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Report: Portable Toilets Way Too Scarce At Gasparilla Fest

Tribune File Photo by KATHY MOORE

Homeowners complained too few toilets translated into too many festivalgoers relieving themselves on shrubbery.

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

Published: March 26, 2009

TAMPA - One of the biggest complaints about the 2009 Gasparilla Pirate Fest was the long lines outside portable bathrooms.

Too often, area residents say, people attending the annual pirate-themed parade along Bayshore Boulevard opted to relieve themselves on homeowners' shrubbery.

According to a letter from the Hillsborough County Health Department, the problem was numerical. There only were about a third as many portable bathrooms as needed to accommodate the turnout of festival participants.

A requirement of minimum portable restrooms for such public events is codified in a state rule.

Tampa police estimated 350,000 people attended this year's Gasparilla Pirate Fest. Under the state code, there should be 2,000 portable restrooms for an event with 300,000 participants. EventFest, the parade's planner, provided 800 of the restrooms.

"I think because the code is relatively new -- within the last four or five years -- there was some confusion as to who was monitoring the code and it's requirements," said Santiago Corrada, the city's administrator of neighborhood services.

The health department's letter, under the signature of environmental supervisor Michael Dreyer, is dated March 18. It responded to a complaint the health department received about too-few portable restrooms at the parade.

Dreyer's letter states: "It is the responsibility of the City of Tampa (as the parade permit provider) and the Event Coordinator to provide the appropriate information to the portable restroom provider so that appropriate calculations are made and all necessary unites are provided."

Corrada said city officials thought EventFest and Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla, the lead social group behind the annual festivities, were working with the county health department on providing the correct number of portable bathrooms.

"The issue in our minds was that it was between the health department and EventFest," Corrada said. "The city co-sponsors and supports events; they don't host them. The city isn't in the business of counting Port-O-Lets."

Darrell Stefany, who owns EventFest, said in the 18 years he has coordinated events in Tampa he hasn't heard of the code. He also questioned the accuracy of the estimated crowd attendance. Regardless, he said, he thinks the guidelines will be helpful in staging next year's event.

"We're looking at creative ways to provide Port-O-Lets out there," said Stefany.

"Our best solution though will be to address the behaviors with a different operational plan," he said.

Corrada said city officials are working with EventFest and the Health Department to figure out logistics, such as the feasibility of placing 2,300 portable restrooms along the parade route.

Corrada and Stefany said they hope to have an answer for a community feedback meeting scheduled for May 7 at 6 p.m. at Kate Jackson Community Center, 821 S. Rome Ave.

"The good thing is that everyone is going to get on the same page with this," Corrada said.

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661.

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