Islamorada

The annual two-day spiny lobster sport season and beginning of the traditional lobster harvesting season in the Florida Keys are only a few weeks away and area officials want visitors and residents to have an enjoyable, safe and environmentally non-impacting experience.

The final episode of a globally available Florida Keys Traveler podcast series — commemorating the Keys’ 200th “birthday” and featuring commentary by a 104-year-old resident — is to be posted on the bicentennial date Monday, July 3.

An encore broadcast of a South Florida PBS television documentary and the final episode of the Florida Keys Traveler 2023 podcast — both commemorating the Keys’ 200th “birthday” — are to air and be posted respectively on the bicentennial date Monday, July 3.

Local parades, beach parties, glittering fireworks and the creation of the world’s largest Key lime pie are to highlight Independence Day celebrations throughout the Florida Keys.

Divers visiting the Florida Keys who want to do more than observe the only coral barrier reef in the continental United States can serve as citizen scientists by planting nursery-raised coral to help replenish the reef ecosystem.

The Florida Keys & Key West are celebrating a bicentennial, or 200th anniversary, with heritage activities throughout Monroe County. Events commemorate the Florida Territorial Legislature’s July 3, 1823, establishment of the county, which contains the entire Florida Keys.

Florida Keys visitors and residents can commemorate the subtropical island chain’s bicentennial Saturday, June 10, during a gala sea-to-table dinner in Islamorada, famed as the Sportfishing Capital of the World.

Audiences can enjoy three days of multicultural music with an all-star South Florida lineup of Afro Roots artists in Islamorada Friday through Sunday, May 19-21, during Afro Roots Fest.

“Ladies, Let's Go Fishing!” provides female anglers a learn-on-the-water weekend of education combined with the fun Screamin’ Reels tournament. The distinctive event is to be held in the Florida Keys' sport fishing capital of Islamorada Friday through Sunday, May 19-21.