From June 8-21, Key West’s Mallory Square, the home to world-famous sunsets and many island artists, will host its Summer Solstice Celebration. The Key West Cultural Preservation Society, which oversees the daily sunset activities, came up with this itinerary as a way to draw tourists at the start of summer while qualifying for Tourist Development Council funding.
“We had been doing some of our solstices and for years we kind of lost doing it. And it was a chance for us to have something special and bring some attention to Mallory Square and really kind of take it up a notch,” Ryan Stimers, a wire sculptor and treasurer of the Preservation Society, said.
Joey Phillips, a musician and chairman of the Society, thinks this distinct series of events elevates the daily sunset attractions and is fitting given our obsession and intrinsic relationships with the sun on an island that so often leans into the beauty of its sunsets to attract a global audience.
This second annual solstice festival will also happen at a time when Mallory Square attendance is thought to be plateauing due to economic headwinds. The physical space has also seen some of its sections made inaccessible within the past year after the structural integrity of the pier was questioned.
Phillips explained that by reviving this festival the wish is that the Sunset Celebration group can reclaim some of its glory days and get more year-round members, which in turn should generate larger crowds.
The festival works by assigning each night to a different artist, performer, vendor, or musician who is spotlighted through a more robust — and free — showing that familiarizes the audience with that particular member. The regular sunset celebrations will still occur around this. In addition, stations will be set up by non-profit organizations.
The finale event on the day of the solstice will pay homage to global cuisine and is being billed as a world food event with local restaurants and chefs presenting an array of bites.
One of last year’s most popular attractions was the guided DIY-floral crown station while Stimers assumed the role of master wire sculptor with free custom designs for the public.
A big hope for the members of this historic Sunset Celebration is that the Summer Solstice and other events in the works allow the nightly festivity to continue being an incubator of the arts. As Phillips put it, his time here in Key West would have gone in a completely different and less eventful direction without Mallory Square and its members.
“I owe my life as I know it right now to the Sunset Celebration.”
Mallory Square’s Summer Solstice Celebration takes place June 8-21 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. For more information visit SunsetCelebration.org.
