The Gasparilla Children’s Parade is a special event, and Tampa is lucky to have it. The 1.4-mile extravaganza looks like Tampa–white, black and brown. English and Spanish. Lots of families. Little kids on the shoulders of dads. A parade for all the right reasons with all the right, animatedly sober people.
I was checking out the vintage parade ambience at the intersection of Orleans Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard. How refreshingly old school, I thought. Lemonade and not Bud Light. And who can’t see cotton candy and not hearken back to your childhood.
Then I peered down Bayshore and saw an elevated security cubicle, dubbed “Cops in a box.” I thought “Boston Marathon.” End of reverie.
I noted a colorful souvenir cart being pushed down Bayshore, several little tykes in its wake. It rolled past the funnel cake and Italian sausage concessions. It was soon overtaken by a notably sturdy-looking golf cart. Uniformed police officers were on board.
Its specific function was soon obvious. The words “bomb squad” said it all: The 2014 Gasparilla Children’s Parade–and the new normal.