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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Key West, Florida Keys…Avast, me Hearties! It's time to chart yer course for Pirates in Paradise Festival 2007. So... don yer pirate garb and join us for a week of mischief and merrymaking as Key West celebrates Pirates in Paradise Festival 2007. Once again we the Festival will feature top-name quality entertainment and historic re-enactors, improvisational actors, and combative stunt men. Performers from around the country will join the Florida Key's own Bone Island Buccaneers and Bawdy Be to invade Key West. As you stroll the streets of Old Town and visit Fort Zachary Taylor during the Festival, don't be surprised if you run into the likes of Anne Bonny, Cascabel, Braze, Sir Henry Morgan, the Bone Island Buccaneers, the Pyrates of the Coast and other nefarious Brethren of the Coast. The public can join Captain Finbar and his scurvy crew of pirates aboard the schooner WOLF, Flagship of the Conch Republic, for Tall Ship Sails and Pirate Attacks. Docked at the Historic Seaport, the WOLF, along with the schooners LIBERTY, APPLE DORE, JOLLY ROVER, REEF CHIEF and ISLAND BELL will also be offering afternoon and sunset sails during the Pirate Fest. Once again Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park will be the location for the Pirate Fest, Village Thieves' Market and Pirate Pub, which gives us all the chance to live a pirate's life with living history encampments inside the fort itself. Pirates will be repelling invaders along the ramparts while vendors sell wares in the makeshift town. Occasional fights are bound to break out as braggarts solve their disagreements with swords and daggers in true piratical style; and various pirate entertainers add to the festive nature that fills the township. The historic reenactment of the Pyrate Tryal of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, based on the original transcripts of the trial, as found in Tamara Eastman's book, will be held on Saturday morning inside the fort at 11 a.m. One of the highlights of this year's festival will be the Pirate Tavern in the fort itself, which will be throughout the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 30, December 1 & 2. There, you'll hear tall tales and spirited chanteys while downing a pounder of ale or some sweet honey mead. It'll seem so real to you that you'll be sure you've been transported back some 350 years to the time when pirates ruled the Caribbean known as the magical Golden Age of Sail and Piracy. For those pirates not afraid of getting wet, the 3rd Annual Walk the Plank National Championships will be held aboard the schooner WOLF. Victims (uhh, contestants) will vie for the honor and glory of becoming the 2007 Champion as they dive to their watery graves, pleading for their miserable lives and competing for valuable prizes. FREE Spectator viewing at the USS MOHAWK CGC (WPG-78) Truman Waterfront Pier, foot of Southard Street. Aspiring writers and artists wishing to get their inspiration from the sea, the Festival offers variety of activities, including the Artists', Historians' and Authors' Sail aboard the WOLF. Participating artists, historians and literary luminaries include Janny Wurts, Don Maitz, Carol Shaughnessy, Cynthia Zeuli and Norma Miller (who will be celebrating her 88th Birthday during the festival.) After the sail, the fun continues at El Meson de Pepe's 5th annual Caribbean Pirates Buffet and Literature and the Sea Reception, which also serves as a benefit for the Key West Maritime Historical Society and Friends of Fort Taylor's Pirates in Paradise Festival. On Friday, November 30 the community of Key West again gathers to celebrate the Official End of America's Hurricane Season with a special ceremony at the USS MOHAWK CGC (WPG-78) Truman Annex Waterfront Pier. NOAA's weather forecaster Matt Strahan (and the Conch Republic Navy's official weather guesser) and his crew will ceremoniously burn the Hurricane Flags, symbolically signifying the end of the Hurricane Season. The Conch Republic Pirate's Shipwreck Ball immediately follows and features Pirate's Choice Rum's Treasure Lounge & Rum Bar; a Pirate Feast Buffet; Mike Emerson & the Southernmost Brass Band, with a special guest Conch Navy USO girl and “Queen of Swing” Norma Miller; and Fairvilla Megastore's Pirate Fashion Show & Costume Contest. The public is invited to join Admiral Finbar & the Conch Military High Command this festive event, which also erves as a benefit for the Key West Maritime Historical Society, the USS MOHAWK CGC and Friends of Fort Taylor's Pirate Fest. Pirates in Paradise Festival is sponsored in part by Fort Taylor Historic State Park, Pirate's Choice Rum, Pirate Soul, Bicycling Through History, Communicreations.com, El Meson de Pep, La Te Da, Cypress House, Courtyard by Marriott, Days Inn, WIIS Island 107.1 FM and the Schooner WOLF. For reservations on the WOLF and other nautical excursions, you can contact 305-296-9694.
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