Mallory Square Sunset Celebration In Trouble
The city’s famous Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square is at the center of a long-simmering dispute between local officials and the non-profit organization that has managed the iconic event for the past decade.
The 10-year contract the city has with the Key West Cultural Preservation Society (CPS) expired on March 24. City commissioners last week agreed to extend it on a month by month basis until a new contract could be negotiated. City manager Bob Vitas said contract talks started last July but have stalled since then.
“Talks started in July 2013 but then went silent until around Christmas,” he said. “Then there was a lot of discussion in January and February. We could just never get to a point where we knew where we were at.”
Vitas said there have been operating problems revolving around Sunset Celebration caused by in-fighting within CPS. He pointed to a lawsuit against CPS filed in January by four of its members, alleging that the organization did not provide adequate financial records, full meeting minutes and did not give sufficient notice of upcoming meetings to members.
The non-profit was established in 1984 to support the arts and its main function, according to its website, is to manage Sunset Celebration. CPS rents Mallory Square Dock from the city for $5,216 a month and, in turn, rents space to the entertainers, artists and food and drink providers each night.
Any new lease with CPS would have to clarify standard operating procedures, including not having similar entertainment performers on the same evening, Vitas said.
“We’re going to intervene and use the lease to hopefully result in a better arrangement for all the vendors and entertainers who perform there,” he said. “We may open it up to other partners.
In addition to taking over management of Sunset Celebration, Vitas said he plans on talking to other organizations about expanding entertainment on the square into the daytime hours, perhaps an open bazaar or a collection of street vendors. If a new lease can be worked out with CPS, Vitas said the city may negotiate two separate rental agreements with different organizations, one for evening and one for daytime hours.
CPS board member Ron Lane said his organization had not been informed about the city’s interest in expanding the event schedule at Mallory Square into daytime. He said that currently there was not much pedestrian traffic in the square during the day.
“It [daytime foot traffic] is almost non-existent; just a few people strolling by to look at the water,” Lane said, adding, “If that [managing a daytime event] is a requirement for the lease, that’s something we need to look at.”
Lane complained that the city had not been forthcoming with a speedy contract renegotiation. He said CPS hadn’t been informed about the city’s desire to maximize the use of the square.
“One hand doesn’t always know what the other is doing,” he said, referring to talks between CPS and city officials.
But Vitas said the infighting going on at CPS that led to the current lawsuit has made it difficult to hammer out a new contract with the non-profit.
“There’s something going on over there,” he said about CPS. “I don’t think it was us that was delaying it. We would prefer there is no fighting in the community.”
Sunset Celebration draws thousands of visitors each night and is a key element in Key West’s tourism marketing plan. It provides an economic boom not only to the vendors and performers on the square, but nearby bars, restaurants and stores, as well as dozens of sunset cruise boats that pilot back and forth on the harbor.
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