Piratical Escapades in Key West

The spiritual descendants of Blackbeard, Calico Jack Rackham, pirate queen Anne Bonny and even Captain Jack Sparrow are to descend on Key West Friday, November 26, through Sunday, December 5, for the 11th annual Pirates in Paradise Festival.

Designed to appeal to children and adults alike, the colorful gathering typically brings hundreds of buccaneer aficionados and re-enactors to celebrate the island city's adventurous seafaring history.

The festival schedule features tall ship sailing adventures, a plank-walking championship, living history pirate encampments, swashbuckling soirees and parties, a "village thieves' market" and pirate pub, pirate tours of Key West, an educational tall ship sailing seminar and the staged re-creation of the trial of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, real-life female buccaneers who were captured in Caribbean waters in the early 1700s.

Throughout the 2010 Pirates in Paradise Festival, aspiring seafarers can experience tall ship pirate sailing excursions aboard the Schooner Wolf, the flagship of the Keys' Conch Republic including sunset sails, and join Captain Finbar in lighthearted attacks on "land forces" and unsuspecting vessels in the harbor.

Nonstop entertainment is to be provided by strolling minstrels and combative stuntmen. Little buccaneers can enjoy games and treasure hunts in a special kids' area, and vendors plan to offer period arts and crafts. A homemade brew competition is "on tap" as well.

In addition, living-history pirate encampments, "invasions" and demonstrations by military re-enactors are scheduled at Fort Zachary Taylor, an authentic Civil War fortification adjacent to Truman Waterfront Commons. Fort Taylor events are planned for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 3-5.

For more information about top events in Florida take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Florida.

For more information about the Pirates in Paradise Festival visit www.piratesinparadise.com

Conch Republic to Celebrate Independence in April

The Conch Republic, more commonly known as Key West and the Florida Keys, is to salute the 28th anniversary of its founding Friday, April 16, through Sunday, April 25.

Traditionally irreverent highlights of the annual Conch Republic Independence Celebration include a "drag" race between female impersonators in startlingly high heels and a lighthearted sea skirmish featuring tall ships in Key West Harbor.

As well as showcasing the independent and eccentric spirit that characterizes the Florida Keys, the celebration benefits a variety of local charitable organizations.

The birth of the Conch Republic was prompted by a 1982 U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint set up at the head of the Florida Keys so agents could search cars for drugs and illegal aliens. It virtually halted traffic on the only road to the mainland.

Realizing that the island chain was being treated as a foreign country, local officials protested by staging a secession from the U.S. and proclaiming the independent Conch Republic. They waged "war" on the mother country by pelting federal agents with stale Cuban bread, surrendered almost immediately and requested $1 billion in foreign aid.

The Border Patrol checkpoint was removed, but not before the Conch Republic had captured the popular imagination.

As well as the drag race and sea battle, highlights of the 2010 Conch Republic Independence Celebration include the World's Longest Parade, named because its route down Key West's Duval Street proceeds from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, and the Conch Republic Red Ribbon Bed Race, billed as "the most fun you can have in bed with your clothes on."

Among the other scheduled events are a reception aboard a World War II ship turned floating museum, open-air crafts show and food fest, fiddlers' contest at the Green Parrot Bar, sailing race commemorating the Keys' salvaging history and rebirth of a Key West tradition featuring a 7-foot Key lime pie.

For more information about top events in Florida, take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Florida at www.topeventsusa.com/state-events-florida.html

For more information and a complete festival schedule visit www.conchrepublic.com

DAZZLING ‘DROPS’, FIREWORKS AND FRIVOLITY TO HIGHLIGHT NEW YEAR'S EVE IN FLORIDA KEYS

New Year's Eve partiers unwilling to endure cold-weather festivities, such as the traditional "ball drop" in New York's Times Square, can find exuberant celebrations and far warmer temperatures in the Florida Keys.

In Key West, revelers can choose from three very different – though equally lighthearted – takeoffs on the Times Square gala as midnight approaches Thursday, Dec. 31.

On the island city's renowned Duval Street, thousands of people are expected to ring in the New Year by watching a gigantic conch shell, the symbol of the Florida Keys, descend from its supports to the flat roof of Sloppy Joe's Bar, 201 Duval St. Festivities are emceed by a rooftop host and, as a huge clock counts down the seconds to midnight, the manmade shell begins to descend. Sloppy Joe's live music rounds out the revelry.

A few blocks away at the Bourbon Street Pub/New Orleans House complex, 724 Duval St., renowned female impersonator Sushi is slated to take the celebration's center stage for the 13th consecutive year. Seconds before midnight, a lavishly gowned and coiffed Sushi – riding in a super-sized red high heel that glitters as glowingly as the ball in Times Square – is to be lowered from the balcony of the complex to the accompaniment of cheers and applause from the crowd below. Performances by renowned female impersonators kick off the merrymaking.

In Key West's Historic Seaport, New Year's Eve revelry combines with a salute to the island city's colorful seafaring heritage. Just before midnight, a pirate wench is to begin her descent from the top of the mast of a tall ship, to the accompaniment of cannon blasts and the liftoff of biodegradable balloons. She will complete her earthward journey as the clock strikes and 2010 officially begins. Live music, dancing and festivities at the Schooner Wharf Bar are to round out the seaport gala.

Blackwater Sound in Key Largo is to be the setting for the Upper Keys' leading New Year's Eve fireworks extravaganza. The sparkling sky display is hosted by bayside restaurants Sundowners, Señor Frijoles, Cactus Jack's, Gus' Grille at the Marriott Key Largo Beach Resort and the Caribbean Club, all located around mile markers (MM) 103-104. Tables fill up fast, so partiers are advised to arrive early.

Visitors and residents who want to start the New Year with a focus on fitness can do so beginning at 8 a.m. Friday, Jan. 1, when the annual 5k Run, Walk and Crawl is to depart from Islamorada's Founders Park, MM 87 bayside.

A day of festivities is to follow, highlighted by a blessing of the fleet at Whale Harbor Bridge, MM 84 oceanside.

For more information about top events in Florida, take a look at the Top Events USA selection of the annual main festivals and events in Florida at http://www.topeventsusa.com/state-events-florida.html

Or, take a look at the official web site for Florida Keys at http://www.fla-keys.com/