Opening January 24, 2026, a special exhibit at the Henry B. Plant Museum looks beyond the myth of pirate José Gaspar to explore the arcane symbols and community customs that gave rise to one of the nation’s most recognized celebrations. Gaspar’s Gold: Carnival and Community in a New South City runs through August 30, 2026.

In 1904, aspiring business elites donned pirate garb to “plunder” the city, a spirited adaptation of European carnival and misrule. Their revelry, which included riding in the May Day Festival Parade, ended with a ball in the Tampa Bay Hotel dining room. Soon after, J. Lott Brown, the Hotel’s manager, turned part of the property into a fairground; he took inspiration from world fairs and exhibitions. The first Florida state fair opened on November 15, 1904. Before long, the Gasparilla Carnival that evolved out of the May Festival merged with the South Florida Fair, inventing traditions that forever redefined Tampa’s community identity.



For seventy years, the buildings and grounds that began as the Tampa Bay Hotel served as the home of the Gasparilla Carnival and South Florida Fair. The Museum is proud to display a treasure trove of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla royal crowns, coronation invitations, dance cards, and other ephemera dating back to 1904, on loan from The Henry B. Plant Museum Society. In addition, a rich range of objects representing Egypt Shriners, the Latin American Fiesta Association, the Krewe of Venus, and other community organizations reveal how fraternalism, philanthropy, religious and ethnic celebrations, and fresh ties to New Orlean’s Mardi Gras renewed and reinvented Tampa’s tradition. Visitors can also enjoy historic photographs and objects recapturing livestock competitions, agricultural displays, and midway attractions.

Some residents can still recall the childhood thrill of packing a picnic lunch and finding the perfect spot to gaze in wonder at fantastical Gasparilla floats. The memory typically includes dashing into the fray to collect spent shell casings and pirate coins. Thanks to the generosity of Karlin Gasthoff, visitors to Gaspar’s Gold will have the rare opportunity to view original illustrations and ephemera by John F. Gasthoff, heralded as “the dean of American float makers,” and his son. These unique items bring to life Tampa’s annual procession of floats, grotesque heads, and marching bands.



A variety of events will accompany this special exhibition.
 
“Parade Roots: Mardi Gras, Mayhem and Meaning in the Gulf South,” a talk by Anthony Stanonis, Ph.D.
February 20, 2026, 6:45 pm

“Pirates of the Golden Age Atlantic: Romance versus Reality,” Jamie L.H. Goodall, Ph.D.
April 11, 2026, 6:45 pm