20th Conch Republic Independence Celebration
Key West, FL -"We celebrate our Independence annually in a 'public and notorious manner..,'" says the Honorable Sir Peter Anderson, Secretary General of the Conch Republic. The Conch Republic is more familiarly known as the Florida Keys... but most people just know it as Key West.
What, you haven't heard that Key West seceded from the Union in 1982? It's true... well, sort of. In early spring of that year, the US Border Patrol erected a blockade on US Highway 1 at Florida City in an effort to keep out illegal immigrants.
'Conchs,' or Key West locals, reacted indignantly to this. They saw the act as treating them as non-citizens, and so responded just as you'd expect from an island of merry pranksters.
On April 23rd of 1982 then-mayor Dennis Wardlow read a proclamation of secession, broke a loaf of stale Cuban bread over the head of a 'US Navy' sailor, and then surrendered to the US Admiral in charge of the Key West naval base and demanded $1 billion in foreign aid to rebuild the Republic!
The United States Government, in an act typically short-sighted, failed to acknowledge the secession. This act, or lack of an act, led Conch natives to declare their sovereignty by right of International Law, or something to that effect.
Whatever the case, for nineteen years Key West has celebrated its Independence in high style. This year's theme is 'Key West 2001- A Spaced Odyssey.' Authentic Key West, both the theme and the fact that there is a theme.
Here's a quick rundown of the highlights: A Conch shell-blowing party at the Schooner Wharf Bar on Friday followed by the 'Great American, Florida, and Monroe County Cleanup in the Conch Republic' all Saturday morning is pure Key West- loud, yet oddly responsible.
Saturday's big event though is The "Ripley's Believe It or Not" Great Conch Republic Drag Race, sponsored by 801 Bourbon Bar and Bourbon Street Pub & WEOW 92.5. Yes, drag queens racing through Duval Street. It's all day affair, followed by the Conch Republic Royal Family Investiture Party at The Green Parrot.
Our staff's most anticipated event is 'The Great Tequila Taste Off' at The Hog's Breath Saloon on Wednesday the 25th. We've begun practice sessions already.
But it wouldn't be Independence Day if there wasn't a parade. So Thursday the 26th, the US 1 Radio 104.1 FM "World's Longest Parade" chaotically wends its way down Duval to Gulf of Mexico.
Things continue in this vein for the rest of the week until Sunday's Wrecker's Race Series Finale and Awards Ceremony. Held in honor of Key West's 'traditional' source of wealth, this is a one-way race to the reefs that cost many a ship its hull- and its cargo.
If you're looking for a particularly local
Key West street party, you can't do any better than the Conch Republic
Independece Celebration. All the absurd, inspired insanity you've come
to expect from Key West, with a decidedly 'local' bent! 
