👋 Hey, TBAY. Or should we say Ciao? Shalom? Or Hola?

Today we're breaking down the region's sister cities.

Wait, what's a sister city? According to Sister Cities International, "A sister city, county, or state relationship is a broad-based, long-term partnership between two communities in two countries. A relationship is officially recognized after both communities' highest elected or appointed official sign off on an agreement to become sister cities."

Why have sister cities? The idea is to cultivate international relationships while having the opportunity to explore different cultures and stimulate economic development.

Tampa

The City of Tampa has 12 formalized Sister Cities agreements with the following cities:

St. Petersburg

This photo is from the 2016 Takamatsu Winter Festival | Photo by St. Petersburg Sister Cities

DYK, a coin toss led to the naming of the Burg after St. Petersburg, Russia?

The legend goes that at the turn of the 20th century, John Constantine Williams and Peter Demens — the two dudes who are widely considered the co-founders of St. Pete — flipped a coin to see who would name the city. Demens reportedly won the coin toss and named it after the town where he grew up. St. Petersburg has four formalized Sister City agreements with these cities: