19 May 2013
Florida Keys & Key West Booth at Pow Wow: #709
KEY WEST, Florida Keys — In most locales, the nightly sunset happens without fanfare. In Key West, it's the occasion for a waterfront Sunset Celebration featuring colorful street performers and an island-style outdoor market.
Like the island city's unusual cemetery, remarkable butterfly conservatory and historic aquarium, the sunset gala showcases the unique and enduring natural and attitudinal attributes of the United States' southernmost spot.
To mark the nightly sunset, people of all ages flock to Mallory Square, the historic pier overlooking Key West Harbor and the Gulf of Mexico, to enjoy a carnival-like atmosphere.
Sunset performers are as much a highlight as the setting sun. Visitors might encounter a fire-eater with seemingly asbestos insides or a tightrope walker balanced high above his audience, silhouetted against the fiery glow of the setting sun.
The festive water's-edge market is as appealing as the performances. Sunset celebrants can hear a fortuneteller's predictions, buy jewelry or crafts handmade by local artisans or sample some “Pretty Good Popcorn” and other treats.
To enjoy the celebration to its fullest, it's best to arrive at Mallory Square at least 30 minutes before the sun actually sets and stay until it slips below the horizon. All the entertainment on the pier is free to watch, although entertainers do pass the hat following their performances.
For more information, visit www.sunsetcelebration.org.
Much like the sunset celebration, the Key West Cemetery also celebrates the island's individuality. It fills nearly 20 prime acres in the heart of the island's historic district. Renowned and picturesque, it features both above-ground stone-encased caskets and more traditional below-ground graves.
Epitaphs range from poignant expressions of loss to “I Told You I Was Sick,” one island resident's humorous legacy. The gravestone of Edwina Lariz, who died in 1986, reads “Devoted Fan of Singer Julio Iglesias.” The grave marker of Thomas Romer, a Bahamian veteran of the War of 1812, reports that he was a “good citizen for 65 of his 108 years.”
On a more serious note, the cemetery's memorials and monuments spotlight unforgettable moments in local and regional history. One memorial shelters the remains of U.S. sailors who died when the battleship Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor in 1898, touching off the Spanish-American War.
Another plot is dedicated to those who died in the Ten Years' War, fought from 1868 to 1878 in an unsuccessful attempt to liberate Cuba from Spanish rule. Containing a single grave, the memorial was established in the mid-1890s by Cuban patriots living in Key West.
Fans of Ernest Hemingway, the Nobel Prize–winning author who lived in Key West throughout the 1930s, can visit the graves of his longtime friend and fishing companion “Sloppy Joe” Russell and sparring partner Kermit “Shine” Forbes.
Animals are buried in the cemetery, too. A well-maintained brick lot harbors the graves of three Yorkshire terriers — one bearing the inscription, “His Beautiful Little Spirit Was a Challenge to Love.” The plot also contains the final resting place of Elfina, a pet deer.
The Key West Cemetery is open daily from sunrise to dusk. Guided tours are offered by reservation twice weekly; for details, call the Historic Florida Keys Foundation at 305-292-6718.
While flowers are a common tribute on cemetery markers, another unique Key West locale honors the creatures known as “flowers of the sky.”
The Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory, one of three major butterfly facilities in Florida and just 23 in the United States, incorporates a 5,000-square-foot glass-domed habitat where exotic and tropical butterflies fly free. Visitors can follow all stages of butterfly development, observe the hatching process and stroll among hundreds of butterflies from nearly 60 species.
Located at 1316 Duval St., the state-of-the-art solarium and nature exhibit also is home to more than 20 species of exotic birds as well as thousands of tropical plants and trees. An on-site gallery features the nationally acclaimed butterfly artwork of Sam Trophia, the conservatory's co-founder.
The Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory is open daily from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., with tickets sold until 4:30 p.m. The gift shop and gallery remain open until 5:30 p.m. daily. Educational programs and group tours are available with advance reservations.
For more information, call 305-296-2988 or visit www.keywestbutterfly.com.
Visitors eager to learn about finned rather than winged creatures can discover the inhabitants of the Florida Keys' coral reefs and undersea world at the Key West Aquarium, 1 Whitehead St. at Mallory Square. Open since 1935, it was one of the United States' first open-air aquariums.
Among the residents are stingrays, sharks, sea turtles, barracuda, tropical fish, tarpon, parrotfish and grouper. The “Atlantic Shores” exhibit features a 50,000-gallon tank displaying a cross-section of a near-shore mangrove habitat and houses tropical and game fish. The aquarium also has a touch tank for hands-on interaction between sea creatures and humans.
During daily tours of the facility, visitors can observe feedings of resident sharks and turtles while guides explain their habits and habitats. Participants in the guided tours even get an opportunity to pet a live shark.
As well as providing an overview of the Keys' underwater wonders, the aquarium is committed to helping protect endangered sea turtles. Associated with a wide variety of accredited agencies that work to rehabilitate injured turtles, the facility is home to several recovering turtles and some whose injuries prevent their release back into the wild.
The Key West Aquarium is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Guided shark tours are offered at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.keywestaquarium.com or call 888-544-5927.
For more Florida Keys & Key West travel information, including electronic brochures and videos, visit the Keys website at www.fla-keys.com.
Keys social media sites include facebook.com/floridakeysandkeywest, twitter.com/thefloridakeys and youtube.com/floridakeystv.
For personal service, call toll-free, in the U.S. and Canada, 1-800-FLA-KEYS (800-352-5397).
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