‘Just a Few Friends’ Festival Set For Labor Day Weekend

Lucy Buffett (center front), shown with friends and fans of her late brother Jimmy Buffett during a past Second Line Memorial Walking Parade in Key West, Fla., will help lead the 2025 parade scheduled Sunday, Aug. 31. The event highlights the annual Just a Few Friends celebration that honors Jimmy Buffett on the island that inspired his signature trop-rock sound. (Photo by Virginia Wark)

KEY WEST, FL – Restaurateur and author Lucy Buffett, sister of the late singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, will join his Coral Reefer Band vocalist Nadirah Shakoor and musical friends Sunday, Aug. 31, to lead a memorial second-line parade on the island that inspired Buffett’s trop-rock sound.  

Staged on Key West’s famed Duval Street, the march highlights the annual Just a Few Friends celebration of Buffett’s music and the carefree lifestyle he enjoyed in his longtime island home.  

The festival is scheduled Aug. 29 through Sept. 1, saluting Buffett while encouraging fans to immerse themselves in the place where he penned his most enduring songs.   

Lucy Buffett, known as both LuLu and the “crazy sista” of the Buffett clan, is the owner of three successful “LuLu’s” restaurants and authored books including “Crazy Sista Cooking: Cuisine and Conversation with Lucy Anne Buffett” and “LuLu’s Kitchen: A Taste of the Gulf Coast Good Life.” 

At 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 29, she will accept a proclamation from Key West city officials designating Jimmy Buffett Day on the island. Open to the public, the proclamation ceremony takes place outside the late singer’s Shrimpboat Sound recording studio in the Key West Historic Seaport.  

With Shakoor and trop-rock all-star Howard Livingston, Lucy Buffett is to lead Sunday’s Second Line Memorial Walking Parade that typically draws thousands of her brother’s colorfully dressed “Parrot Head” fans. Participants can expect live music, impromptu singalongs and a joyful tropical tribute.  

The parade starts at 5 p.m. in the 100 block of Duval Street, and proceeds along Duval to Truman Waterfront Park for the night’s Party in the Park. 

The open-air party features nonstop live music, an appearance by Lucy Buffett, an artisan market and food court, full bars, interactive art exhibitions and selfie stations. Highlighting the entertainment is to be a soulful performance by Shakoor — former lead singer for the Grammy-nominated group Arrested Development and longtime member of Buffett’s Coral Reefers — and tunes by island troubadour Livingston and his Mile Marker 24 Band.

Other festival events include walking and trolley tours of Buffett’s favorite places; a Cheeseburger on the Beach Contest and Margarita Bar Stroll; concerts by his musical cohorts Will Kimbrough and Roger Bartlett; and a new look at the real-life renegade behind Buffett’s “A Pirate Looks at Forty.” 

For details, festival badges and ticketing, visit www.justafewfriendskeywest.com.

“All events not affiliated with or endorsed by Jimmy Buffett’s Estate or Margaritaville Enterprises”

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