By Herb Hiller

Early in 2006, the most revered figure in the Greek Orthodox Church will journey from Istanbul to Tarpon Springs. His All Holiness Bartholomew, spiritual leader of 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, will arrive to celebrate the 100th anniversary of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in this northern Gulf of Mexico town. On Jan. 6, he will mark Epiphany by tossing a cross into the Spring Bayou for retrieval by young divers. The event is the most important of the year for Tarpon Springs. During a typical Epiphany, 20,000 visitors come. In 2006, 80,000 are expected.

Many in Tarpon Springs hope that young Greek men will be among those who come to stay. Their ancestors began arriving early in the last century with their new dive-suit technology that made local fortunes for sponge merchants and have driven the sponge economy and tourism ever since.

The Islas Pinellas drift to their outermost edge in Tarpon Springs, where, despite distinctions, the town remains almost bashfully unpromotional. Settled in 1882, it’s the oldest city in what became the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area. Town is rich with atmospherics, from its “golden crescent” of late-19th-century mansions that still rim the Spring Bayou to the masts of working boats on the Anclote River and traditional downtown storefronts.

For a town of 21,300, Tarpon Springs is unusually arts aware. Its Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, in a modernist waterfront structure, displays works of Picasso and Rouault. The Universalist Church features the radiant paintings of George Inness, Jr. (a former winter colonist), and many artists today, drawn by Tarpon Springs’ beauty and intimate setting, locate their studios here.

Since arrival of the first Greek divers, the sponge docks along the river have attracted year-round visitors to view the colorful work atmosphere, to shop for souvenirs and to enjoy the strong Greek coffee, the licorice-like ouzo and Greek cuisine.