Second Saturday Shout-out: Visit Tampa Bay & Tampa, Kansas
For December’s Second Saturday Shoutout, we are recognizing Visit Tampa Bay and the entire town of Tampa, Kansas, in one of the most interesting stories we have ever seen.
It all began in October, when an employee at Visit Tampa Bay, which is a not-for-profit marketing organization which handles promoting tourism for the city, put Tampa into their GPS when coming back to the city, and realized that it directed them to a town in Kansas with the same name. Visit Tampa Bay decided to reach out to the 108 citizens of Tampa, Kansas and offered them the opportunity to come visit Tampa, FL.
Visit Tampa Bay partnered with Southwest Airlines to provide free flights to the 95 residents who ended up coming, along with many local businesses in order to make it an extra memorable trip. The group stayed for 3 nights at the Floridan Hotel, took excursions to Busch Gardens and ZooTampa, and received Tampa Riverwalk Attraction Passes, which provide access to 8 different attractions, including the aquarium and a plethora of different museums.
The group included 30 children and 65 adults, many of whom had never flown before or even left the state of Kansas.
Jesse Brunner, a resident from Tampa, KS who went on the trip enjoyed the trip and the hospitality from the Florida residents. He said “The welcoming. People have been so gracious and so welcoming to us. That's probably the biggest thing," He also noted how nice the weather in Florida is, as at the time, it was 27 degrees back in Kansas.
Another Kansas resident on the trip, David Mueller, spent a summer in Tampa about 40 years ago. He noted how different the city is now, but how some things are still the same, like the sense of community amongst its residents.
It is truly awesome for Visit Tampa Bay, and all of its partners, to throw together such a nice vacation for free for a town that lives over 20 hours away. In today’s world, acts of kindness are not always shown in the news and media, so when something special like this occurs, it is definitely worth shouting out. To the residents of Tampa, Kansas, we at Citriclean hope you had an incredible trip and got to see all of what our amazing state has to offer.
