Features and Series
For The Love Of Beads
By Mitch Traphagen mitch@observernews.net
Feb 15, 2007, 22:38

Charlotte de Berry krewe member Tracy Howard prepares to launch beads to begging partiers on a second floor balcony in Ybor City during the Sant Yago Knights Parade on Feb. 10. More than 100,000 people were estimated to have attended the event. Mitch Traphagen Photo

YBOR CITY – “Be careful everyone – you’re on your own now,” yelled out Jamey Baker as more than 50 beautiful female pirates emptied out onto the darkened streets of Ybor City.  There was no drama to that statement – simply fact.  For the all-woman Krewe of Charlotte de Berry, the Sant Yago Knight Parade had just ended along with a charged evening of beads and revelry with more than 100,000 people. 

Baker was the head of security on a detail that included the husbands and boyfriends of krewe members.  A hired Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy completed the detail.  Together, they were there to ensure that among the thousands of hands outstretched for beads, none were able to grope or grab one of the pirates.

At one time known as Night Gasparilla, the Sant Yago Knight Parade is considered the largest and most elaborate nighttime parade in the South.  The tales of debauchery,  Baker and Deputy Gonzalez were omnipresent – and always gentlemen by offering steady, helping hands to the elaborately dressed and bead-laden pirates getting on and off the moving float (and also to a camera-laden reporter).

The first half of the parade rolled through the family oriented section of Channelside.  Parents with children weighed down by thick strands of beads cheered as the parade passed by (note to future parade-goers:  If you want to catch the attention of the Krewe of Charlotte de Berry, have a cute kid handy).  As the parade started and stalled to allow the floats to navigate the tight turns and a roundabout of neo-urbanism, the crowd and pirates partied together to the music.  Overhead the onslaught of flying beads was relentless – much to the appreciation of the children scrambling to grab them.

Commodore Lisa McCorkle zeroed in on children, often picking them up as she adorned them with beads.  Krewe member Tracy Howard also focused on children but could always be counted on to ensure the elderly members of the crowd went home with colorful neckwear.  She also personally saw to it that a large percentage of the law enforcement personnel were properly attired for the occasion.  Jean Zabel provided hugs along with some of her beads and another krewe member placed kisses on the foreheads of children.

As the floats passed under the Ybor City arch on Seventh Avenue, the tone changed somewhat.  The crowd was bigger and louder – and in much closer quarters.  In some places, the floats passed so near to the bulging police barricades, the krewe members on the float could simply place the beads into outstretched hands.  But even in the heart of the party, there were children, retirees, tourists and those just there for the fun all mixed in with the hard-core revelers.  

To be certain, there were those who partied a bit too hard along with the occasional flash of flesh in the crowd but it was all fairly benign.  The massive law-enforcement presence likely helped with that although they appeared to blend into the background.  Like the krewe’s security detail, they were there to ensure that nothing strayed too far out of hand.  

“I want that one” a girl seems to say to a member of the Knights of St. John while pointing to a fire engine ornament around his neck. Mitch Traphagen Photo

For the most part, however, the attitude seemed to be, “if they weren’t hurting or killing each other – or if they weren’t damaging anything – then just let them have fun.”

And it was fun.  There is much that is serious in today’s world but on that night, there was a brief escape into a fantasyland of color, sound, lights and pirates along with just enough naughtiness to fuel the sordid tales for next year’s parade.  Political correctness could be saved for another day.

Almost too abruptly, it was over.  The Krewe of Charlotte de Berry float took off and mingled in amongst the now-unrestricted traffic with drivers gawking at the spectacle of an odd looking vehicle filled with women dressed as pirates.  The krewe, however, was fairly quiet – the tiring result of putting on a show for a couple of hours in front of tens of thousands of people.  

As the float finally stopped near a central parking area just off the parade route, some of the security detail went to work cleaning and disassembling the float.  Baker and Gonzalez held back and watched as the women faded into the crowd of partiers and pirates packing Ybor City.  Until the next parade, just over a month away, they were on their own.

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Krewe member Tracy McGovern gets into the spirit as the float starts to roll down the Channelside District. Mitch Traphagen Photo

The Krewe of Charlotte de Berry is fairly unique in that it is an all-woman organization. Given the theme of the evening, security was necessary to ensure that each of the pirates survived the evening with dignity intact. Pictured above, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Deputy Domingo Gonzalez offers a hand to a krewe member to board the moving float. Mitch Traphagen Photo

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