TAMPA, Fla. — An entire town came to the city of Tampa to see what makes the city great.

What You Need To Know

  • The entire town of Tampa, Kansas is visiting Tampa, Florida this week 

  • The town consists of nearly 100 people

  • This visit was coordinated by Visit Tampa Bay

  • Tampa, Kansas residents will be in Florida until Thursday

The name of their town is also Tampa but it's located in Kansas and has a population of 100.

When you hear David Mueller, who lives in Kansas, tell the story, it’s tough to believe this all started essentially by accident.

“Wow, seriously, they want to invest that kind of money in us?” Mueller asked.

He’s a county commissioner with Marion County and got a call back in October from someone with Visit Tampa Bay after they typed in ‘Tampa’ into their GPS from Orlando and the GPS told them it’d take 20 hours.

“20 hours?” Mueller said, reminiscing about the story he was told. “Seriously? 20 hours, that can’t be right.”

It was right but it was going to a different Tampa. A Midwest Tampa nestled in the center of Kansas. “So they started reaching out to us,” Mueller said.

That was back in October 2022 .

After weeks of planning, Visit Tampa Bay and Tampa, Kansas was able to figure out a way to get the entire town of 95 people from the center of Kansas to the Bay Area.

“People have never had this opportunity before, it’s just incredible,” Mueller said.

For many, this is their first time out of Kansas and many have never even been to the Florida Tampa. For David, this is sort of a long-awaited homecoming.

Despite growing up in Kansas, he spent a summer in the 80’s working out here in Tampa.

He’s amazed to see how much it’s changed for the better.

“It's just mind boggling,” Mueller said. “The growth, the phenomena, all it's taken place, but yet at the same time, there's still a feeling of community.”

For him, visiting spots like Busch Gardens, experiencing this not only for himself but for the little ones of Tampa, Kansas makes the long hours of preparing this trip worth it.

“They'll remember for the rest of their lives. And we're hoping most of them will come back and visi,” Mueller said. “And maybe we get a few people from Tampa, Florida, come to Tampa, Kansas.”

The nearly 100 Kansas residents are going to be in Tampa until Thursday.