TPIE Moves to Tampa

Ellen C. Wells

After nearly 30 years of exhibitions at the Broward County Convention Center in Ft. Lauderdale, this top-of-the-tropical-plant-trade-shows will be set in the Tampa Convention Center on the other side of the Florida peninsula in 2021 and 2022.

Why the move? The current location, the Broward County Convention Center, is expanding and adding a long-promised hotel adjacent to the building. It’s a huge, disruptive and long construction project, so it’s off to Tampa for TPIE while construction takes place. FNGLA will monitor the construction progress and if the work looks like it might be continuing longer, TPIE may still be hosted in Tampa in 2023.

According to TPIE’s show manager Linda Adams, folks are gonna love Tampa, saying they “will love the welcoming and urban chic style of downtown Tampa. It’s walkable, it’s diverse, it’s hipster, it’s waterfront, it’s fun, it’s warm and it’s friendly.”

Other than the host city and venue, not much will change. It’s still the great and growing assortment of nursery and allied trade vendors. There will still be a can’t-miss, insightful keynote and ed sessions. But TPIE Chairperson Marcella Lucio-Chinchilla put the change perfectly in perspective in a press release by saying, “Sometimes a little change is just what’s needed to keep things interesting. We didn’t seek this situation. Yet when it came to us, we embraced it as an opportunity to bring new sights and perspectives for our TPIE participants. Tampa fits the bill for a change all will enjoy.”

TPIE stays put in Ft. Lauderdale for 2020 (January 22-24), but moves westward the following year. Put January 20-22, 2021, on your calendars for TPIE’s move to Tampa. GT