Each year on Memorial Day Weekend, fans of the fast-growing minimalist trend cheer teams powering boats made of bare-bones materials in the annual Schooner Wharf Minimal Regatta. Now in its 26th year, the quirky regatta is an undisputed tradition in the Florida Keys -- featuring minimally constructed vessels, plucky mariners displaying a “sink or swim” spirit, and maximum fun for spectators.
The finale of the Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic, called North America’s largest annual LGBT bartender competition, features 17 regional bartending champions from the U.S. and Canada plus a rocking lineup of celebrity judges — and it all takes place June 7-11 in Key West.
In the waters off Key Largo, divers have installed a bronze plaque that names and honors the final 250 of 1,000 contributors to a project that sank a former U.S. Naval ship — exactly 15 years ago — to become an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The panel was attached to the side of the Spiegel Grove, the third-largest ship ever scuttled to create a new reef for divers, as another milestone in a story that proves sometimes truth IS stranger than fiction.
Diners can benefit the ocean environment by ordering lionfish at Keys restaurants, helping to decrease the invasive species' population and minimize its negative impacts. Delicate and delicious, the light white meat of the lionfish tastes much like snapper.
Key West Pride events, set for June 7-11, are not just about parties and parades, although there is certainly no lack of them. The celebration also offers visitors a chance to experience Key West’s “One Human Family” atmosphere of enthusiastic inclusion and recognition that all people are created equal.
When Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote in Key West in the 1930s, he spent much of his leisure time with friends at Sloppy Joe’s Bar. On May 5, 2017, the iconic Key West watering hole celebrates 80 years at its landmark home at the corner of Duval and Greene streets.
Upper Keys artist BJ Royster is renowned for painting transcendent underwater marine life scenes that exude a sense of calm and vivid peace. Realistic and inviting, her images encourage viewers to "dive in" and discover the Keys' ocean realm for themselves.
The Key West community remembers the late Gilbert Baker, creator of the original LGBT rainbow flag -- and working alongside him June 15, 2003, during Key West PrideFest, to unfurl a 1.25-mile-long 25th anniversary edition of the iconic flag along the entire length of Duval Street.
The Key West Songwriters Festival, called the largest event of its kind in the world, will rock the island May 10-14 -- with some 200 chart-topping songwriters, singers and entertainers taking the stage for more than 50 shows.
If you want to be mistaken for a Florida Keys resident — or at least a savvy regular visitor — don’t ever say “kontch.” The widely-used word “conch” is pronounced “konk" on the island chain that's proudly known as the Conch Republic.