Buzz: Gasparilla Pirate Festival invades Tampa Saturday

Stylin’, profilin’, limousine riding pro wrestling legend “Nature Boy” Ric Flair is going to do some parade float riding this Saturday.

Flair will be grand marshal for the 2023 Gasparilla Parade of Pirates, leading more than 95 parade floats, 50 krewes, seven marching bands and the Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla pirates down the 4 ½ mile route along Tampa’s waterfront Bayshore Boulevard.  

Flair will be joined by Sgt. Maj. Matt Parrish, the honorary community hero for this year’s parade. Parrish is the Senior Enlisted Leader for the US Special Operations Command Preservation of the Force and Family Program and a Green Beret who has completed multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, earning three Bronze Stars, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, an Army Meritorious Service Medal, two Joint Commendation Medals and two Army Commendation Medals.

The schedule Saturday for the Seminole Hard Rock Gasparilla Pirate Fest includes the Gasparilla Invasion from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tampa Convention Center. The  Parade of Pirates begins at Bayshore and Bay Boulevard at 2 p.m. and runs to 5 p.m.

For more information, go to Gasparilla Pirate Fest.