Key West

Featuring some 200 performing songwriters in 50-plus shows, the Key West Songwriters Festival brings together chart-topping hitmakers and emerging talents in an unparalleled five-day medley for music fans.   

The annual Afro Roots World Music Festival has celebrated the evolution of African culture by featuring some of the best performers from the Caribbean, the Americas and Africa during the last two decades. For the first time in its 20-year history, Afro Roots Fest is to travel to the Florida Keys for a variety of events from late April through early June.

One of the Florida Keys’ iconic resorts has reopened, as the island chain continues unveiling fully refurbished accommodations more than six months after Hurricane Irma.

racecourse for competitors on paddleboards and self-propelled watercraft during the 2018 Key West Paddle Classic. The race is scheduled Saturday, April 28, with accompanying events for participants Thursday through Sunday, April 26-29. 

Several dozen colorful mobile sculptures and “art cycles” are to entertain onlookers in Key West Saturday, May 5, during a people-powered parade of kinetic creativity.

Activities including a lighthearted sea battle featuring tall ships and a “drag” race for female impersonators await visitors April 20-29, when irreverent “patriots” stage the 36th annual Conch Republic Independence Celebration. The offbeat festival commemorates the Florida Keys’ symbolic secession from the United States. 

“West Side Story” composer Leonard Bernstein’s “Key West–side story” is to be spotlighted for music lovers during “Remembering Lenny” and other offerings exploring the American musical icon’s work and the ways the island city influenced it. Spearheaded by Key West’s Impromptu Classical Concerts organization, the events celebrate the centennial of Bernstein’s 1918 birth.

Ocean enthusiasts and eco-travelers can salute the unique marine environment of the Florida Keys island chain, which includes the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef, Saturday, April 14, during Mote Marine Laboratory’s Ocean Fest: A Community Celebration.