Keys 200th Anniversary

Attendees watch and toast the sunset at a Florida Keys bicentennial celebration Friday, May 19, 2023, on the restored Old Seven Mile Bridge in Marathon, Fla. The sunset gathering was among a series of Keys events being staged to mark the July 3rd 200th anniversary of the Florida Territorial Legislature’s 1823 founding of Monroe County, containing the entire island chain. The old bridge was originally part of Henry Flagler’s Florida Keys Over-Sea Railroad completed in 1912, and is now closed to vehicles but open to pedestrians and bicycles. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO)

Monroe County commissioners including, from left, Jim Scholl, Holly Raschein, David Rice, Craig Cates and Michelle Lincoln, raise their margarita glasses in a toast to the Florida Keys’ forthcoming bicentennial during a public celebration event Saturday, March 25, 2023, that attracted about 4,500 attendees, in Key West, Fla. The toast came at the conclusion of a “200 Years of Paradise Kick-off Concert” saluting the 200th anniversary of the Florida Territorial Legislature’s founding of Monroe County, which contains the entire Florida Keys island chain, on July 3, 1823. The antique outboard boat motor was utilized as a whimsical mixer for the margarita’s ingredients. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO)

Spectators view a sailfish image formed by 250 drones in the sky over Key West, Fla., during a drone show that capped the “200 Years of Paradise Kick-off Concert” staged Saturday, March 25, 2023, to launch the Florida Keys’ multi-month bicentennial celebration. About 4,500 people attended the event saluting the upcoming 200th anniversary of the Florida Territorial Legislature’s founding of Monroe County, which contains the entire Florida Keys island chain, on July 3, 1823. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO)