Part Mardi Gras, part Halloween, and all Ybor, the 20th anniversary Guavaween celebration and parade this year lands on Saturday, October 30th. This year's theme: The Seven Deadly Sins of Guavaween. Show up in the wildest of costumes and be sure to participate. Several sources recommend that the evening's activities are best reserved for adults, so be sure to bring your children earlier to the Tampa Tribune sponsored Family FunFest from 10am to 3pm, featuring Spooky Story Time, amusement rides, a pumpkin giveaway, the Children's Costume Parade and Contest, and much more.
___The festival, which is a fundraiser for the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce, honors the mythical figure Mama Guava, who leads her group of ghouls, monsters and all other partygoers in The Mama Guava Stumble Parade through Ybor City. Her goal, according to the official web site www.cc-events.org, is to "take the 'bore' out of Ybor". The parade is scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm.
___Participants in this year's costume contest have to register and adhere to a few rules (click here for further information) and are reminded that judges are looking for originality. To get the most out of your experience, guavaween.net suggests a few guidelines and hosts hundreds of photos from past year parades.
___Tampa's Homepage will be there, too, looking for our favorite costumes for a follow-up story and we look forward to seeing you there!
- K.T. Copyright 2004 by Quest Media, LLC. Photos used by permission from www.guavaween.net.