It’s the same old story: Small town population is aging, the average age is creeping upward, and young people are moving out.
It’s a story heard all over Kansas – except where it is not.
Today, in the second of our series about Tampa, Kansas, we’ll learn about this remarkable community that is seeing an influx of young couples and youth.
Last week, we met Dave Mueller, a Marion County farmer who purchased and renovated several buildings in Tampa. Those buildings now house the Santa Fe Trail Café, the Tampa Trail Stop grocery store, a hair salon, community room and fitness center.
Mueller’s cousin is Gary Fike, director of K-State Research and Extension’s office in Riley County. Fike said Mueller revitalized Tampa by working with others to create the grocery store, café, and more.
All the while, Mueller has seen Tampa’s demographics change. “Over the past 10 years, we have had a lot of young families in their 20s and 30s move in here,” he said. “Our average age has dropped dramatically.”
How has this happened? Perhaps it started with community investment. Mueller purchased the cafe building, which led to more purchases and renovations which led to other businesses.
The fitness center is an example of how a young local family became entrepreneurs. “A husband-and-wife pair of pharmacists live here (in Tampa) with their five kids,” Mueller said. “They wanted a place to workout but there was no room in their home. They rented part of the building downtown and put in workout equipment, and now they’re selling memberships.”
Even as Tampa struggled in previous years with businesses closing, the town managed to maintain the locally owned Tampa State Bank. Chris Costello is an attorney and Tampa State Bank president.
“Chris has been instrumental in the progress of our community,” Mueller said. “He is all about building the community. He has supported these various projects.”
Tampa State Bank conducts an annual hog roast for the community. Volunteers with the Tampa PRIDE program – now known as Kansas Community Empowerment at the state level – built a day-long festival around the hog roast. Now the Trail Fest is conducted in Tampa each year on the last Saturday in August.
In 1958, Tampa and other nearby schools consolidated to form what is now Centre High School. In addition to Tampa, Centre serves the rural communities of Lincolnville, population 168; Ramona, population 78; Pilsen, population 65; Burdick, population 62; and Lost Springs, population 55 people. Now, that’s rural.
“They’re doing excellent things at the school,” Mueller said.
In 2018, the Diamond Vista Wind Project began operating in the region. “In this case, they located the wind turbines in an area of less productive ground, so it was a good fit for this area,” Mueller said.
Diamond Vista officials helped form the Tampa Community Foundation and rebuilt the library on a vacant lot in town. “They’ve been very good partners for the community,” Mueller said. The community foundation now offers all high school seniors scholarships for any type of post-secondary education or training.
“Fifteen years ago, there was hardly a kid in town,” Mueller said. “Now the town is over-run with kids.”
“We have the biggest 4-H club in the county,” Mueller said. “The baseball field is in use every night. When Tampa PRIDE put on the Easter egg hunt, it was absolutely amazing to see the number of kids out there.”
“We have young people moving in and renovating homes. Having young families attracts even more young families.”
Is this the same old story of rural decline and out-migration? No. It’s a tale of community revitalization and of young families finding value in small-town living.
We salute Dave Mueller, Chris Costello and all those who are making a difference by bringing youth back into this historic town. It’s not the same old story; it’s a fun new story being written in Tampa.
And there’s more. What if the entire town of Tampa went to visit Florida? This actually happened – and we’ll learn about that next week.
