Suzi Youngberg, president of the Key Largo Chamber of Commerce, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about upcoming events.
The Key Largo Chamber of Commerce is bringing the Fourth of July festivities to the Upper Keys.
Youngberg said, “It is going to be big. It’s always big, but we planned for a big festival this year. It is the 49th annual Fourth of July parade that the Key Largo Chamber has hosted. So that’s pretty cool in itself. Several years ago, the Key Largo Chamber kind of branded our parade as celebrating freedom. So we are going to keep that. You can’t get much better than that for Fourth of July, but we’ve added a little fun element, just to make the decorating of the floats maybe a little more fun and creative. So the actual theme this year is pirates, parrots and patriots.”
There is a float fee this year.
Youngberg said, “We are charging $10 per float, and that is new. I know some of our long time parade participants, you might be a little surprised by that, but as everyone knows, everything is getting more and more expensive these days, and just the cost of the Chamber to put on this event is just going up all the time. So we really hope that our participants won’t mind just paying that $10 just to have their float in the parade. We are going to have great prizes. We have lots of different categories for prizes for the different floats. So we just hope everyone will come out and have a good time, and then immediately following the parade in Key Largo, we will end up at the Key Largo Community Park for the Freedom Fest family picnic. That will go on about 11am to about 4pm. We’ll have music, drinks, food, lots of vendors. We’ll have free hot dogs for the kids. Anyone 18 and under gets a free hot dog courtesy of the Centennial Bank hot dog wagon. They’re going to set that up and we appreciate that.”
Are vendors still able to sign up?
Youngberg said, “We are actively looking for vendors. Like I said, we do have Centennial Bank. We’ll have the dog and burger wagon. The Italian Food Company has already committed to be there. We’ve got a few other vendors, but we really would like to get some more food vendors. So if anyone has a food truck or a restaurant with a food booth, please give us a call. Contact us at the Key Largo Chamber. We would love to chat with you. And other vendors too, if you have supplies, if you have products or things that you want to sell, anyone is invited to come and set up to sell anything except alcoholic beverages. The Chamber will take care of that part. We have a new element added to the picnic this year. When we were doing the walk through over there at Key Largo Community Park, we noticed there are those new beautiful pickleball courts there. We decided to incorporate that as part of the fun on July 4. We partnered with Keys Deep Apparel and the Florida Keys Pickleball, and we are going to be hosting the Paddles and the Patriots Freedom Fest pickleball clinic. So that’s another way people can have some fun that day. It’ll cost just $35 a person to participate in the clinic. They’re going to have some pros there working with people from all levels, from begin beginner to advanced. So just go to our website and check out all of the July 4 festivities and sign up for the pickleball clinic.”
Getting a float in the parade can be done online.
Youngberg said, “If you click on the Events tab, it will list all the different things that are going on that day for us. We will of course be setting off the fireworks that evening. Once again, as usual, we won’t be hosting an evening fireworks festival, since we’re going to be doing the picnic all afternoon. So we’re just advising people to go to your favorite bayside establishment to view the fireworks that’ll be happening there on Blackwater Sound on the Florida Bay. Key West International Airport, once again, was our sponsor for the fireworks. So we appreciate them so much. They actually are the sponsors for all of the July 4 fireworks going on throughout Monroe County. So we really appreciate them.”
Tomorrow evening will be a Members in Motion event at the Anchorage Resort and Yacht Club.
Youngberg said it’s “5:30 to 7:30. They’re planning big festivities. I think we’re going to be outside on the water, so it should be a beautiful evening. I believe they’re even going to have some music and, of course, some great food and drink. So come join us, and members and non members alike are invited to join us for any of our events, for our luncheons or our evening events.”
The Key Largo Chamber of Commerce also operates the Visitors Center.
Youngberg said, “Since we are right there at the top of the Keys, of course, at Mile Marker 106, we are the first stop for a lot of our visitors coming into the Florida Keys. People are always stopping by asking we’re here in the Keys. What should we do? Our staff loves to recommend great places to eat, the great excursions, things to do, to really enjoy the Florida Keys. So it is another way for our members to highlight themselves. You can actually be a member of our visitor center and have your brochures or rack cards there for people to pick up, even as far as having posters on our wall, and even some slides running on some televisions that are always running there for the visitors to watch. People really like to see the videos and the slide shows running in the visitor center.”
There is a change to an upcoming luncheon.
Youngberg said, “State Representative Jim Mooney was going to be our speaker at the June 12 luncheon. But as some of you are probably aware there are some happenings in Tallahassee. The legislative session has been extended in June, and unfortunately, Representative Mooney will be in Tallahassee the week of our June luncheon. We already had the emergency management folks scheduled to speak in July, so we were able to switch them, which, in some ways, I think it’s more apropos. We’ll have the deputy director of the Monroe County Emergency Management Operations, will be our speaker on June 12. So it’ll be timely, because hurricane season will have just started. So he’ll give us an update on everything that’s happening there. And then on July 10, we will have Representative Jim Mooney to let us know everything that’s happened in our Florida State Legislature this year.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keylargochamber.org/