The Grand Marshall for this year’s Sant’ Yago Knight Parade was TV show host, Steve Wilkos. We got some great pics with the friendly tv celebrity…
Sant’ Yago Knight Parade
The Grand Marshall for this year’s Sant’ Yago Knight Parade was TV show host, Steve Wilkos. We got some great pics with the friendly tv celebrity. The pre-party parade setup has krewes listening to bands, serving awesome tailgate party food & adult beverages all served in red cups! It is a great social community club event. The historic Ybor City fun night had an attendance over 140,000 bead hungry grabbing partiers. The more of an adult themed parade had over 140 entries in the annual parade with floats, krewes and high school bands. And yes, tons of pirate thrown beads. The money raised by the krewe goes to the Sant’ Yago Education Foundation for college scholarships.
GaYBOR District Coalition’s Planning Meeting
The February GaYBOR District Meeting was at the Metro Wellness & Community Center in GaYBOR/ Ybor City. We were introduced to the new Ybor Community TPD Officer Dianne Lopes helping TPD Officer Sean Mahabir. The first 6 months of 2013 were layed out, with events including this weekend’s big, Gay Gasparilla Softball Tourney with 88 teams coming from all over the country playing in Tampa, Fiesta Day Weekend Feb 23, Rough Rider’s St Patty Night Parade – March 16, GaYBOR’s Annual Easter Bonnet Bar Crawl – March 24th, Miss GaYBOR Pageant – May 19th, Annual GaYBOR Days on Memorial Day Weekend that includes a great line up of celebrities, the premier of a new Gay Movie, GaYBOR’s White Party, Poolside Party, and a host of great shows at all the clubs that weekend – May 25th – 27th, a new upcoming collaboration in May with Hillsborough Community College & GaYBOR District for a judged Ybor Painted Rooster Art Competition.
GaYBOR Member of the Week
Festive Floats
It is always an exciting time when we go out to the Festive Floats Offices & Float Barn to see all the newly decorated floats getting ready for the 2013 parade season. Owners, Chick and Bruce Adams started the company in 1994 and have over 50 themed floats that are uniquely made and decorated up. The float company has 2 locations to coral all the moving promenade spectacles. New floats are designed and take 6 months from concept to final product. Chick has a big wall boards for all annual event parade dates and locations in their office off Falkenburg Road in East Tampa. The company contracts out their floats and travel from Key West to Mobile, Alabama and all cities in between.
GaYBOR District Coalition has contracted for floats the past 6 years. Festive Floats are founding members to the GaYBOR District Coalition. When we went to deliver beads and place goodies for the GaYBOR Krewes floatiers in last Saturday nights Sant’ Yago Knight Parade, another GLBT group arrived. A group from The Krewe of the Cavaliers also came to get things delivered and set up on their floats.
We all appreciate the colorful beads, the pretty krewes costumes and rugged pirate groups throwing out the goodies and the chromatic adorned floats as they all pass by. Now you know the rest of the floats story.
Mark & Carrie’s Nephew/ Niece of the Week
Troy Chisholm
https://www.facebook.com/troy.chisholm.7
Troy is a treasure of GaYBOR/Ybor City. This former wrestling champ is now the bar manager at Hamburger Mary’s. His girlfriend is also one of the luckiest people in Ybor too!!