With friends Liz and Mike, we attended the Tarpon Springs Arts & Crafts Festival (one of many events held at the sponge docks each year). Located on the Florida Gulf Coast, the Historic Sponge Docks preserve the remnants of the once booming business.
The waters of the Gulf here are one of the few areas in the world where natural sponges for commercial use are found. In the late 1800s, fisherman harvested sponges by hooking them from fishing skiffs. In the early 1900s, sponge divers were recruited from Greece and the industry flourished. In 1947, a red tide algae bloom killed almost all of the sponge fields in the Gulf of Mexico. Many in Tarpon Springs turned to shrimping until the sponges recovered. The sponge business continues today, but is not the predominant industry it once was.
The Arts & Crafts festival featured 90 artists and crafters along with many food vendors.
We had fun perusing the goods, and we ended up purchasing a bonsai plant and cool natural “speaker” made from mango wood. There were two sizes from Mango Beat, one for smart phones and one for an iPad/tablet. We have a Bluetooth speaker for our phones, but this one works great and requires no power!
Today, Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any US city! And the Greek restaurants still line the waterfront (Dodecanese Blvd). Our friends introduced us to their favorite restaurant here, Mykonos. We ended our visit with a delicious lunch.
What a fun day! For additional information about upcoming festivals on the docks, go to spongedocks.net/tarpon-springs-events.htm.
Great day with wonderful friends.
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