TAMPA — To enliven downtown, Tampa has tried:
• Coloring the Hillsborough River kelly green for St. Patrick’s Day.
• Creating a mac-and-cheese festival.
• Putting a pop-up golf driving range on N Franklin Street.
• Trucking in loads of white sand for a summer beach volleyball court.
Now comes a hot pink pingpong table where you can play table tennis for free in Lykes Gaslight Square Park.
For its first game Friday, Mayor Bob Buckhorn faced Ryan Swanson of Urban Conga, the local nonprofit behind it.
“It’s one more reason for people to come down here,” Buckhorn said afterward. “More things like this, more public art, more amenities are exactly what our downtown needs, and we’re getting there.”