TAMPA - You're standing on Nuccio Parkway after dark, the throb of songs by OutKast, the B-52s and Justin Timberlake pulsing up the street. Over throngs of outstretched hands sail strands of plastic beads, simple loops of rainbow colors that under streetlights glint like gold.
You thought Gasparilla was over, your chance to party like a pirate during this treasured Tampa festival gone until next year - but no. Like last call at a favorite pub or the last dance at a wedding, the Krewe of Sant' Yago Illuminated Night Parade wound its way through Ybor City on Saturday, offering roughly 40,000 people one more chance to celebrate.
This is a night that makes people on Seventh Avenue wave for beads from second-story windows or swoop a fishing net over your head for a lucky catch.
It brings out spectators like Daisy Jones, 72, remembering boxes of beads she carted to grandchildren in Atlanta over the years, and Jones' friend, Erica Lewis, 37, describing how you give some away but "the good ones, I hang on the mirror of the car."
It sparks encouragement from the revelers on floats, who yell, "If you want beads, you know what you have to do: Let me hear you scream!"
It brings together partygoers snagging extra sparkle before hitting the clubs and youngsters like Davarius Garland, 14, leaping in cleats to catch flying strands as he tries to win more through politeness: "Can I have some, miss? How're you, sir?"
It turns everyone into excited bundles like Theounciyah Nedd, 6, and her 4-year-old sister, hopping up and down and calling "Me! Me!" to every pirate they see. The girls look like they've gained five pounds under their beads, but relatives and strangers loop more over their heads, because when it comes to beads, more is never enough.
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