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Urban Conga founder Ryan Swanson at the non-profit’s pink ping pong table in Gaslight park

Editor’s Note: GeekWire has partnered with UP Global and Chase to cover four Startup Week events around the country, starting with the Tampa Bay Startup Week from Feb. 2-6. GeekWire will be filing daily reports from this emerging startup hub this week.

TAMPA— Sometimes you find the spirit of a city in the most unusual places.

I found it over a pink ping pong table in the middle of downtown Tampa. I was chatting with Urban Conga founder Ryan Swanson who had organized a makeshift ping pong tournament as part of the Tampa Bay Startup Week activities.

Ping pong in the park. GeekWire's John Cook faces off against Urban Conga's Ryan Swanson
Ping pong in the park. GeekWire’s John Cook faces off against Urban Conga’s Ryan Swanson. Photo via Steve Beaudry.

As many GeekWire readers know, I am a huge fan of ping pong, hosting our annual tournament each year at the Showbox Sodo. (Yes, the big bash is coming up on March 26th!)

I wanted to see what Tampa could bring in one of my favorite paddle sports, but what I discovered was a young man trying to inject life into his adopted hometown.

Swanson is a Florida native, a recent graduate from the architecture program at the University of South Florida. An interactive designer and photographer, Swanson loves Tampa. But he’s not a hometown cheerleader. Embodying many of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, he’s both optimistic and realistic.

“I love the rawness of (Tampa), and the potential that it has,” said Swanson. “You can just see it. It is really cool, because it is such an up-and-coming area, but it is at the very beginning stages.”

Swanson is trying to stir the pot, utilizing “dead spaces” in downtown with interactive installations.

“I want to create installations for people to have fun and escape their everyday lives and appreciate to be alive,” Swanson says in a mission statement on his Web site. “People are losing touch with the idea of play and are becoming consumed with social media and we are all guilty of it. I think by giving people a few minutes to play and interact in a conversation with a stranger in their day will help make this place we live in better.”

Hence, the ping pong table. Or the occasional conga lines. Or interactive benches that play music.

Tampa’s downtown remains a sleepy place, and it has a long way to go before it becomes a magnet for young urban professionals. Swanson says most people who work in downtown Tampa head home as soon as 5 p.m. rolls around.

It also doesn’t help that the University of South Florida — a huge research university with more than 45,000 students — is located a solid 20 minute drive north of downtown. Swanson says the university is its “own island,” and doesn’t really integrate with the rest of Tampa.

“There is a huge disconnect between the school and downtown,” said Swanson, adding that there’s no real solid public transportation options between Tampa and the university.

At rush hour, we had no problem finding parking or maneuvering through the city streets, a contrast to the packed arteries of Seattle where public companies such as Amazon.com and Tableau Software are transforming the landscape.

The building where Urban Conga’s Swanson rents space, adjacent to Lykes Gaslight Park where the ping pong table is permanently installed, is nearly vacant. They pay a pittance in rent.

Ryan Swanson
Ryan Swanson

There’s no major grocery store in downtown. Very few people live in condos.

Tampa’s downtown needs a bit of swagger, and Swanson is among those helping to bring it. He agrees with Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s vision that in five years the city will be unrecognizable — in a good way.

While Urban Conga hosts outdoor art installations in L.A. and other cities, Swanson said his non-profit is firmly rooted in Tampa.

“I definitely see Tampa as a playground for what works, in part because it needs it so badly,” he said. “People are not really used to seeing this stuff. There are not even street performers. Nothing happens down here. So, people see this stuff and they are like: ‘Oh, man.'”

In fact, some of the pop-up installations in L.A. don’t always get approval, or need to go through miles of bureaucratic tape.

That’s not the case in Tampa. The makeshift ping pong tourney happened because Swanson simply wanted to do it. No city permission needed.

“Here, people don’t care, because at least somebody is doing something,” he said.

Asked what Tampa needs in order to elevate itself to the next level, Swanson didn’t hesitate.

“We just need more people here pushing the limits,” he said. “I think people are still afraid of taking the risk of going out and doing stuff. We just need more people to come to the city and know they can make a difference.”

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