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Guavaween: It's for families and frolickers
[Times photo: Dirk Shadd 1998]
Costume contests and out-of-this-world revelers are all part of Guavaween. |
By SHANNON BREEN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 24, 2002
This year, the Ybor City Halloween party has local bands and open intersections.
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Ybor City's Seventh Avenue has been likened to New Orleans' Bourbon Street for their commonalities: large crowds, beads, bosoms, booze.
And parades.
For the 19th year, the mythical Mama Guava leads her cohorts through the Ybor City commons in an annual Halloween parade, commonly known as Guavaween.
Saturday's all-day celebration, which usually attracts more than 100,000 revelers, is for children and adults, just at different times. Kids and families get the first half of the day (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
The Guavaween Family FunFest has a costume parade and contest in Centennial Park at 3:30 p.m. Children can compete for prizes. The Family FunFest extends from 14th Street to 20th Street on Eighth Avenue, where there are three entertainment stages.
The debauchery begins at 4 p.m. and is scheduled to last until at least 3 a.m.
The Stumble Parade, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., begins at Seventh Avenue and 20th Street and goes west on Seventh Avenue, then north on 14th Street.
Guavaween returns to its Latin roots this year with a party within a party at Centennial Park: TropicalFest, hosted by Tampa's Hispanic stations Telemundo and Viva 1550 AM. And at 4 p.m., there's the Guava Love It! cooking contest in the park.
Four stages will be set up throughout Ybor City for local musical acts and national acts.
The national acts are the Backstreet Boys, less Nick Carter ( See related story, page XXW), Daniel Bedingfield (Gotta Get Through This), Angie Martinez, Amber and Faith Trent.
This is the first year that Guavaween will feature local bands. Christening the local stage are Barely Pink, Big Kitty, Helium Bomb, Red Tide and the Urbane Cowboys.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show plays at 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. at Muvico in Centro Ybor with a Rocky Horror costume contest at 8 p.m.
Winners from that contest also will compete in the Features Costume Contest at 9 p.m. on the main stage in Centro Ybor along with contestants picked from the crowd.
As always, parking in Ybor City ( See bus schedule below) during big events can cause headaches, but at least one problem is gone.
"For the first time in about four years, we're not competing with construction," said promoter Teresa Cox Hickey. "This is the first year that every single intersection going into Ybor City will be open with entrance ways at 17 gates."
There also is an additional parking garage this year.
Guavaween Family FunFest schedule:
11 a.m. -- First 250 children in costume to the MORE-TV 32 display at Centennial Park (Eighth Avenue between 18th and 19th Street) get a free pumpkin; Kids Workshop at Mix 100.7 Creature Feature Corner (Eighth Avenue and 15th Street).
11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. -- Continuous entertainment on stages at Ninth Avenue and 19th Street, Eighth Avenue and 15th Street and Eighth Avenue between 15th and 17th streets.
11 a.m.-4 p.m. -- Creatures of Delight Haunted House, 15th Street and Eighth Avenue.
Noon-2 p.m. -- Silly Scavenger Hunt, beginning at MORE-TV 32 booth in Centennial Park.
1 to 3 p.m. -- Safe Trick-or-Treat at Centro Ybor.
2 to 3 p.m. -- Spooky Story Time, Ybor City State Museum Courtyard, Ninth Avenue across from Centennial Park.
3:30 p.m. -- Children's Costume Parade and Contest at Ninth Avenue and 19th Street.
4 p.m. -- Guava Love It Cooking Contest at the Viva La Rumba, Centennial Park.
Bus schedule:
Buses run all day, beginning at 10 a.m. for the kids' events, from the Florida State Fairgrounds (enter off Orient Road between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Hillsborough Avenue) and the Tampa Port Authority (1101 Channelside Drive; enter off Kennedy Boulevard at Twiggs Street).
Two additional stops are added at 4 p.m.: Raymond James Stadium (Enter off Himes Avenue on S Tampa Bay Boulevard) and the USF Sun Dome (4202 E Fowler Ave., USF Tampa campus).
The 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. fare is $5 for adults; kids ride free. The price increases to $7 at 4 p.m.. A $15 round-trip ticket that includes Guavaween admission also available. The last bus leaves Ybor City at 3 a.m.
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Guavaween Family FunFest, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Admission $3, children in costume free.
Guavaween, 4 p.m. to 3 a.m., $10. Events throughout Ybor City. (813) 621-7121 or (813) 248-0721.
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