Steve Miller, executive director of the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about upcoming events.
This Saturday is the Island Art Festival from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Miller said, “Holy cow this thing has gotten to be huge. It’s got over 80 vendors that are going to be there and a lot of these people are doing handcrafted, unique, one of a kind things that you’re not going to find anywhere else. The selection is just well pretty unbelievable with 80 different vendors. There’s going to be some great food. But what really blows me away is just the variety that you’re going to be able to find out there.”
The event will also include entertainment.
Miller said, “This is an unusual thing because on this particular festival, we’re not asking for any more vendors.”
The Holiday Gala will be on December 6 at Roostica.
Miller said, “The food just looks fabulous. They’re also going have some gluten free options out there available too. They’ve got gluten free pizzas that are just awesome. But the food is going to be absolutely spectacular for this event. Tickets are only $65 and there is a limit of 100 tickets to this. We’ve already sold 75, so if you if you want a ticket you probably should call pretty soon.”
You do not need to be a member of the Lower Key Chamber of Commerce to attend the event.
Miller said, “From the Island Art Festival, we’re picking up some of our prizes to give away at the installation dinner there. We do like everybody to throw in a business card and at the end of the evening, we just start giving stuff away. The number there is 305-872-2411. Talk to Bill.”
The 20th annual Big Pine and Lower Keys Nautical Expo will be on January 13 and 14th.
Miller said, “That thing is huge. We generally get a few thousand people that come to see that and that is not an exaggeration on numbers at all. The turnout on it is just absolutely phenomenal. We still have some vendor spaces available for that. Not as many as usual at this time of the year, but once again, if you call Bill you can go ahead and get yourself set up for that. We have music. We have food and just nautical things beyond belief. I mean, from decorations for your home to equipment for your boat to fishing gear.”
The expo is free to attend.
Miller said, “Now we do parking for these basically across the street from the Chamber and we’ll have an officer out there escorting people across the street to make sure everybody’s able to get across safely. There’s lots and lots of parking across the street. We’ve had hundreds of people be able to park over there so that’s not really very much of a problem. I can’t encourage people enough to come to these things because they’re just so much fun and if you’re a vendor, you’re going to make some money at this.”
Sponsors are critical for all the Chamber events and to take advantage of that, checkout the website here: https://www.lowerkeyschamber.com/