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Here comes Gulfport’s 2024 Geckofest
It’s not exactly Bacchanalian – at least, not before the sun goes down – but Gulfport’s annual end-of-summer celebration, Geckofest, is probably the closest thing Pinellas County has to Mardi Gras.
Much of Geckofest, celebrating its 24th go-round this Saturday (Aug. 31) from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., is family-oriented. There are five stages, devoted for the most part to live music, but several featuring illusionists, clowns, circus acts, breakdancing demos and a hoop artist.
At three intersections along the seven cordoned-off blocks between Gulfport Boulevard and Beach Boulevard, street theater performers will be stationed, including stilt walkers, balloon animal-makers and more.
The day’s activities, including the 6:15 p.m. parade (expect a lot of costumes, kids and merriment) are free, but tickets are nearly sold out for Friday night’s Gecko Ball at the Gulfport Coliseum.
Find information about the party, with live and silent auctions, dining, dancing and the coronation of the 2024 Gecko Queen, here. This year’s theme is “Live From Gulfport, it’s Gecko Night!”
Event organizer Suzie King expects 20,000 people to visit Geckofest Saturday, “although not all at the same time. It’s just too hot.”
King and her associates thought hard about keeping visitors cool under the broiling August sun.
“This year we added a frozen T-shirt contest,” she says proudly. “We’re not the first ones that ever did it. We were like ‘it’s hotter than blazes – how are we going to keep people cool?’ Someone suggested misters, but you know what misters do – it turns the place into a sauna.”
The frozen T-shirt contest takes place on the South Stage at 3:30 p.m., in between live bands and not long after the Gecko Skateboard Race.
“We took some T-shirts that were donated by a local business, we soaked them in water, and then we put ‘em in Ziploc bags … and put ‘em in the freezer,” King explains.
“They have to thaw that block of ice out and get the shirt on their body, with their head through the neck and their arms through the holes. You have to put it on like a shirt.
“That’s how we’re going to keep them cool.”
Elizabeth Neily was one of the founders of Geckofest in 2001, alongside Marlene Shaw and Frank Hibrandt. At first the event was produced by the City; since 2004, it’s been operated by the Gulfport Merchants Council.
Her suggestion was to name the nascent festival after something Floridian, like a mullet or a magnolia. But others in her brainstorming group voted in the Mediterranean gecko, the nocturnal, bug-eyed, bug-eating lizard that’s probably in the crevices of every home in the state.
But the gecko, Neily protested, isn’t even indigenous to Florida. “I got overruled,” Neely laughs today, “and it’s been the Geckofest ever since.”
Neily, at that inaugural event, was dubbed O-fish-al Gecko Goddess. “I’m not a queen,” she stresses. “Don’t demote me.”
Although the Gecko Queen is chosen every year, “the goddess is a lifelong title. We just kind of gave ourselves names in the beginning, and it stuck.” There aren’t really any perks, it’s just a nice, suitably wacky, title.
She’s no longer involved in the event’s organization, but Neily makes a point of attending the Gecko Ball, and the parade, every year.
“I think at Geckofest the parade is the most fun,” she says. “Because we try to encourage everybody to get in. We don’t want an audience. We want everybody to be in the parade.”
