Sunset Celebration is a nightly Key West that takes place at hisroric Mallory Square in Key West, where locals and visitors gather to watch the sun disappear into the Gulf of Mexico. This family friendly event features artisans, crafters, street performer, psychics and food.
Mallory Square
300 Duval St, Key West
Admission: FREE
Time: 2 hours before - 2 hours after sunset
The Seafood Festival celebrates our community by bringing families and friends together in a joyful and fun environment to sample the local catch. This family-friendly event was created to showcase local seafood and the Keys' commercial fishing industry by providing the freshest seafood available. Each year our fishermen and women are proud to offer the community a variety of seafood at reasonable prices.
Admission: FREE
Location: Bayview Park
Nearly 300 racing yachts will compete for class championships in this international midwinter sailboat regatta sponsored by Nautica. Competitors will race on courses set over an 8-mile stretch of the Atlantic just off shore and inside the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef, which parallels the Florida Keys. As many as 10 races per day will take place during the 5 day competition.
The festival celebrates Key West's lively culinary scene, indigenous ingredients and multifaceted flavors through gourmet galas and tastings, educational food and wine seminars and offbeat food-focused experiences. Festival highlights include a wacky afternoon of bowling with coconuts and Duval Uncorked, a stroll along Key West's Duval Street that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.
Restaurants, bars, galleries and boutiques will welcome revelers with food tastings, samples of fine wine and tasty shopping experiences during the event, set for late afternoon and evening Saturday. The festival schedule also includes a cigar dinner celebrating Key West's Cuban heritage, a laid-back bike tour and tropical ice cream tasting, a "seafood seduction" dinner, tastings and tapas, an outdoor wine market, informative food and wine seminars, the Master Chef's Classic and more. Attendees can purchase VIP passes and tickets for individual events also are available. For a complete festival schedule, event prices and ticket information, visit keywestfoodandwinefestival.com.
This nationally recognized Craft Show brings over 100 fine and skilled craft artists to this beautiful historic area of Key West. Exhibitors will set up along Whitehead Street from Greene Street to Eaton, and on Caroline Street through the famous Presidential Gates into the beautiful Truman Annex. Visitors can leisurely browse the beautiful displays of pottery, fabric, glass, wood, jewelry and other colorful handmade works by the selected artists.
The show is sponsored by the Key West Art Center, and was created to complement the Old Island Days Art Festival held in February, and has been recognized by the Sunshine Artists’ Magazine consistently over the last 10 years as one of their top 200 in the nation and is popular with exhibitors and visitors alike.
10 AM TO 5 PM Daily
Whitehead and Caroline Streets
Old Town Key West
Held at the Westin Resort & Marina on the Pier, the Master Chefs Classic® is a culinary competition and tasting that benefits the Monroe Association for ReMARCable Citizens. This event is part of the Key West Food & Wine Festival and has become the premier food event of the Key West season. Restaurants compete in appetizer, entrée and dessert categories providing an amazing array of incredible food for the lucky people attending. Awards are given in each category by judges and people’s choice ballots.
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Westin Resort & Marina
245 Front St, Key West
South Florida's top nurseries will show bromeliads, orchids, fruit trees, palms, tropical flowers and natives for the Botanical Gardens' annual plant sale! Attend landscaping workshops, learn how to build your own native garden, browse through garden supplies booths, and arts and crafts. Docent tours will be offered. Plant sale is free and open to the public. Gates open 9 a.m.
5210 College Rd
Key West
Tour a series of elegant and unique homes of Key West decorated for the holidays! Proceeds help benefit the Old Island Restoration Foundation. Presented by the Old Island Restoration Foundation, this house and garden tour offers a rare opportunity to see inside some of Key West's magnificent, charming and tropical residences.
Parades, bed races, parties and a wacky “drag race” commemorate the founding of the Conch Republic on April 23, 1982, in response to a U.S. Border Patrol roadblock that halted traffic in and out of the Florida Keys.
Festival highlights include the "World's Longest Parade," which begins at the Atlantic Ocean and proceeds to the Gulf of Mexico, and features impromptu floats, inline skating groups, local and visiting firefighters, musicians and colorfully painted "conch cruiser" cars and bicycles. Spectators are encouraged to follow the procession as it winds its way from it's beginning on Duval St. to the endpoint and a parade party at the Schooner Wharf Bar.
The action moves from land to the waters of Key West Harbor. The Conch Republic Naval Parade and Great Battle for the Conch Republic is sponsored by the republic's flagship schooner Wolf. The good-spirited battle pits the Conch Republic Navy against the federal forces, with weapons ranging from water cannons to sponges to flying Cuban bread and vegetables. Spectators are invited to view the debacle from Bloody Battle Parties at the Sunset Pier at Ocean Key Resort, and the sunset deck at the Westin Resort & Marina.
Following the battle, a victory party is scheduled at the Schooner Wharf Bar to commemorate the Conch Republic Navy's triumph over the evil forces of the "United States Border Patrol." Partygoers will definitely have something to celebrate, since the Republic's naval forces never lose.
The festival's oldest and most famous event is the annual Conch Republic Red Ribbon Bed Race. Colorfully decorated and wheeled beds are propelled down Duval Street by runners during this daytime slumber party gone wild. "Bedlam" is virtually guaranteed. The race raises money for Key West's AIDS Help, Inc.
Other activities scheduled for the Conch Republic Independence Celebration are a fiddlers' contest at the Green Parrot Bar; the election of the Conch Republic royal family; a pedicab race benefiting the Conch Republic Foster Children's Fund; a "hog wild" party at the Hog's Breath Saloon; a sailing race to the reef that salutes Key West's early salvage industry; and a crafts show and food fest presented by Key West's Cultural Preservation Society.
A longtime favorite event, Hemingway Days is a celebration of the legendary author’s work and lifestyle.
Scheduled events include a Hemingway look-alike contest, readings and book signings by nationally acclaimed authors, an awards ceremony for the renowned literary competition directed by author and Hemingway granddaughter Lorian Hemingway, a commemoration of the 110th anniversary of Ernest's July 21 birth, a one-man play exploring the literary legend's life and motivations, a museum exhibit of rare Hemingway memorabilia, a zany "Running of the Bulls" and a three-day marlin tournament.
During his Key West residence, Ernest Hemingway wrote some of his most enduring works and spent his leisure hours fishing and socializing with local and literary cohorts. Each year, fans of his writing and exuberant lifestyle come together for Hemingway Days.
The theme of this years Fantasy Fest is "A-Conch-Alypse". Key West celebrates Fantasy Fest during a 10 day mix of masquerade balls, quirky costume competitions and other weird and wonderful events including the Fantasy Fest Parade sponsored by Captain Morgan. A themed event, don't miss Goombay, a street party that runs for two days in the historic Bahama Village. Fantasy Fest is internationally recognized as the Keys' event of the year. Kicking off proceedings is the Royal Coronation Ball to crown the King and Queen Conch.
The Chase for the Sprint Cup comes to its conclusion at the Homestead Miami Speedway and the Ford 400. Book your Key West hotel early for this event.
1 Speedway Blvd
Homestead Fl
305-230-RACE
This annual event transforms the city into a pirates' stronghold. Complete with swashbuckling pirates and costumed characters from nostalgic seafaring days, there are battles between tall ships, a pillage and plunder party, strolling minstrels and musicians and a Masquerade Ball. Don't miss the Thieves' Market, arts and crafts fair, Walk the Plank National Championships and Fort Taylor Pyrate Fest & Village Market, not to mention all the wonderful local cuisine.
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If your looking for New Years Eve fireworks, head down to the White Street Pier at midnight. Or, celebrate conch style with unique versions of the New Years Eve ball drop:
1. Conch shell drop at Sloppy Joe's on Duval St.
2. Red high heel shoe drop carrying drag queen Sushi at Bourbon Street Pub on Duval St.
3. Pirate wench drop from a tall ship mast at the Historic Seaport.
