About Us

Physically, all of our program equipment made it through the storms with minor to no damage. We consider ourselves quite lucky as an organization. However, there are volunteers within our organization, along with so many in the Tampa Bay Region that have lost everything. 

As our volunteers focus on their homes and families, we find ourselves looking for more volunteers than ever before. We are looking for fun loving, quality pirates that love to work with children and the public for a good cause. 

Many of the outdoor venues that our organization hosts events at throughout the year were impacted by the storms. This can and will impact future events. The most notable is De Soto National Memorial Park in Bradenton where we host our annual Castortowne Pirate Invasion, and participate in many events throughout the year. Here is an update as of 10/30/24 from their social media:

"POST HURRICANES HELENE & MILTON UPDATE: 

De Soto National Memorial still remains closed to the public. We are currently removing fallen trees and other large debris from the park. Park management is working with NPS Southeast Region to schedule teams  to cleanup and rebuild trails. The Park's Visitor Center will be without power and sewage for an extended period of time while we await specialist to restore these services. The Visitor Center has suffered water and mold damage and must be remodeled and redesigned. 

For all visitors that ask why we have not reopened or wishing for a timetable. Unfortunately, with the type and amount of damage the park faced as a result of these two Hurricanes the best answer to give is that we do not currently have a timetable. Specialist and resources must be gathered from other park service sites. It will take time for the NPS to gather these resources and have them sent to the park. Funds to support these resources must be approved through congress, so we must be patient and wait as our requests move through the appropriate channels for approval. We are currently on a long list of parks that are in need for these resources. Considering the parks such as Great Smokey Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway have also suffered greater damage we will have to wait for our turn behind the greater needs.

Until the park can restore services like power and sewage and the larger hazards of downed trees and large pieces of broken docks are taken care of by experienced work crews, we cannot allow volunteer groups to assist due to the high safety risks. Once these risks are taken care of and services are restored, we will then schedule volunteer groups to help out.

We greatly appreciate your patience in these trying times and continue to ask for your understanding as we move to rebuild De Soto National Memorial back better than it was before. #HurricaneRecovery #DeSotoNM "

Have a question or want to get in touch? We'd love to hear from you. Keep a weather eye for more updates concerning the Krewe!