Tis the season: 5 reasons why iconic Custom House commemorative walkway bricks make great gifts

A Custom House commemorative brick lasts longer than last year’s fruitcake.

Tis the season to finalize your holiday shopping, hopefully with an eye to buy with support towards what’s local.  No need to get your tinsel in a tangle if you’ve lots on your list that still need gifts—Key West Art & Historical Society is offering a limited number of personalized commemorative bricks to be installed adjacent to the southeast walkway of the Custom House Museum.

In addition to the fact that proceeds support the cost of the 129-year-old beacon of a building’s ongoing preservation needs, here are five reasons you should buy one now:

  1. It’s way better than a lump of coal. Nothing says the holidays like a personalized red brick. Show the recipient you care about them and our island’s culture and history with an 8-by-4-inch brick lasered with their name. Each brick is $100 and accommodates up to three lines of wording to honor your family, your business, a friend, or pet.
  2. Your warm holiday wishes will help keep the museum cool.  Our extensive collection of artifacts and two floors of exhibitions weaves together two centuries of art, events, and people of the Florida Keys and needs a cool climate to survive.  Your purchase benefits this season’s Dogwood Foundation Challenge Grant which supports the museum’s mechanical repairs and upgrades, including our award-winning museum’s vital AC needs.
  3. It weighs the same as fruitcake but you won’t want to hide it.  Commemorative bricks last longer than last year’s fruitcake and will make you want to show everyone where it is when they come for a visit.
  4. No need for gift wrap and it won’t get lost in the mail.  Upon request, the lucky recipient of your unique holiday gift will also get a special postcard from Key West Art & Historical Society that lets them know a brick has been purchased in their honor. Just contact Membership Coordinator Kim Livingston directly at [email protected].
  5. You can be like Rudolph and go down in history. Your name can be forever embedded among the Custom House walkway along with a limited number of others who take pride in this big red nose, err building.

Visit www.kwahs.org and click on the “Join & Support” button for a perfect landing on the “Buy a Brick” menu tab below it.

Ongoing Custom House restoration sponsors include M. Lee Garrison, Thomas Kenan, Chip Davis, the Dogwood Foundation, the Helmerich Trust, and Dogwood Foundation Trustees Holly and Frank Merrill.  Key West Art & Historical Society is a registered 501(c)(3) organization under IRS guidelines and contributions may be tax deductible. Please consult your tax advisor for more details.  Your Museums.  Your Community.  It Takes an Island.

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