The legend of Jose Gaspar is strong, especially in Tampa Bay during Gasparilla.
"So enjoy the death of Jose Gasparilla. What's most important is people celebrate this weekend. We're excited for Gasparilla and this is just another feature we bring to the story of Jose Gasparilla," explained YMKG Captain Peter Lackman.
Lackman explains the new feature at this year's parade as they "celebrate" 200 years since Jose Gaspar's death.
"This is the tomb of the pirate Jose Gasparilla, who died in 1821 by his own hand in battle. And so in this tomb, we have 1821 Captain Jose Gasparilla, drowned in battle. So you're going to see this in the Day Parade. This is going to be our special feature of the Day Parade is going to be this tomb. It's going to be on a funeral caisson, a funeral caisson is a wagon that is led by two black horses with black feathers, and some morose guy up front and a black jacket, lead on with the horses. And this will be sitting on that funeral caisson and we'll have 40 flag boys all in black following."
