Manuela Mobley, Marketing and Membership Director with the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about upcoming events.
The Chamber is responsible for the July 4th celebration in Key Largo.
Mobley said, “That’s right. Obviously I think that’s part of my excitement too, just because the countdown has begun, and we are all just pretty much day by day, fine tuning all the details, making sure that we’re not missing anything, that we’re not missing anyone. We have so many volunteers that stepped up to the plate at the last minute. So we’re obviously very grateful for those that stepped up. The community is always very supportive. We have great sponsors that are helping us make this happen. This is the 49th annual Fourth of July parade and fireworks. We are incorporating the family picnic again, bringing it back. We’re looking forward for the decorations.”
The theme is Pirates, Parrots and Patriots.
Mobley said, “So just to kind of like walk people through it a little bit, because I know there’s a lot of moving parts to it, we’re going to have the parade starting at 10am, so that the roads will be closed at 9:45, so we’re asking people to plan accordingly. But the start will be 10am and we’re asking all of the floats and everyone to be there between 8:30 to nine. It’s a first come first serve kind of thing. Only the sponsors have a guaranteed spot in the parade. But everybody between 8:30am and 9am be ready with your floats. And then 10am we start the parade at Anthony’s Clothing in Key Largo, mile marker 98.2 and once we start the parade, we’re gonna go through Laguna Avenue, where we stop at the shopping center there, and we’re going to continue to go to the Key Largo Community Park, to the family picnic, starting with vendors, music, there’s all kinds of food vendors and shopping vendors, but there’s also a kids section. We haven’t really told anyone about this. We kind of wanted to make it a surprise, but I think this is going to be kind of cool, but we have an area now barricaded for the kids to play with water soakers, and we will be providing those. We’ll make it like a little friendly competition. So that’s gonna happen. Then, of course, we have the bounce houses and all of the other kids activities. And then we have an amazing addition to the family picnic, which is Paddles and Patriots and it’s the Florida Keys pickleball. They are hosting this amazing event, so they’ll be doing some coaching, some open plays. They’ll have their own vendors as well, all related to pickleball. They’re going to have a little mini tournament. We are not hosting an evening event. We are hosting the fireworks, though, so by the Bay on Blackwater Sound, you’ll be able to watch all the fireworks around 9, 9:15pm, and people can go and choose their favorite spot to view. But we will not be having an evening event. So feel free to spend the entire morning on the parade and then the picnic, and then go home and relax so you can go out at night and watch the beautiful fireworks.”
The Taste the Keys Festival is coming up this fall.
Mobley said, “The Chamber hosts a couple of annual events, of course, the Fourth of July, 49 years now, this is our second year hosting Taste the Keys. So Taste the Keys started last year with a food trolley, or two food trolleys, driving people to these locations just to kind of taste a menu and a drink. It was so popular that we started talking to the members and the board, and why don’t we do this a little more often? So we did it one night in October, one Thursday. So now we’re thinking, okay, why don’t we do it every Thursday? So it’s gonna be the three weeks of October. We’re gonna do the Taste the Keys tour, and we still we haven’t had all the locations set yet, but we will put it on our website, tastethekeys.com, it’s live up and running. You can actually see previous year’s photos, and all of the things and all of the locations we visited, and the menu that they tasted, and everything. But that’s going to happen the three weeks of October, and I believe the last week, we’re actually going to have a cook off, so it’s going to be like a little friendly competition of Taste the Keys, and we’re setting that up. It’s really is a taste of the amazing restaurants and the amazing locations that we have in our community. We’re starting with the Upper Keys, but our goal is to drive people throughout the Florida Keys to help them taste the keys.”
Membership with the Chamber has a number of benefits.
Mobley said, “I think the community understands the importance of all the Chambers of Commerce and in our place, we are that first stop to the Florida Keys, where we are trying to set that tone high and set the right expectation. We educate people not only of what to do, where to eat, where to go, but hey, slow down when you’re in the Big Pine area, because we have a protected Key deer species. So our job is bigger than just saying, hey, here’s where you can go snorkel or even connecting a member to another member. It goes bigger and beyond that. We really, really, genuinely want to help. So I always ask the members, the new members, the old members, what can I do? How can I help? You need to tell me what you need so I can make it happen, and I’ll try my best to make it happen, I can tell you that. Anyone that knows me knows that I will try my best, and if I can’t make it, I’ll find someone that can make it happen. We’re just thankful for the community support, for the sponsors and for this platform that you’re able to host us here. So we thank you as well.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keylargochamber.org/