Numbers pump up pride

Puerto Ricans, the dominant Hispanic group in the bay area, turn out to celebrate with others.

By KEVIN GRAHAM, St. Petersburg Times
Published April 25, 2005
Times photos: Ken Helle

TAMPA - The heart of Ybor City pulsed to a Latin beat Sunday as Puerto Ricans, the largest Hispanic group in the Tampa Bay area, salsa danced down Seventh Avenue.

Started in 1988, the Puerto Rico Cultural Parade of Florida had its biggest turnout ever with nearly 80,000 people, said parade president Sandra Acevedo.

In Hillsborough County, Puerto Ricans are the dominant Hispanic group, with 67,706, more than Cubans or Mexicans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2003 American Community Survey.

Add to Tampa's Puerto Rican population those living in St. Petersburg and Clearwater, and the number swells to 97,805. The census survey ranks the Tampa Bay area No. 5 on a list of Top 10 metropolitan areas with Puerto Rican residents, above No. 6 Miami and No. 9 Boston. New York ranked No. 1 and Orlando No. 4.

"I think that the Hispanic community at large is growing and (the parade) is a celebration of that," Acevedo said. "It's better than ever."

World Boxing Organization junior welterweight champion Miguel Cotto led the parade as this year's grand marshal. Cotto, 24, a spokesman in Puerto Rico for a postal service food drive, boxed at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

"I get really emotional to see there are more than Latins here but people from all sectors," he said through a translator.

Cotto will fight Muhammad Abdullaev, who took the gold medal from him in Sydney, at Madison Square Garden June 11, then lead New York City's Puerto Rican parade as its grand marshal the next day.

Bernice Ruiz, 24, of Brandon, said she's Cotto's "biggest fan."

"I came prepared," she said after posing for a picture with him. She had him sign two boxing gloves she bought when she heard he would be in Ybor City.

While colorful floats snaked their way through Ybor City streets, a 2-year-old python slithered around Jay Buenano's neck.

"This is a cultural thing," Buenano, 28, of Tampa, said of the parade. "People from other countries get together and we have a family celebration."

The snake, named Xi, garnered his own attention, Buenano said. "People usually want to take a picture with him."

Among the dignitaries in this year's parade were U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who attended for the first time, and U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, a Democratic candidate for governor.

"I represent the entire state of Florida and I've been in about every one of the Gasparilla parades," Nelson said. "It was time I came to this."

Beyond the parade, vendors set up at Anthony Pizzo Park selling clothes and food, one of the reasons 17-year-old Priscilla Vasquez of Tampa decided to return this year.

"I came for the food and the guys," she said.

--Kevin Graham can be reached at 813 226-3433 or kgraham@sptimes.com