Calendar of Events

Current Florida Keys Arts & Culture Events

• Jun 3, 2019 - Dec 31, 2019 Location: Islamorada Category: Arts & Culture
• Diving With a Purpose, 15 Year Odyssey: Restoring Our Oceans, Preserving Our Heritage
• Website
• Multiple groups such as Diving With a Purpose, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Biscayne National Park, and more have spent 15 years working together to showcase cultural and natural resources throughout the country. They focus in the protection, documentation, and interpretation of African slave trade shipwrecks and the maritime history and culture of African-Americans. This new exhibit at the History of Diving Museum, mile marker 82.9, highlights several shipwrecks and aircraft and the archaeological processes used to study them.

• Oct 17, 2019 - Sep 17, 2020 Location: Islamorada Category: Arts & Culture
• Morada Way Arts & Cultural District's Third Thursday Art Walk
• Third Thursday ArtWalks are held every month throughout the year, offering attendees live music on three stages, performance artists and, of course, original art and hand-crafted jewelry, as well as pottery, sculptures and more! This monthly event, from 6-9 p.m., is a focal point of artistic expression, culinary and cultural awareness to the Upper Keys. Stroll through the Art District, sip some craft beers, eat local food, along a quarter-mile span of the Old Highway between the historical 1935 Hurricane Monument and the iconic Green Turtle Inn and includes the intersecting street now known as Morada Way, between MM 81 and 82.

• Oct 17, 2019 - Oct 20, 2019 Location: Key Largo Category: Arts & Culture
• REEF Fest
• 305-852-0030 Email Website
• Join Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) in a celebration of marine conservation. Morning activities include ocean adventures of kayaking, snorkeling and diving, all alongside marine life experts. Afternoons feature free seminars from renowned experts in a variety of marine topics. Evenings boast food, drinks and fun with friends old and new. All events are open to the public.

• Oct 18, 2019 - Oct 19, 2019 Location: Key West Category: Arts & Culture
• Bahama Village Goombay Festival
• Website
• Held in Key West's historic Bahama Village neighborhood, the lively, family-friendly Goombay is known for its island-style food, arts and crafts, nonstop live entertainment and dancing in the streets. Visitors can experience sights, sounds and flavors recalling Key West's Bahamian heritage. FREE event, noon to midnight both days.

• Oct 18, 2019 - Oct 27, 2019 Location: Key West Category: Arts & Culture
• 40th Annual Key West Fantasy Fest
• Website
• This outrageous 10-day costuming and masking celebration features flamboyant masquerade competitions including one for pets, a headdress ball, exuberant promenades, street fairs and a grand parade that stars marching groups, island-style bands and lavish floats.

• Oct 19, 2019 Location: Marathon Category: Arts & Culture
• Coral Head Blues Fest
• Website
• Kick off the 2019 Fantasy Fest weekend with this newly added music event! Music acts such as Anthony Gomes, Dana Fuchs, Shaw Davis & the Black Ties, Bill Blue Band, Ghost Town Blues Band and Paul Delariers Band are to grace the stage from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Marathon Community Park's amphitheater. Tickets $14 in advance, $19 at gate. Kids age 12 and under $5. Tickets available online.

• Oct 19, 2019 - Oct 25, 2019 Location: Key West Category: Arts & Culture
• Waterfront Playhouse presents: Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Website
• The musical tells the story of a newly engaged couple getting caught in a storm and coming to the home of a mad scientist, Dr Frank-N-Furter, unveiling his new creation, a sort of Frankenstein styled monster in the form of a physically perfect muscle man named Rocky, complete “with blond hair and a tan”. Tickets available online. Showtimes 7 p.m.

• Oct 23, 2019 - Oct 25, 2019 Location: Key West Category: Arts & Culture
• The White Rabbit’s Wonderland: A Burlesque Parody
• Website
• Take a trip down the rabbit hole into a world of wonder and whimsy! A world where the MarchHare dances with a bare derrière and tea parties are way more tasty when the Mad Hatter is only wearing pasties. “The White Rabbit’s Wonderland” at the Key West Theater, 512 Eaton St. features a hit-list of favorite local performers, international burlesque superstars, amazing aerial acrobats, brings all your favorite Wonderland icons to life. Doors open 7:30 p.m., show starts 8 p.m., age 21 and older.

• Oct 23, 2019 Location: Islamorada Category: Arts & Culture
• Keys History & Discovery Center Presents…Beyond the Sunshine: A Timeline of Florida’s Past
• 305-922-2237 Email
• Join Rick Baker, author, lawyer and former mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida’s fourth largest city, as he shares how lessons learned from Florida’s past should help shape the decisions we make today. Baker will touch on 12,000 years of Florida history in an entertaining, fast-paced and approachable manner. He will walk you through a timeline of the risk takers, entrepreneurs and dreamers who helped to shape a modern Florida. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., lecture begins at 6 p.m. The lecture is at the Keys History & Discovery Center and Islander Resort Conference Center, MM 82. Snacks and a cash bar will be available. Reservations are strongly recommended.

• Oct 24, 2019 Location: Key Largo Category: Arts & Culture
• Friends of the Key Largo Cultural Center presents: Ocean Life Series
• This month's speaker, Dr. Douglas Wartzok, shares underwater acoustics: marine mammals, seismic and sonar. Ocean Life Series events are free and open to the public. Meet and greet at 6:30 p.m., at Murray Nelson Cultural & Government Center, mile marker 102. Lecture series from 7-8 p.m.

• Oct 25, 2019 Location: Key West Category: Arts & Culture
• Fantasy Fest Masquerade March
• Website
• Famed as "the locals' parade," the march typically draws high-spirited revelers wearing everything from elaborate masks and costumes to offbeat creations inspired by the festival theme. Begins at the Key West Cemetery at Frances Street entrance but revelers can join the mad march anywhere along the two routes. Start marching at 5:30 p.m.; all are welcome; free admission.

• Oct 26, 2019 Location: Key West Category: Arts & Culture
• Bud Light Fantasy Fest Parade
• Website
• The madcap merriment of Fantasy Fest is to culminate during the Bud Light Fantasy Fest Parade through Key West's historic downtown. Tens of thousands of spectators converge to cheer the parade's elaborately costumed marching groups, dancers in bright feathered costumes and dazzling motorized floats. Join thousands of exuberant partygoers! It doesn't get any wilder than this! Parade steps off at 7 p.m.; free to spectate.

• Oct 31, 2019 Location: Key Largo Category: Arts & Culture
• Free Fish Identification Class wth REEF
• Website
• Want to improve your fish identification knowledge? Join us each month for a free fish identification class in REEF's Interpretive Center, led by REEF volunteers Carlos and Allison Estape. Each month, on the last Thursday, Carlos and Allison share insights on Tropical Western Atlantic fish identification and behavior. Class is free and open to the public. Set for 7 PM at REEF Interpretive Center, 98300 Overseas Hwy, near mile marker 98 in the median.