Life As A Feast
April 26, 2012
Life As A Feast
This week has passed very quickly and been incredibly busy
for us as we had a number of events to attend and Kathy also was busy preparing
for an 8 day rafting trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. She
departed last weekend, but prior to leaving there were some interesting and fun
events that we attended including the monthly Walk on White, the first event of
the local election season, Hometown PAC’s “Call for Candidates” and the day
after she departed, the annual local foodie extravaganza, A Taste of Key West.
The first event was at The Studios of Key West, which is
sadly caught up in a dispute over rent that could possibly jeopardize their existence.
We love TSKW and hope that a resolution can be reached with their tenants that
will keep them in their Armory home and we wanted to show our support by
attending the dual event that they hosted- which included the announcement of
the winners of this years’ Robert Frost poetry competition and the opening of a
wonderful exhibit featuring the works of the late iconic Key West artist Susie
dePoo.
The poetry completion winners were announced first and many
of the winning entries were on hand to read their work. It was especially
satisfying to hear the amazing readings by the young poets aged six through
high school. They were so impressive and the receptive crowd gave each one a
well deserved and rousing reception. There were a couple who were truly
exceptional and it gave me hope that in spite of all the negative things that
one reads or hears about our schools, that there are still amazing and talented
kids everywhere.
The next big event of the week was the first event of the
local election season which was held at Salute restaurant on the beach and was
organized and sponsored by the local group Hometown Pac which I am currently
serving as a board member. This is going to be one of the busiest election
seasons locally ever as already there are more than forty candidates who have
thrown their hat in the ring to run for all manner of offices that are up for
election in the fall.
The huge number of candidates, and the intense interest in
many of the local elections for the likes of County Commissioners, School Board
members, Sherriff and even Mosquito Control drew over 300 people to Salute to
hear two minute introductions from each candidate who has announced or is
considering a run for office. It looks to be a very competitive and exciting
election season. Wish I had a concession for making election signs; it looks
like a boom year.
Kathy took off over the weekend, heading out to Las Vegas to
be transported to the starting point of her rafting adventure through the Grand
Canyon and I was left to fly solo for the next eight days. Thankfully the next
event I attended is one that is fairly easy to go to alone and still feel like
you are with hundreds of friends, mostly because the annual Taste of Key West
festival is packed with friends as thousands of locals and tourists pack the
Truman waterfront.
Many of Key West’s finest restaurants and eating
establishments set up booths and serve small portions of some of their finest
offerings, add to the mix a huge selection of tasty wines and beers and you
have the makings of one of the most popular events in Key West and the a huge
fundraising opportunity for AIDS Help who benefits from all the food and drink
sales. It is always a tremendous success and this year was no exception.
The weather was about perfect as a cool breeze was actually
blowing in off the ocean and it made it feel light and airy and wonderful. The
food was great as was the people watching as I met old friends and made new
ones. I even had the pleasant surprise of running in to my former boss and
owner of the old IM Wamboz store where I worked many moons ago on Duval Street.
Paul is just in town for a visit, but it was great running in to him and it
brought back a lot of good memories from what seems like one of the many
various lives I have led here in Key West.