Krewes get floats ready for the Gasparilla Children's Parade

TAMPA, Fla. - The pirates are about to invade Tampa as Gasparilla season gets underway this Saturday with the children's parade.

Before they invade, the pirates are working to get their floats ready for the three parades, the children's parade, the Gasparilla parade and the Knight parade in Ybor City.

Stepp's Towing Company pulls about half the floats in the Gasparilla parade, which is a lot considering there are more than 130 floats in the parade this year.

The owner of Stepp's Towing realized many of the krewes needed space to store the floats so they wouldn't get ruined sitting outside in the Florida elements. So, they built three warehouses off Hillsborough Avenue to store them.

About 50 krewes lease the space right now and the towing company says there's enough land to build more storage if necessary.

This week, the krewes have been stopping by their floats to add new decorations, beads, and embellishments, and stock them up with beverages and other necessities.

FOX 13 also has a float and is the exclusive broadcast partner of the Gasparilla Children's Parade. Laura Moody is the Grand Marshal and you can watch the parade live on FOX 13, on fox13news.com and on Facebook from 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. Saturday.