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Locals Start Early On Gasparilla Cleanup

Tampa Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

City of Tampa crews start to make their way down Bayshore Blvd cleaning up the trash left by the Gasparilla Pirate Fest Saturday evening.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 27, 2008

TAMPA – As soon as the last pirates stumble away from Bayshore Boulevard, workers and local residents get to work.

The biggest task: cleaning up after all those pillaging partygoers.

"I think they had a lot of fun last night," said Robert Charles, who works for Portable Sanitation. "There were a lot of beer bottles."

Charles hit Bayshore at 3:30 a.m. The remnants of the parade – beer cans, plastic wrappers, cardboard boxes – were everywhere. By 10 a.m., Bayshore had been cleaned pretty well, with only a few stray cans and bottles on the route. Charles already had loaded scores of potties onto the back of his truck. Other workers were disassembling bleachers and taking down temporary fences.

For those who live along Bayshore, the cost of living on the city's most scenic thoroughfare can be pretty steep when it comes to Gasparilla.

Rosemary Reid, who lives on the corner of Bayshore and North Boulevard, hired an off-duty police officer for six hours on Saturday to ward off parade goers from her property. She also installed a $350 plastic orange fence. Still, drunks managed to sneak in through the backyard and use her garden as a toilet, she said.

In years past, her family would host a party at their home. Not this year.

"Now we're at the point where we just endure it," she said.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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