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Fun's the norm at Guavaween
[Times photo: Dirk Shadd 1998]
Ghosts and goblins haunt Ybor City when Guavaween returns Saturday. |
By BABITA PERSAUD
© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 25, 2001
Daytime is for kids, nighttime for the grownups at the bay area's biggest Halloween bash.
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TAMPA -- President Bush issued the order: "Return to normal."
In Ybor City, that means Guavaween, the annual Latin-style Halloween street party. Now in its 18th year, the all-day event again offers day and night activities. That means kids' and no-kids activities.
Guavaween is a fundraiser for the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce and attracts about 100,000 partyers every year. A 28-block area will be cordoned off, which undoubtedly will include some construction areas, considering all the work that's going on in Ybor these days.
Instead of ignoring the inconvenience, Guavaween organizer CC Events is making it a feature, printing T-shirts and posters with the slogan: "Excuse Mama's Mess the Party's still on!"
All the favorites return, including the Mama Guava Stumble parade starting at 6:30 p.m.
[Times photo: Chris Schneider 2000]
Mama Guava shows her patriotic spirit at Guavaween last year.
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The national acts coming to Guavaween this year are teen pop singer Mandy Moore, Lifehouse (current hit: Hanging by a Moment) and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad fame.
Guavaween returns to its Latin roots this year with a party within a party at Centro Ybor: TropicalFest, hosted by Tampa's Hispanic stations Telemundo, Tropical 680 and Amor 1550, features continuous salsa music and at 4 p.m. the Guava Love It! cooking contest.
Trying to park in Ybor during Guavaween can be a nightmare. But bus service runs all day Saturday, 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).
Cost is $5 for adults; kids ride free.
Afternoon bus service begins at 4 from five locations and costs $6. A $15 round-trip ticket that includes admission cost is also available. The last bus leaves Ybor at 3 a.m.
Pick-up locations:
- Britton Plaza -- Dale Mabry Highway and Euclid Avenue, South Tampa.
- Florida State Fairgrounds -- Take the Orient Road exit from Interstate 4. Enter the fairgrounds between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Hillsborough Avenue.
- Tampa Bay Center -- Himes Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, West Tampa.
- Tampa Port Authority -- 1101 Channelside Drive, near Ice Palace.
- USF Sun Dome -- 4202 E Fowler Ave., USF Tampa campus
GUAVAWEEN 2001
Family FunFest: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Ninth Avenue between Ybor Square and Centennial Park.
11 a.m.-1 p.m. -- Pumpkin cookie decorating contest, Eighth Avenue and 15th Street
Noon-2 p.m. -- Scavenger hunt, Eighth Avenue and 15th Street
1-3 -- Trick-or-treat, Centro Ybor
2-3 -- Scary story time, Ybor City State Museum courtyard, 1818 E Ninth Ave.
3:30 -- Children's costume parade and contest, Ninth Avenue and 13th Street.
4 -- Guava Love It! cooking contest, Centro Ybor.
Night of Costumed Revelry: Begins at 4 p.m.
6:30 -- Mama Guava Stumble Parade begins at Seventh Avenue and 20th Street, heads west on Seventh Avenue, north on 14th Street and east on Ninth Avenue.
9 -- Features Costume Contest, Ninth Avenue near 14th Street. First prize $1,000.
Music lineup:
98 Rock stage
(Seventh Avenue and 15th Street)
4 p.m. -Systematic
5:20 -- Stereomud
7:30 -- Adema
8:30 -- Drowning Pool
9:45 -- Disturbed
Thunder 103.5 stage
(Ninth Avenue between 13th and 14th streets)
5 -- Supernatural
6:45 -- Bush Hounds
9 -- Costume contest
9:30 -- Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad
93.3 WFLZ stage
(Ninth Avenue and 19th Street)
6 -- Exact
6:30 -- PYT
7:15 -- Olive Carpet
8:30 -- Mandy Moore
9 DJ -- Structure
9:45 -- Lifehouse
TropicalFest at Guavaween
Tropical 680, Amor 1550 and Telemundo
(Centro Ybor)
5 -- Liza
5:30 -- Jive V
6 -- Rolando Y Su Dan Den
7 -- Ricardo & Alberto
7:30 -- Eduardo Berastequi
8 -- Ley Alejandro
8:30 -- Projecto Uno
9:15 -- Cana Brava
10 -- Fulanito
11 -- Puertorrican Power
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At a glance: Guavaween 2001 is Saturday in Ybor City (see schedule for specific locations), starting with the Family FunFest, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Cost $2; costumed children free. The adult portion of the event, the Night of Costumed Revelry (adult fun), starts at 4 p.m. Cost $10.
Call Guavaween Hotline: (813) 242-4828. Web site: www.cc-events.org.
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