5:29 hs. | Vie, 29.Mar.2024

BUE clima T: 19°C  H: 61%

Int. en Inglés | diversity and equality in the southernmost city

Key West Pride to celebrate diversity in paradise June 7-11

Pageants, a cocktail competition and a parade featuring a segment of a 1.25-mile-long rainbow flag are among the attractions for visitors to Key West Pride 2017. 

02.06.2017 01:00 |  The Florida Keys & Key West  | 

The annual festivities, set for Wednesday through Sunday, June 7-11, celebrate diversity and equality in the southernmost city, a perennial favorite vacation destination for LGBT visitors.

The celebration also offers visitors a chance to experience Key West’s “One Human Family” atmosphere of inclusion and recognition that all people are created equal.

The 2017 schedule features pool parties, nightly drag shows and aquatic adventures including snorkeling, kayaking and sunset sails. Activities also include curator-led tours of an exhibit chronicling legendary playwright Tennessee Williams’ decades on the island, a pride-themed street fair on famed Duval Street, a one-of-a-kind trolley tour documenting the LGBT community's impact on Key West history and culture, a burlesque show with an LGBT flair and a lively brunch served with a drag show on the side.

Contests bring excitement to the five-day festival, including pageants to select Mr. and Miss Key West Pride.

Scheduled highlights include the 2017 Stoli Key West Cocktail Classic’s Wednesday night Pride kick-off gala, Friday night’s contestant runoffs and Saturday night’s final round. The contest features regional winners from LGBT bars in 17 North American cities, all competing to create an original Key West cocktail that reflects the island’s creativity and spirit. Now in its fourth year, the challenge is believed to be North America’s largest annual LGBT bartending competition.

Saturday’s final round is scheduled for 7 p.m. on an open-air stage in the 700 block of Duval Street in the heart of Key West’s LGBT entertainment district. Stoli USA’s national LGBT ambassador Patrik Gallineaux is set to host, with a panel of celebrities on hand to judge the dueling bartenders.

The winner is to be named honorary grand marshal of the 2017 Pride Parade. The all-welcome procession is to feature a 100-foot section of Key West’s famed 1.25-mile-long sea-to-sea rainbow flag, created in 2003 by the late Gilbert Baker. The parade is slated to begin at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 11, and proceed up Duval Street from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean.