Events
Events
Key West Pride
Rainbow colorful hustle and bustle on the Florida Keys. The "Key West Pride" underlines the diversity, openness and freedom of the island chain and attracts not only gays and lesbians. The five-day event transforms the southernmost island of the Florida Keys into a sprawling party area. With colorful pageants, drag shows featuring Key West's famous drag queens, pool parties, boat rides, sailing trips and more, attendees exuberantly celebrate themselves and the "One Human Family." gaykeywestfl.com/pride
Fantasy Fest
Every summer comes to an end, but the time for Key West's wildest party is yet to come! During the ten-day Fantasy Fest, dozens of masquerade balls, costume contests and dazzling parties take place. The highlight of the hilarity is the big Fantasy Fest parade on Saturday, when the party-hungry masses parade through the streets in outlandish costumes. Cult films such as Mad Max, Pulp Fiction or Star Wars and comic figures such as Scooby Doo, Mickey Mouse or Family Guy serve as inspiration. The "Pet Masquerade" on Friday will be a lot of fun and whimsical with animals. Here, visitors can look forward to four-legged friends in Vincent Vega and Master Yoda disguises. www.fantasyfest.com
Underwater Music Festival
The motto of the Underwater Music Festival at Looe Key Reef is "Rock on the Coral Reef." If you want to know how underwater mermaids and saxophonists go together, visit this different kind of music event in the Lower Florida Keys. Here, snorkelers and divers will enjoy live music and the performance of a real mermaid, in addition to the beautiful underwater world. At the same time, the participants will be sensitized in terms of reef care and preservation of the ecosystem "sea". www.atlasobscura.com/places/underwater-music-festival
Key Lime Pie Festival
Love & Limes: Everyone who travels to the Florida Keys knows very quickly what this means. Because visitors simply cannot get around a delicious dessert of the island chain here: the Key Lime Pie. The sinfully sweet and sour dessert is also the focus of the Key Lime Pie Festival. Here, the official state pie of Florida and the sweet tooth most typical of the Keys is duly celebrated. A Key Lime Pie eating contest and a "Miss Key Lime" beauty pageant are not to be missed. keylimefestival.com
Hemingway Days
"Papas ante Key West": With the Hemingway Days Festival, the Florida Keys celebrate one of their most famous residents, the American writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Ernest Hemingway. He lived and worked in Key West in the 1930s. He spent about a decade of his creative life in the city at the southernmost end of the Florida Keys. With his then wife Pauline, he lived in a house on Whitehead Street, which today houses the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum. One of the highlights of Hemingway Days is the "Hemingway-look-alike" contest at the writer's former favorite bar, Sloppy Joe's, on Duval Street. Here, in 30° Celsius in the shade, about 150 men with full white beards gather and compete to see who will be this year's look-alike of the literary figure. Other scheduled events include literary readings and lectures, Sloppy Joe's wacky "Running of the Bulls," a street festival celebrating the vibrant spirit of Key West, and the announcement of the winner of the Lorian Hemingway short story contest, coordinated by the writer's granddaughter herself. fla-keys.com/hemingway-days
Womensfest
The hottest party for women 21 and older in the Florida Keys is the five-day Womenfest in Key West. Lesbians, transwomen and allies then make a pilgrimage to the popular LGBTQ+ vacation destination at the southernmost end of the island chain with the goal of celebrating womanhood! The festival offers a wide range of activities for those looking to socialize, feel good, soak up the sun and then dance the night away. Festival highlights include live concerts and comedy performances, water sports activities, and sailing trips as well as exuberant parties in the city's dance clubs. gaykeywestfl.com/womenfest