast Guard safety briefing was delivered by public address, cautioning the crew to stay out of the riggings because it was after dark.

With the assistance of two tugboats, the ship began to move. A volley of cannon fire erupted, drowning out the ship's blaring stereo.

Jim Tarbet, executive officer of the krewe, said returning the city key used to be a tradition that last occurred in 1963. After that, the event was discontinued as a way to trim expenses, he said.

Return of the key has been a topic of discussion in recent years, Tarbet added. "We just feel it's a great way to close out the whole thing."

After the ship shoved off, a young woman in the crowd asked, "Where are they going?"

Replied her companion: "Wherever pirates go in the off-season."

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4847 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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