Big Guava (summary)
After the 1970s popularity of “the Big Apple,” everybody started getting into the act. “Big Guava” (for Tampa, Florida) is from the 1970s, but it remains popular. Tampa columnist Steve Otto is credited with coining “the Big Guava.”
Wikipedia: Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a United States city in Hillsborough County, on the west coast of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County.GR6. The population of Tampa in 2000 was 303,447. According to the 2006 Census estimate, the city has a population of 332,888
Tampa is a part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the “Tampa Bay Area”. The four-county area is composed of roughly 2.7 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the third largest in the Southeastern United States behind Miami and Atlanta. The Tampa Bay Partnership and U.S. Census data showed an average annual growth of 2.47 percent, or a gain of approximately 97,000 residents per year. Between 2000 and 2006, the Tampa Bay market area has experienced a combined growth rate of 14.8 percent, growing from 3.4 million to 3.9 million and hitting the 4 million people mark on April 1, 2007. It is the largest media market in the state of Florida and thirteenth largest DMA Market in the United States.
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Nickname: “Cigar City”, “The Big Guava”, “Sunshine City”
Wikipedia: Guavaween
Guavaween is an annual open street Halloween celebration with Latin Flavor. The event takes place on the last Saturday of October in Ybor City, Florida.
Since its inception more than 20 years ago, Guavaween has grown increasingly popular and has become one of the largest festivals in Ybor. The daylight hours are usually more family-oriented and in the past have included such activities as a costume contest, scavenger hunt, Safe Trick-or-treat at Centro Ybor, food and amusement rides. Around dusk the Mama Guava Stumble Parade, Guavaween’s most popular attraction, makes it way down Seventh Avenue, the main street in Ybor. The parade, led by Mama Guava, features floats and costumed individuals who throw candy and beads to the spectators.
History
In the 1880’s, Tampa pioneer Gavino Gutierrez decided that Tampa was the perfect place to cultivate guava commercially. The climate and rising land prices kept him from his dream. A local newspaper columnist planted the idea that if New York City is the “Big Apple,” then Tampa must be the “Big Guava.”
Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau
Q: I’ve heard from my friend that lives in Tampa that it’s known as “The Big Guava.” How did Tampa get that name?
A: Good question. Tampa received its nickname “The Big Guava” when Gavino Gutierrez, an early Tampa pioneer, tried to cultivate guavas commercially here but was unsuccessful due to the climate and rising land prices. However, a local newspaper columnist was more successful at planting the idea that, if New York is “The Big Apple,” it would only be right to refer to Tampa as “The Big Guava.” There is a Latin-style Halloween celebration called Guavaween held in Ybor City each October that is based on the nickname.
Ybor (FL) Times
Legend has it that in the late 1800s a Spanish food broker came to Tampa looking for guava forests. His goal was to get everybody eating guava jelly and cooking with guava paste. But the climate and rising land prices prevented his erecting a guava factory near Tampa. Ybor City became a land of cigars instead.
That attempt was on the mind of Steve Otto, then a newspaper columnist for the Tampa Times and now with the Tampa Tribune, when he nicknamed Tampa the “Big Guava” in the 1970s.
25 March 1988, St. Petersburg Times, pg. 3:
Thursday night, with no full moon to blame, a group of Tampa’s media mighties, politicos and others took a good-natured stab at slapstick with the second annual presentation of ``The Big Guava News Broadcast.``
19 September 1990, Los Angeles Daily News, pg. S1:
So the good citizens of “The Big Guava,” as Tampa is called, and of St. Petersburg will have to settle for Gretzky and, say, Alain Lemieux, who is Mario’s older brother.
24 January 2001, Tampa Tribune, pg. 1:
An insider’s guide to the Big Guava
PART I: A brief but true history of the Big Guava for those of you in town this week for Gasparilla and Super Bowl XXXV.
(Trademark)
Word Mark THE BIG GUAVA
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 016. US 038. G & S: newspapers. FIRST USE: 19920122. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19920122
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 74231728
Filing Date December 19, 1991
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1B
Owner (APPLICANT) Tribune Company CORPORATION FLORIDA Post Office Box 191 Tampa FLORIDA 33601
Attorney of Record Mitchell H. Stabbe
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Abandonment Date May 26, 1992
(Trademark)
Word Mark THE BIG GUAVA
Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 016. US 038. G & S: magazine in the field of leisure activity in the Tampa Bay, Florida, geographic area. FIRST USE: 19920122. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19920122
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 74268998
Filing Date April 24, 1992
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Supplemental Register Date August 12, 1992
Registration Number 1730445
Registration Date November 3, 1992
Owner (REGISTRANT) Tribune Company, The CORPORATION FLORIDA Post Office Box 191 Tampa FLORIDA 33601
Attorney of Record Mitchell H. Stabbe
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register SUPPLEMENTAL
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Cancellation Date May 11, 1999