KCBCA — MORE THAN JUST AN ACRONYM

And some amazing Sunday Concerts in the Park

Many people do not know that Key Colony Beach, established as a city in 1957, used to have its own Chamber of Commerce. As the young city began developing as an oceanfront resort town, property sales, business development and local promotion needed an effective advocate. Their mission was “to aid in the development and reasoned growth” of the new tropical town.

Fast forward to 1991, and the Chamber realized its original purpose had been fulfilled. Commercial development in the city was complete, and the Chamber’s actions had become more community-oriented. So at the Chamber’s annual meeting in April 1991, they changed their name and mission.

The Key Colony Beach Community Association was born, and their new mission was to create “activities for beautification, security, safety and recreational enjoyment of the community.” Judging by the events and community activities the association undertakes every year, I’d say it’s a continued mission accomplished.

Each November, the KCBCA hosts a welcome-back dinner for returning snowbirds and old and new friends. Along with the Fishing and Boating Club, they put on the annual Key Colony Beach Christmas Boat Parade. Every January, people sign up for the Coconut Crawl, a bicycle-oriented pub crawl throughout the different establishments in the city. And every March, the association stages its biggest event: Key Colony Beach Day. This one-day event celebrates the anniversary of the incorporation of Key Colony Beach. It’s a huge event with entertainment, food, drink, fun and games, vendors and a parade. This year, KCB Day is March 5; it will take place near the golf course on 7th Street and will feature entertainment from Papa Pete, David Quick and the Rick & Dayna Band.

a really stellar lineup of talent, truly with something for everyone. All concerts start at 4 p.m., and attendees are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs, blankets, and refreshments. The best part: admission is free!

I have been honored the last many years to be the musical artist who gets to kick off the concert series, with this year’s performance on Sunday, Feb. 5 – the Sunday between the NFL’s conference championships and the Super Bowl. Coincidentally, the month of February is the anniversary of my first-ever performance in the Keys, at the old Holiday Inn in Marathon in February 1984. This year’s show will be my 39th anniversary concert, and I’m looking forward to this show as one of my favorite performances of the year.

I am blessed to have a lot of friends and fans come out to these concerts, and I usually bring extra guitars and my A-game. It’s so good to see so many friends from my local gigs, as well as a great representation from the Key Colony Sunset Singers — and they’ll invite you to stay for their nightly sunset celebration. I really do look forward to this show every year, and I hope to see you there.

Broadway Bound

Thanks in part to a $2,000 donation from the Marathon Rotary Club, members of the Marathon High School Thespian Troupe will soon hone their craft at the Broadway Student Summit in New York City. Scheduled for Presidents’ Day weekend, 15 students will sharpen their acting skills throughout the three-day workshop with nationally recognized talents. Pictured are thespian troupe and drama club officers Zyan Wiggins, left, Casey Horvat, Rylee Seligson and Jack Horvat with Marathon Rotary Club president Mike Puto and thespian troupe sponsor Carrollyn Cox. CONTRIBUTED

The association also hosts Sunday concerts in the park during season. These concerts feature the best local talent, staged at Key Colony’s beautiful waterfront Sunset Park on West Ocean Drive. Musical acts scheduled for this year include Rick & Dayna (2/19), Ericson Holt with Mick Kilgos (2/26), Bob Howard & The Ukaholics (3/12), Abstract Radio (3/19), Lady A Band (3/26), and Bob, Crystal, Patty and Joe (4/2). This is

Another aspect of the Key Colony Beach Community Association is that their events and activities help raise funds for a lot of local nonprofits. Some of these worthy organizations include the Florida Keys SPCA, Habitat for Humanity, KAIR, Grace Jones Day Care, Marathon High School, the Rotary Club of Marathon, the Autism Society of the Keys, and the City of Key Colony Beach. If Key Colony Beach is the Gem of the Florida Keys, the Community Association is the group that keeps it polished and beautiful.

- Catch John each Monday at Boondocks, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the Key Colony Inn, Thursdays at Sparky’s Landing, and this Sunday at Sunset Park in Key Colony Beach. Find his music anywhere you download or stream your music. www.johnbartus. com

Mark Hedden

... is a photographer, writer, and semi-professional birdwatcher. He has lived in Key West for more than 25 years and may no longer be employable in the real world. He is also executive director of the Florida Keys Audubon Society.

Iwas sitting on the cement wall down at Rest Beach, watching the Sandwich terns, when the band started up. It looked to be a New Orleansstyle second line – a trombone, a trumpet, a tambourine, a couple drums, a neon sousaphone, an electric guitar, and at least three types of saxophone – a funeral or memorial service of some kind.

As you often do in a small town, I wondered if it was for anyone I knew, at least in passing.

The band, and the crowd that mixed in with them, made their way over the elevated part of White Street Pier – the section they’d added a while back so the water could flow through and keep the sargassum from building up, and thus keep the neighborhood from becoming too acridly fragrant in the warmer months – and then continued out into the wider expanse of the pier. I was expecting them to play something of a dirge, but the song was pretty up-tempo, a little jazzy, something I didn’t recognize, that faded the further they went out on the pier.

Whoever’s service it was, I wondered if they got what they wanted out of their life, and hoped that they did.

Meanwhile, the Sandwich terns went about their business.

Sandwich terns don’t necessarily throw themselves at life, but they do throw themselves at lunch. Also, dinner, breakfast and the occasional between-meal snack. They aren’t one of those bird species that wander around, pecking at things. And they don’t freeze like statues, waiting to stab at something with their bill. They are plunge divers, committing their whole selves to falling out of the sky with the intention of nabbing a single fish – usually something about an inch and a quarter long. According to the literature, on average they are successful three out of four times.

They are smallish birds. With their wings folded they are about the length of a large meatball sub. (This is not where their name comes from.) They are relatively subtle and quiet about things, so sometimes it is difficult to notice how full-contact their lives are.

I’d actually come down to try and photograph them diving and was finding myself a little frustrated. Other plunge divers are easier to track. A brown pelican, for instance, will start to do a barrel roll when they dive, sometimes hitting the water sideways, like a tomahawk, sometimes angling in and hitting the water almost inverted. An osprey will hover, flap, then rise up a little bit, before falling down on its prey. Both species face into the wind before they do it.