By BOB KECSKEMETY
Photo: El Gancho (right), takes place during Tampa’s Gasparilla Festival Weekend, Jan. 28 – 30. Courtesy, Wikimedia.org
El Gancho, a new circuit party weekend to be held in Ybor City, will take place during Tampa’s Gasparilla Festival Weekend, Jan. 28 – 30. Famed circuit master DJ Abel will headline the event, which will benefit the nonprofit Metro Wellness and Community Center that recently opened in Ybor City.
The weekend starts on Friday, Jan. 28 when DJ Power Infiniti takes hold of the Whips & Chains Party from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. at the Castle Ybor.
The El Gancho party itself will be held on Saturday, Jan. 29 from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. at the Ritz Ybor Theater. DJ Abel will make this an event something that Tampa has never seen before with heavy tribal beats, diva anthems, spectacular lighting and eclectic performances.
Photo: (above Courtesy, JeffreySanker.com) DJ Abel spining at White Party.
Other events during the weekend include happy hour receptions on both Friday and Saturday afternoons at the Don Vincente Inn and a VIP pre-party Saturday evening right before El Gancho at the Ritz Ybor Theater. DJs Abel and Power Infiniti will hold a meet and greet at the VIP pre-party and there will also be a fashion show, food and music. The weekend wraps up at a Farewell Party to held at Hamburger Mary’s/Ybor City on Sunday, Jan. 30 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“It’s something that’s been running around in our heads for a couple of years,” said Tony LaColla who, along with Manny Alvarez, are producing the event. “It’s something that Ybor City really needs. Ybor City has really come around as a gay and lesbian neighborhood, especially with the GAYbor District.”We figured this would be the perfect weekend to do it. It would give people something new to do, attract new people to visit the area and really experience what Tampa has to offer.”
LaColla says El Gancho will bring something new to Ybor City and attract people to the area who might not have come otherwise. He expects to draw as many as 1,200 people the first year of the event. Alvarez, a promoter, adds that Tampa and Ybor City will be the place to be during Gasparilla weekend.
“It’s time for Tampa to take its place as a circuit destination and what better time of year to make that happen than during Gasparilla,” said Alvarez. “This circuit event will help promote Ybor City nationwide, benefit a local nonprofit vested in Ybor City, and provide a party unlike any other.
With D.J. Abel, the best circuit DJ in the country, there is no other place to be than Tampa over Gasparilla weekend.”
Founded in 1904 and often thought of as Florida’s Mardi Gras, the Gasparilla Pirate Invasion and Festival is an annual celebration held in Tampa and celebrates the legend of José Gaspar, a Spanish pirate captain who operated in Southwest Florida. The theme is an “invasion” by Gasparilla and his men, which begins when the “Krewe” (made up of residents of the city) arrives on a 165-foot long pirate ship in Tampa Bay and lands near downtown Tampa.
The mayor of Tampa then lends the key of the city to the pirate captain and a parade ensues down Bayshore Boulevard. Much like the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the “pirates” throw beads, coins and other items while shooting blank pistols from floats during the parade. The average attendance for the event is over 500,000 people.
