Kerry Baker, executive director of the Key West Chamber of Commerce, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about upcoming events.
That golf tournament is coming up at the end of April.
Baker said, “Our golf tournament is coming up on Sunday, April the 26th. We’re super excited. This is our 20th anniversary. It’s a great event. Unfortunately, we are sold out for player opportunities, but we are still accepting donations for raffle prizes, player prizes. We still need volunteers. If anyone’s interested in coming out and helping us out that day, it is a lot of fun, and you get to interact with 144 golfers, another probably 30 or so volunteers. So it’s a lot of great fun. If you’d like to help on that, just give the chamber a call at 305-294-2587.”
The Keep Key West Beautiful partnership has been up and running for a few months.
Baker said, “We’re very excited to partner with Dorian and Key West Beautiful program and make this available. I have to give a little shout out to Lisbey Mira from First State Bank. Anyone that’s been to First State Bank, Lisbey just really, truly embraces what every employer would want in their staff. She knows all her customers by name, super friendly. Could be pouring down rain outside, and she’s still smiling and saying hello. So that’s really what we’re wanting to do, is highlight those employees that go above and beyond, provide exceptional customer service, and really just remind us what Key West has been put on the map for. I mean, our friendliness, welcomeness, and just really prioritizing our customers and making sure that all of our guests, regardless if they’re a visitor or if they’re a local resident, a part time resident, that everyone feels that true hospitality. We want to recognize and highlight businesses that go above and beyond and are really just putting that pride into their business. There’s so many small little mom and pop shops downtown, as well as bigger, larger commercial type properties, and many of them go really full throttle on making sure that their landscaping is clean, that the entryways are clean, their beautification of their building. So this is just a program where we can continue to highlight that. We’ll be doing that by recognizing them, not only on the Chamber side, but at the City Commission meetings, as well as on our social media. And hopefully be able to do a little media press within our local publications as well.”
The Chamber also recognizes teachers as well.
Baker said, “Through the generosity of the members of the Key West Chamber of Commerce, which, mind you, largely is represented by smaller businesses, we were able to contribute to our local school system over $140,000 this school year, and that’s through in-kind donation, cash donation, or scholarships. But their generosity is really what makes this possible. We’ll be wrapping up our teacher recognition program at our April luncheon, where we’ll be honoring 12 teachers. So we’re very excited about that. As we all know, our teachers work really hard to educate our students and really prepare them to go off into not only the workplace, but into life in itself. So as parents, we take a role in that, but teachers also share in that role of educating and molding our children. So it’s really important for us to thank them for that. Through the generosity of our members, they’ll each be presented a bag that’s worth about $3,500 and it’s got everything that you could possibly think of in that bag, from gift certificates to things that they can do for a little rest and relaxation, restaurants, water sports, actual little gifts from our members, a check that’s made possible through the generosity of our members. We also have our STREAM program. So that’s money that’s made available for the classroom, for our teachers on science, technology, reading, engineering, mathematics. This year, we were able to give a check to Gerald Adams on Stock Island, where they were able to buy books for their book vending machine. We funded a field trip from HOB to help offset the cost for a Dry Tortugas field trip. We gave money to the Basilica School for their science lab. We gave money to Horace O’Brien Middle School for the rock band for tuners that they needed. So it’s really just been a great program, and it’s things that would not traditionally be covered under the school district budget. We’re able to help offset that, and make this money available so we can have programs in our school system that will help our children thrive. We’re also super excited. I spoke with Lauren at Key West High School on the fashion show for May 16, and we’ll be making a donation to them as well. So we’ll be helping the culinary program with a donation for their hors d’oeuvres that they serve, as well as donations for each of the designers that are participating in the fashion show on May 16. So I can’t wait to see what the student designers have in store for us this year. It’s always an exciting event. There is so much talent locally, and it’s amazing to see the talent that’s coming out of the high schools and even middle schools. It’s not back like it was when I was in school. They are really just competing at such a young age to be seen with their designs, music, sports, it’s just really a great thing to watch.”
There’s also a seminar coming up about AI.
Baker said, “We want to make sure that we provide resources to businesses. Not everyone has an HR department or a training department, so we try to think outside of the box. This is one of those seminars. It’s not your traditional but we have Debbie Mason from Strategists, Inc., that’s coming in to do a seminar on AI that’s going to be held at the Casa Marina. I thank them for their generosity and making some room space available for us. It is this Tuesday on April the 14th. We are looking forward to that as well as some other opportunities that we’re going to be offering. Over the summer, I’m going to be having a seminar on really, kind of how you look at marketing, like advertising dollars, the best ways to market your dollar dollar, how to see a return off your investment, what would work for your type of business, and really, to kind of help smaller businesses.”
Tourism is also a huge aspect of life in the Keys.
Baker said, “We have a great team in Key West, as well as the rest of the Florida Keys. They have staff now that’s representing the TDC Keys wide, so we’re able to have a stronger connection with the TDC. I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in on some branding stuff that they’ve been doing over the last year, really, because I started with it last year. We had an activity that was on Wednesday afternoon. It was really exciting to see some of the stuff that they have been working on, and are going to be unveiling for advertising, not only Key West, but as well as the Florida Keys. So we’re super excited about that. Kara gave an amazing update yesterday. Was super excited to hear about some of the exciting things that they have going on. And she gave some latest statistics. February was extremely strong. Key West had a very strong occupancy rate for February, which that’s always exciting. So our visitors have definitely been here. Reports that I’m getting from the Key West business community, obviously, everyone is a little bit different. Some are doing extremely well from the winter season. Some have not been doing as well, but there’s a positive outlook for the summer. I mean, that’s just from the business side. That’s not from the lodging side, because although sometimes the occupancy shows the visitors are here, I think everyone can attest that 2025 was an extremely hard year for the businesses of Key West, and I’m glad to see that a lot of them are reporting that they did have a strong season, because that’s extremely important. The money that they’re able to make during that time frame, has to help offset them during the slower months as well.”
The monthly Chamber meeting is coming up April 22.
Baker said, “Mayor Lincoln is going to be giving a State of the County address. So we always look forward to hearing what’s going on with the county. They do an amazing job as well, and they’ve had a lot going on. They had a rough year, and with their budget, and I think they’re bouncing back and still continuing to provide some great services to the residents of Monroe County. So I can’t wait to hear that update as well.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestchamber.org/