Gaucho Association of Tampa

The Gaucho Association traces its roots to the Latin American Fiesta Association. The group was originally formed in the 1950's to serve as escorts to the Queen and Court of the Fiesta. The group was incorporated as The Gauchos of the Latin Fiesta in 1960. The group usually consisted of 12 to 15 members at that time. In 1987, in order to increase the size of our organization and our visibility in the Tampa Bay Area, we decided to go out on our own. The group was renamed the Gaucho Association of Tampa. We currently have 150 members, which is the maximum number we plan on having.

Each year we participate in the Gasparilla Parade, the St. Yago Knight Parade, Clearwater's Sun n' Fun Parade, St. Petersburg's Festival of States Parades, The Rough Riders' St. Patrick's Day Parade, Key West's Fantasy Fest Parade, and New Port Richey's Chasco Fest Parade. We are a charter member of the Inter Krewe Council and participate each year at the Inter Krewe's Carnivale. We also serve as escorts to the Queen and Court at the Latin American Fiesta Association's Annual Coronation Ball.

There are two parties that are sponsored each year, the first one is held in January prior to the Gasparilla Parade and the second one in the August / September period which is know as “Gaucho-Fest”.

The group does not have any general membership meetings. The members have no voting rights. We do not support any charitable or political causes. We do not require that a member must participate in any particular event.

We do have lots of fun and provide free beer and "Doug & Jack's World Famous K.A. Gaucho Sangria" at most of our gatherings.

 

Although we have capped our membership at 150 members, we will continue to accept applications through the website. All applications are placed on a waiting list until an opening is available, which is usually at the end of the renewal of membership period in September/October or later. New applications are accepted on a first come first served basis with one exception, family members (son only) are moved to the front of the line. If you would like to become a member of the Gauchos please submit a completed application via the website and you will be added to the current waiting list. Applications will be acknowledged upon receipt by the Vice President of Membership.

Gaucho Float

The front of the 44' long vehicle is a caricature of a Gaucho's face. He is adorned with moving eyes and eyebrows and a large smoking cigar jutting out from under his large black mustache. He sports a gold earring in his left ear and wears the latest in designer sunglasses. The rear unit has been named the "Casa del Gauchos". It is a two room structure supports a smoking chimney. The float has two beverage stations, seating for approximately 15 Gauchos, a sound booth with 2400 watts of professional audio equipment, and a bathroom facility. For night parades, the unit is spectacular. It is under-lit with black lighting, has amber spotlights illuminating the eyes, a glowing red tip on the smoking cigar, and florescent lighting on the mustache.

The Gauchos constructed the float in 1991 based on the design and engineering of Master Float Builder Tom Henry. It has won First Place awards in all of the major parade events in the Tampa Bay Area. It is always a crowd favorite.

Gaucho Logo and Coin

With the start of our independence, it became apparent that we needed a logo of our own. Gaucho Tom Henry discovered a National Geographic article titled "Last of a Breed". The article went into great detail on the adventuresome romantic lifestyle of these real life "pirates of the Pampas". The Gaucho immortalized on the face of the coin is actually that of a genuine Gaucho shown in the magazine article. The back side of the coin recognizes the Gauchos' top three priorities in life, his CABALLO (Horse), FAC'ON (Knife) and CHINA (Woman).