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Tarpon Springs Welcomes Greek Sisters

Klint Lowry/SUNCOAST NEWS

Halki, Greece, Councilman Stelios Markakis, left, and Halki Mayor Elego Penagi, second from left, get a walking tour of downtown Tarpon Springs from Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris and Tarpon Commissioner Chris Alahouzos.

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: January 12, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - If you live in Florida, visits from long-distance relatives are just part of the lifestyle.

Yesterday, the city completed a combined 12-day family get-together of sorts, entertaining delegates from their Greek sister city Kalymnos and formally adopting another Greek sister city, Halki.

Many communities across the country have sister city relationships with cities all over the world, the relationships based on any number of reasons, from ethnicity to demographics to economic ties or even a simple sense of international goodwill. Dunedin, for example, has its longtime ties to Stirling, Scotland.

For Tarpon Springs and its Greek "siblings," the relationships encompass all of the above and then some.

"Obviously, it's the nice, warm feeling of the connection, but it's deeper than that," Mayor Beverley Billiris said.

Billiris chairs the Tarpon Springs sister city committee. With the relationship with Kalymnos, started in 2002, and the official signing of a sister city agreement with Halki on Wednesday, the committee is two-thirds of the way to achieving its long-range goal.

"Sister islands" might be a more accurate term for Kalymnos and Halki. They are part of the Dodecanese Islands, in the eastern Aegean Sea.

Dodecanese literally means "12 islands," but actually includes about 165 islands. There are 12 dominant islands, including Kalymnos, Halki and Symi, another island with whom the committee would like to establish a formal relationship within the next few years.

Much of the wave of Greek immigrants that settled in Tarpon Springs around the beginning for the 20th century came from these islands.

"These people are the backbone of the community and the sponge diving community," Billiris said. "It's been my vision to connect these three islands and all of the Dodecanese Islands more firmly with the city of Tarpon Springs so we can help each other's communities as much as we can."

At a New Year's Eve gathering celebrating the arrival of the guests from Kalymnos, City Commissioner Chris Alahouzos explained there are blood ties that bind Tarpon Springs and Kalymnos, and a family resemblance.

"We do have a lot in common," Alahouzos said. "In Tarpon Springs we have a lot of Kalymnians. We also have the sponge industry and the tourism industry, as they do in Kalymnos."

None of the Kalymnians who arrived on New Year's Eve were among the delegation that came in 2002 when the sister cities agreement was formalized; this was their first look at their American relatives, and they were pleased with what they found.

"Tarpon Springs is a second home," Kalymnos Vice Mayor Fillipos Christodoulou said. "The Kalymnians here in Tarpon Springs have maintained the culture and the heritage the way they took it from the island.

Billiris and Alahouzos did much of the hosting duties for the visiting guests as they saw the city; attended breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in their honor; witnessed the dedication of a new firetruck; toured St. Petersburg College, the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, the sponge docks and the beaches.

The Halki delegation arrived Jan. 5, just in time for both delegations to witness the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral's Epiphany Celebration. The celebration was of particular interest to Bishop Paisos Arabantinos of Kalymnos, who also was impressed with Tarpon Springs' residents respect for tradition.

"Religion takes a big role to the Kalymnians here," Arabantinos said, "and they maintain the Greek Orthodox religion as they do in the old country."

In terms of size and population, Halki, the "island of peace and friendship," is much smaller than Kalymnos. Its sponge diving industry died out in the 1930s, and it has existed quietly in the shadow of Rhodes, the largest and best-known of the Dodecanese Islands.

Halki's low profile may be its greatest asset. With ancient monasteries dotting the island and the remains of an acropolis, it offers an unspoiled view of the Dodecanese Island culture.

"This is nice to know that you still have, forgive the expression, a 'virgin island,' " Alahouzos told Halki's mayor, Elego Penagi.

Along with the cultural exchange, Billiris explained, the sister city relationship is meant to encourage tourism. This already exists between Tarpon Springs and Kalymnos, and while they were here, the Halki delegation discussed ways to promote Tarpon Springs residents to see what their island has to offer and vice versa.

For his part, Halki Councilman Stelios Markakis indicated he'd have no problem recommending Tarpon Springs to his constituency.

"I like very much Tarpon Springs," Markakis said. "I think it's a beautiful town. I can understand why our people from the island liked it so much and stayed here. I could live gladly in Tarpon Springs."

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