Other annual events include the Seafood Festival (October) and the Cedar Key Small Boat Meet (May). The juried show attracts top-tier artists and draws 10-20 thousand people to the island each April. The annual Old Florida Celebration for the Arts (aka Cedar Key Arts Festival) is now in its 55th year. In the 1970’s Island Hotel owner Bessie Gibbs and a few other residents spearheaded efforts to organize an annual art festival. With population and manufacturing on the decline, and tourism slowing due to the development of so many beach towns throughout Florida, something needed to be done to bring visitors to Cedar Key. Another major hurricane in 1950 damaged or destroyed 2/3 of the houses in Cedar Key. The town continued to grow on Way Key through the Great Depression, when population slowly began to dwindle.
The residents abandoned Atsena Otie and the industrious townsfolk actually moved the few surviving homes to Way Key by boat. The birth of the community of Cedar Keys (note the “s” on Keys) happened on the island Atsena Otie, however that settlement was largely wiped out during the hurricane of 1896. The city has done a great job of managing their population over the past ten years with their capture & spay/neuter efforts, and the town cats that we saw this visit all appeared healthy and happy.
When we first visited about twelve years ago, the cats were everywhere and some had obvious health issues.
Nowadays the wildest thing you’ll find in downtown Cedar Key is the population of feral cats. A busy seaport, it was a hub of activity, and at various times in its history had a wild-west kind of reputation. In the 19th century Cedar Key was a large city by Florida standards. Should that happen, this resilient community would rebuild and go on, a tribute to the perseverance and resilience of those who choose to live in this storm-vulnerable location. Now instead of trains, fishing boats, and ice packing houses lining Dock Street, you will find restaurants, shops, vacation rentals, a great fishing pier, and parking for a few dozen cars.Īll of the buildings that line dock street are built on piers, and as with every building that came before it in this place, could be just one major hurricane away from becoming a piece of Cedar Key history. The original U-shaped dock was originally the Florida railroad’s western terminus, where seafood and locally manufactured goods such as lumber, cedar pencil blanks, and whisk brooms were loaded for export. All that remains of the “Honeymoon Cottage”, with Dock Street & city pier to the leftĭock Streetis the other main downtown drag. Just before road’s end, Hwy 24 intersects with 2nd Street, and we’ve entered Cedar Key’s small commercial district. 2nd Street – Downtown Cedar Key, FloridaĪfter driving those last few slow miles down Highway 24, past unpretentious old coastal homes and Mom & Pop hotels, over smaller islands and a few short bridges, we reach Way Key. This place is pretty isolated, which is just one of the reasons that it’s so special. In order to reach this island town in the Gulf of Mexico, we will be driving dozens of miles on a blue highway through pine forest and palmetto scrub before the foliage opens up to reveal the small salt marsh islands that dot the Gulf.
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