Chris Alahousos, who was born in Kalymnos and emigrated with his father to the United States when he was only 14 years old, and claims his re-election for a second term in the March 2019 elections. The current Mayor of Tarpon Springs is Mr. The sponge fishing industry remains active in Tarpon Springs until today. Indeed, in the autumn of 2007, a new sponge fishing record for one boat was recorded. In the late 1980s, a serious attempt was made to revive the sponge fishing in the area by businessman George Biliris and it had impressive results. The sponge dock now has mostly souvenir shops, restaurants, and museums that highlight Tarpon Springs’s sponge diving past. The city gradually turned the sponge-fishing activities into a tourist attraction. Then, having no other choice, the sponge divers became shrimp fishermen and sailors as a way of living, while others left the business. In 1947, the red algae epidemic, which destroyed the sponges’ habitat, arrived on this side of the Gulf of Mexico. Kokkoris brought sponges from the Dodecanese and Halki, resulting in a 1930s thriving sponge industry in the city, which earned millions of dollars each year. In 1905 Giannis Kokkoris presented the technique of sponge collection in Tarpon Springs. The first Greek immigrants arrived in the city during the 1880s to work as a sponge divers. Some of the very first visitors who came there, noticed the fish in the area jumping over the waters and consequently named the location Tarpon Springs. The area, made up of a series of bays in the Gulf of Mexico, attracted interest for the first time in 1876 as a place of winter residence. An 11.8% of the total population were identified as Greeks, while an 8.87% said they were speaking Greek at home. Tarpon Springs is known for its significant presence of Greek Americans, which is stronger than any other US city. In the 2000 census it had 21,003 inhabitants, and in 2004, according to the US statistical office, it had a population of 22,554. TARPON SPRINGS PUBLIC LIBRARY, 72 TARPON SPRINGS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 72 For more arts and culture, visit: Springs is a town in the USA, located in Pinellas County, Florida. Visit the CITY OF TARPON SPRINGS or call 72 for government information. Members receive reciprocal admission discounts.įor more historical information visit the TARPON SPRINGS AREA HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 160 East Tarpon Avenue. Please visit our partner in the SHARE program. Or pick up your FREE hard copy at The Heritage Museum, 100 Beekman Lane, in beautiful Craig Park DOWNLOAD FREE VERSION of “Celebrating Community: Tarpon Springs, Reflections on 125 Years” Today the population is rapidly expanding more and more businesses, families and retirees are discovering the magic of Tarpon Springs. Paintings at the UNITARIAN CHURCH) Tarpon Springs is perhaps most famous for its 100-year-old annual Epiphany celebration, involving Greek Orthodox young men diving for a cross that’s thrown into Spring Bayou. Called the Venice of the South, Tarpon Springs has been an arts destination since the early 1900s, when GEORGE INNESS, the father of American landscape painting, made his home here other artists, performers and arts enthusiasts soon followed. One of Florida’s few working waterfronts, at the Sponge Docks you can see sponge fishermen unloading and processing their harvest, as well as locally built Greek sponge boats listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The internationally known Sponge Docks is the heart of the City’s Greek Town, settled by Greek fishermen and their families in the early twentieth century. The NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES lists downtown Tarpon Springs, which is a mix of antique shops, boutiques, galleries, and museums. The city is full of parks, bayous and brick streets, and boasts two distinct downtowns. Located on the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast of Florida, Tarpon Springs is north and west of the Tampa-St. Incorporated in 1887, it is the oldest city in Pinellas County, Florida. Tarpon Springs is a historic small city of 24,000 with an unusual mix of Greek culture, and Victorian and Floridian architecture.
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