Mallory Square

ABOUT THIS PLACE

Commodore David Porter set up an anti-piracy squadron on this ground in 1823. When the pirates were gone the square became the working waterfront: buildings here stored and auctioned the cargo pulled off ships wrecked on the reef, which was the richest business on the island for decades, and the sponge trade and the cigar trade followed. The name comes from the Mallory Steamship Line and its dock. By the middle of the twentieth century the whole waterfront had gone derelict, and in 1961 the city and the Old Island Restoration Foundation set about turning it into somewhere people would come, keeping the old buildings and putting theaters, restaurants and galleries into them. The sunset celebration is now what brings the crowd: jugglers, musicians, escape artists and stalls set up in the couple of hours before dusk, every evening, and it is free. The organizers describe it as the longest running arts festival in Key West, and it is a licensed event rather than an informal gathering: craft sellers, psychics, food carts and street performers all apply for their spot. The crowd starts building about an hour before the sun goes down, which is when to arrive if you want a place at the water's edge. Cruise ships tie up at the dock alongside, so the square is at its busiest when one is in port