The People Have Spoken!
July 26, 2024
Bascom Grooms does it again — Keys Weekly Newspapers 2024 People’s Choice Awards winner for Best Realtor! That makes it 11 years straight, with Bascom holding down the category in an unbroken sweep since the first running of the popular local competition in 2014. A huge thank you to our supporters near and far!
Truly the Best of Key West
On Saturday evening July 20, the Key West Theater once again played host to hijinks, hilarity, live music, and laughter at the gala dinner event celebrating the 91 Key West businesses, non-profits, and people that have been honored as being the Best of Key West in the 2024 Key West People’s Choice Awards. The annual competition, known to locals as the Bubbas, is now a firmly-established island tradition, and the usually sold-out awards ceremony banquet is an eagerly-awaited highlight of the city’s summer social calendar.
It is always great fun to participate in the friendly rivalry and vigorous campaigning that goes on around the Bubbas, and of course very gratifying to see Bascom once again called to the stage to receive the plaque for Best Realtor. The Bascom Grooms Real Estate team also pulled in a nomination for Best Real Estate Office amid fierce competition that eventually saw more than a quarter-million online votes submitted from all over the world during the nomination and final voting phases of the 2024 contest.
As always, all proceeds from Bubba Awards ceremony ticket sales go to support a local charity, and over the past 11 years the event has raised more than $250,000 dollars. This year, the beneficiary was Wesley House Family Services, dedicated to providing services and support to families and children throughout Monroe County.
Thank You Very Much
Another trophy to grace the office wall is always welcome, and it is truly an honor for Bascom to consistently rise to the top in the opinions of thousands of Bubbas voters. It’s particularly nostalgic and inspirational now, in the 25th anniversary year since the 1999 launch of Bascom Grooms Real Estate.
Yet even more gratifying are the awards of respect, trust, loyalty, and friendship that Bascom and all the Bascom Grooms Real Estate team members are gifted by our neighbors in this small island community and our clients from Florida and far beyond.
From Bascom and our entire team, a heartfelt Thank You to all our friends, neighbors, clients, and supporters near and far. You are the ones who have powered our climb to achieve and maintain a position among the top-ranked independent real estate brokerages in the Florida Keys, and as a people’s favorite when it comes to providing local expertise and personalized customer service in the Key West and Lower Keys real estate markets.
Say Goodbye to Another July
Flashing fireworks on the 4th, a festive key lime pie extravaganza (Congratulations to Hector Rodriguez, 19, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras for downing a 9-inch pie with whipped cream in 119.52 seconds), Fun-filled Hemingway Days and the 43rd Annual Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s (Congratulations to David “Bat” Masterson, 71, of Daytona Beach, FL, the 2024 “Pappa“), and the freestyling 40th annual Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival at Looe Key Reef are only a few examples of the many events large and small that made the peak of Key West summer seem to rush by.
If you missed the fun this year, just come on down next summer. In fact, it seems as if more people are making more and more things happen during the Key West summer “off-season” every year. It may be hot during the Dog Days of Summer in Key West, but that does not mean all your time will be spent in front of a fan or in the shade of the front porch if you visit or live on the island during this time of year. From sampling key lime pie, to sipping icy beverages, running with the bulls, and fishing marlin in July, we jump right into August and getting crazy over that craveable crustacean, the Florida Spiny Lobster, during the 27th Annual Key West Lobsterfest August 7 to 10.
The Man, the Margaritas, the Legend
As August unwinds, so do lovers of delicious tropical island libations when the locals roll out the barrel for the Key West Rum Fest the 13th through the 17th. Folks will barely be clearing their hangovers when the run-up to Labor Day Weekend arrives with a very special first-ever event celebrating the life and musical legacy of our local legend and honorary Conch Jimmy Buffet. The inaugural Just a Few Friends Key West Favorite Son Celebration is sure to be a hit with a focus on Jimmy’s music and the joys of the laid-back tropical lifestyle.
A parade, a margarita bar crawl, a cheeseburger eating contest, walking tours of some of Jimmy’s local haunts and highlight spots, plenty of music, a brewfest, and much more will make this a Labor Day to remember. August 30, 2024 has been officially designated by the Florida State Legislature as Jimmy Buffet Day and, if at all possible, you will absolutely want to be there for the first edition of what is sure to become a legendary island party.
Catch the Labor Day Weekend Show
August and the transition season from summer to fall is a great time to be in Key West. September is probably about as quiet as it gets around here nowadays, so if laid back is how you like to do things, think about making it down for Labor Day then taking it easy for a few weeks as the cooler weather comes in. Or maybe take the leap and move to the island in time for Fantasy Fest 2024, the 10-day party in paradise that goes off from October 18th to the 21st this year.
Does it sound good? Remember, the deadline for Fantasy Fest Parade entries is August 30 and the theme this year is 90s Neon Cosmic Carnival. You could hit town with a splash in the big parade! Either way, if you come just to visit or to put your flip flops on and stay a while, get in touch with us here at Bascom Grooms Real Estate if you have any questions about a home on our tropical island, are interested in Key West vacation rentals, or would just like an introduction to the Key West property market.
Bascom Grooms Real Estate—1110 Truman Avenue, Key West Florida—(305) 748-2057—info@bascomgrooms.com
