"We close the day after Labor Day and then we reopen right before Goombay," Richard Hatch, owner of Blue Heaven and Salute! on the Beach, told the Key West Citizen. He has run that schedule for 34 years. This year, Blue Heaven's own vacation notice runs from September 8 to October 15, 2026. The Bahama Village Goombay Festival takes over Petronia Street on Friday and Saturday, October 16 and 17.
Blue Heaven sits at the corner of Thomas and Petronia streets, on the same street as the festival, and Goombay's main stage sets up a short walk away at Petronia and Emma. One of the best-known kitchens on the island sets its annual reopening by a neighborhood street festival. It doesn't wait for Fantasy Fest's big weekend. When you line up this October's reopenings and season openers by date, most of them land the same way. The island comes back in the week or so before Goombay, and that week is easy to miss if you're watching the Fantasy Fest calendar.
A Slow Season That Came Back to Its Old Shape
This fall's closures follow a pattern Key West had partly lost. Kerry Baker, executive director of the Greater Key West Chamber of Commerce, told the Citizen that during COVID, "business was good all throughout the year, so we didn't see summer closings." Now, she said, "the trend that we're back to is pre-COVID."
Baker said some retail shops switched to summer hours and a handful of non-restaurant businesses closed for all of September. She added that the return of a true off-season caught some newer business owners off guard. Owners who opened in the last few years have never lived through a full Key West September. The ones with the longest track records, like Hatch, plan the shutdown months ahead and use it for staff vacations and repairs.
Hatch described what fills those weeks at Blue Heaven: "There's tons of always refrigeration stuff. There's tons of deep cleaning, you know, electrical repairs, plumbing repairs." He also said Salute! had a hard summer: "The seaweed beat us up bad this summer." Keep that line in mind. It comes back up at City Hall later in this post.
The Reopening Order, Date by Date
Here is how the fall comeback lines up, using the dates owners and local outlets have published. Where a date comes only from secondary reporting, it says so.
- September 24. Louie's Backyard at 700 Waddell Street reopened for dinner after its annual maintenance. The lunch date hadn't been set when the Citizen reported it.
- September 25. The Docks at 6840 Front Street on Stock Island reopened, according to a running local restaurant guide.
- October 1. Tropic Cinema at 416 Eaton Street reopened, starting with a week of films that were missed while it was closed. The same restaurant guide reports that Café Sole at 1029 Southard Street reopened that day too.
- October 7. Two openers fall on the same Wednesday. Jag Gallery in Duval Square starts its season with Cathy Rose's "OBJECT LESSONS" at 1075 Duval Street, with a free reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. At Tropic Cinema, the Sons and Daughters of Italy Key West Lodge #2436 opens its "Italian Night at the Movies" season. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the film starts at 6:15.
- October 9. La Grignote at 1211 Duval Street says on its website that it will reopen after renovations on October 9, 2026. The staff at The Square Grouper, 920 Caroline Street, are "Gone Fishing" until the same date.
- October 15. Blue Heaven returns to its usual hours, with breakfast from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. That evening, Walk on White opens its 2026/27 season from 6 to 8 p.m.
- October 16 and 17. Goombay runs on Petronia Street, with the main stage open from noon to midnight both days. The Waterfront Playhouse at 407 Wall Street opens its 2026 season with "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," running October 16 through 23.
- October 18. The Key West Artisan Market opens its 14th season at Indigenous Park at Higgs Beach, 1801 White Street, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission and parking are free.
Salute! on the Beach is the one familiar name without a confirmed date. Hatch said in the Citizen report that he was aiming for "early October," and no specific day has been published since.
Read down the list and you'll see the busy stretch runs from October 7 to October 15. Fantasy Fest's official dates are October 16 through 25. The gallery openings, the film-night kickoff, two restaurant returns on the 9th and Blue Heaven on the 15th all happen before the first costumed weekend arrives.
White Street on the Fifteenth
October 15 brings two openers within a short walk of each other, around Fausto's Food Palace.
KONK Life describes Walk on White as starting at the Fausto's parking lot and spreading along White Street and onto Truman Avenue, with live music at Lower Keys Plumbing and at Fausto's. The organizers list 1102 White Street as the address and say more than 20 local businesses take part.
Fausto's is also the landmark for the newest café in Old Town. Baby's Coffee opened a location on Fleming Street, across Bahama Street from Fausto's, and Keys Weekly's report describes a customer there on September 1. Co-owner Joe Bracciale told the paper the shop is focused on locals. He described a planned Breakfast Club, with eligibility based on a local ID or pay stub and priority pickup through a Dutch door on Bahama Street. The program was still being planned at the time of that report, so check with the café before counting on it.
The same evening, Blue Heaven's dinner service opens on Thomas Street. With a Fleming Street coffee stop in the morning and an art walk at night, the full reopening week fits inside a few blocks of Old Town.
When the Costumes Arrive, the Streets Change
Fantasy Fest's 2026 theme is "Musical Icons and Iconic Musicals." Once it starts, these are the dates that affect getting around town and planning your errands.
- Sunday, October 18. The Artisan Market's opener is billed as a "Welcome to the Party" Fantasy Fest edition.
- Monday, October 19. The City says the 200 block of Duval closes from 4 p.m. for setup of the Fantasy Fest 5K and 1-mile, through breakdown at 8:30 p.m. Expect rolling closures along the course as well.
- Friday, October 23. The Captain Morgan Masquerade March, billed as the "Local's Parade," gathers at Paparazzi Row at Fleming and White at 4 p.m. Marchers queue at Frances and Petronia at 5 p.m. and step off at 5:30. Organizers warn that the route passes through local neighborhoods.
- Saturday, October 24. Duval Street closes at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. parade, which starts at Truman Waterfront Park and Southard and runs along Whitehead, Front, Duval and United before heading back.
- Sunday, October 25. Children's Day takes place at Bayview Park from noon to 5 p.m.
The Fantasy Façades contest for homes and businesses is also on the 2026 lineup, for anyone planning to decorate a porch.
The Seaweed Vote Aimed at Next Spring
Hatch's comment about sargassum ties into a decision made on the same day Tropic Cinema reopened. On October 1, the Key West City Commission voted unanimously for a resolution that starts a feasibility and planning phase for a possible sargassum removal pilot at Smathers Beach.
The resolution directs City Manager Brian Barroso to begin hiring scientific and environmental consultants. It doesn't approve any construction or installation without a separate commission vote. It also asks for scientific support from The College of the Florida Keys and for funding partners, including the Monroe County Tourist Development Council and the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys and Key West. It names protection of sea turtle nesting areas, seagrass and nearshore habitats among the issues the study has to address.
Before the vote, commissioners removed a section that would have named marine scientist Brian Lapointe as lead scientist. City Attorney Mayanne Downs had raised concerns about naming a single person and recommended an open request for qualifications instead. Mayor Sam Kaufman, who sponsored the item, explained the timing. "If we don't start now, we're not going to be in place to do something by next spring," he said. He added that the pilot would target dead sargassum close to shore, not healthy sargassum in open water.
As things stand on October 4, the city has approved a study. No pilot, vendor or budget has been committed, and any next step would come back to the commission for another public vote.
Before real estate, I spent years in Key West tourism and concierge work, and keeping the island calendar straight is still part of how I help clients. If you're a part-time owner trying to time a fall visit for Blue Heaven's return or Goombay weekend, or you have family coming in for Fantasy Fest and want to work around the street closures, Joyce Craul is glad to help you plan it. Let's Connect.
