The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1916-01-27

IN telling the story of the genesis
and birth of the great Gasparllla car
nival with which the city OF Tampa
plans to entertain the people OF TINS
state and its assembled guests from
many other states it IL SO necessary
to tell the story of Gasparilla ana the
story OF Ye Mlstic Krewe, which mas
made Gasparilla famous. that the tale
of the Pirate Krewe must OF necessity
come first in the story.
1t should be explained that the Gas
parilla carnival and Ye Mystic KreWe
of Gasparilla are not one and the same
propositions, Ye Mystic KreWe VIII
have their celebration this year as
they have had since 1904, but their
ball will remain their own as II has
always been. They are financing their
own undertaking--and 1t VIII cost
them more than $6,o00-and are doing
their share with about sixty other or
ganizations in making the Gasparilla
carnival the great success II Is GER
tain to be.
The carnival idea was born In tho
heads of a few premier boosters in the
Boosters committee, that aggregation
of live wires in the Tampa Merchants
Association, which Is continually do.
ing things.
1t came along after Tampanama
night.
a Isn't That Name Great?
Already there are indications that
the Gasparilla festival, February 4, B.,
6, Z, s, 8, 10, IL, IL, will be the biggest
thing that Tampa has ever tried and
one of the biggest things over pulled
off in the South. The possibilities OF
a winter festival are unlimited and
there Is no better place-bar none
in the nation than Tampa to have the
big show.
And that name!
Gasparilla Carnival!
1t can't be beaten. The moment a
man hears that name he is obsessed
with a desire to know more of 1t.
Who was Gasparilla?
Why was Gasparilla?
What was Gasparilla?
When was Gasparilla?
Is It q Pullman car or a breakfast
food or q cigar or race horse?
Listen, folks
Gasparilla was a pirate.
Good old Gasparilla Is no more
Like julius Caesar, he is dead, anc
like Julius Caesar, he is to become IA
nous. He was a rover of the sea:
and his modern prototypes are sea
rovers, too.
With which few words let us tel
how Ye Mystic Krcwe of Gaspariili
came to be.
Idea Born in George Harviee's Head
In 1904, George Hardee, fondly re
membered, was in the government
service in this city. He came from
New Orleans, where he is now resid
ing, and the doings of the knights o
Comus and the others of that merr,
crew who make the New Or1ean
Mardi Gras famous from one end o
the country to the other, were fresl
in his mind.
He saw the possibilities of this cit
and suggested to some kindred spir
its the possibility of Tampa putin
on a show similar to that of the Mard
Gras.
There, were some thirty member
in the first band and they organize
Ye Mystic Krewe.
Hardee had heard somewhere o
Gasparilla and that name was hitche
on to the end of the designation as tn
most appropriate thing that could b
conceived.
The man who named the crew ha
an acute sense OF the proper thin
to do. His average in the manner
league was about 800. He shout
be remembered with pride.
Inc name is reminiscent Oh III
south in every sound. The gaiety, tn
langour, the mysticism OF the grea
Gulf is In every syllable. Coral strand.
pirate havens palm-lined beaches
desperate battles, scenes of blood
shed and rapine, the milder side c
pidate life with the days spent on tn
sun-bathed keys, the nights when tn
banjo's tinkle salutes the moon, ar
brought to mind whenever the nam
| is mentioned.
Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilia.
What name could be better?
Gasparilla Gay Dog.
Gasparilla was one of the bucca
neers who made the Gulf a terror {
honest tradesmen in the troubled day
of the close of the eighteenth centur
and the beginning of the nineteenth
SPANS power in the new world wa
fast disintegrating. The shores {
the Gulf were practically No Man
Land. - Great Britain, France, SpaiI
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