The secession took place as a response to the installation of a checkpoint by the U.S Border Patrol, which stopped traffic at the top of the Florida Keys Overseas Highway, the only road in and out of the subtropical Keys to the Florida mainland.

Local officials complained this would have a harmful impact on tourism, and many international visitors to the Keys would face delays. Demonstrating the Florida Keys’ eccentric spirit, officials decided that if the federal government was insisting on treating the Keys like a foreign nation, they would behave like one.

By pelting federal agents with stale Cuban bread, the Conch Republic’s first prime minister, Dennis Wardlow, declared war on the United States before immediately surrendering and demanding one billion dollars in emergency aid – not a cent of which was ever received!

"After I heard about it, I called state and federal politicians who knew nothing about roadblocks," recounted Wardlow, who was Key West’s mayor at the time. "Then I called the Border Patrol and they told me it (the roadblock) was none of my business.”

“After that, I made it my business," said Wardlow. "That roadblock would have affected the economy of the Keys. No visitor wants to wait two hours in a traffic jam at the end of their holiday."

Wardlow recalled the day before the secession he, Key West attorney David Horan and other business leaders travelled to Miami to file an injunction in federal court to remove the roadblock.

"During the hearing, the border patrol representative unfolded a blueprint with plans for a permanent checkpoint station," he said. "When we left the courthouse we told reporters that since were being treated as a foreign country, we might as well secede."

As a result of the stand that Wardlow and others took, the Border Patrol checkpoint faded away. Despite the non-appearance of the requested foreign aid, but the Conch Republic continues to live on, touting the slogan "We Seceded Where Others Failed."

Today affectionately known as the “the world’s first fifth world nation,” the independent “country” is headed up by Sir Peter Anderson, the first Secretary General of the Conch Republic. He is a charismatic character who is responsible for carrying out the republic’s philosphy of “mitigating world tension through the exercise of humour.”

An author, event coordinator, raconteur, and self-described “debonair devil-may-care dude,” he has represented the Conch Republic on diplomatic missions to Europe and the Caribbean, and at then-President Clinton’s 1994 Summit of the Americas.  Learn more about Sir Peter Anderson’s role in promoting the Conch Republic as a "sovereign state of mind" and the republic’s mission to bring more "humour, warmth and respect to a planet in dire need of all three” by clicking here.

Visitors to Key West are invited to celebrate their own independence at April’s Conch Republic Independence Celebration, a 10-day extravaganza that includes a sea “battle” featuring tall ships, the Conch Cruiser Car Show, the Great Conch Republic Drag Race, the Green Parrot Conch Republic Music Festival and the “world’s longest parade” down the island’s Duval Street from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.  The festival’s oldest event is the Conch Republic Red Ribbon Bed Race, a charity race of decorated beds down Duval Street. The quirky challenge is billed as “the most fun you can have in bed with your clothes on.”

Bon Voyage is offering a seven-night package to the Florida Keys for the Conch Republic Independence Celebration from £1495 per person. Cost includes return flights with Delta from Manchester or London, seven nights in a boutique inn in Key West, and a convertible car hire throughout. To book call 0800 316 0194 or visit www.bon-voyage.co.uk

For a full schedule of events at the Conch Republic Independence Celebration, visit www.conchrepublic.com/schedule.htm

For more information on the Florida Keys & Key West, visit www.fla-keys.co.uk

For more information and images, please contact Jo Thomas at the Florida Keys & Key West UK Press Office on 01825 763636 / jo.thomas@kbc-pr.com