However, police say, complaints are few. Maybe it's the beads, that bright and shiny booty, arcing through the air to some lucky spectator standing curbside, arms outstretched and face hopeful. Like its bawdier cousin in New Orleans, Mardi Gras, Tampa's Gasparilla parade is developing something of a blushing reputation for the baring of breasts for beads. I wish I had as much charisma as those beads seem to generate. Sometimes it's a young woman on her boyfriend's shoulders, sometimes its a group of women.
Warmer weather seems to make it easier, minus the bother of coats and sweaters.
Given the postcard-perfect weather expected Saturday, plus the super hype of Super Bowl, this could be a record year for breast baring. But that's after she's been warned once by police. Perhaps predictably, police get few complaints. Tampa police might get one or two per Gasparilla parade, said spokesman Joe Durkin. A Hillsborough sheriff's spokeswoman noted this is a busy, high-energy event attended by thousands.