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Ye Mystic Krewe, the oldest and most prestigious krewe of Gasparilla, caught some heat in the early 1990s for its elitist, all-male, all-white membership. Local feminist Louise Thompson revealed the names and businesses of all men who belonged to Ye Mystic Krewe, the oldest and most prestigious krewe, in her 1992 book No Girls Allowed. It took five years, the induction of a famous king named George Steinbrenner and an already growing trend among some of the newest krewes for Ye Mystic Krewe to establish a scholarship fund for local high school kids. "We have this group of krewes that came along in the middle of krewe history, I call us the middle kids," said Yvonne Painton, who started the Krewe of Pair O' Dice in 1995 and heads Krewes Kare, which brings krewes together to raise money for hurricane victims. Richard Gonzmart was one of the brothers who resigned from the Sant'Yago krewe, which his father helped form, after a DJ on the krewe's Gasparilla boat made vulgar remarks and he didn't feel the krewe's leadership dealt with it properly.

Read the full story at St. Petersburg Times

Posted Under: Charitable Organizations