Mallory Square Street Performers – Key West, Fl.

Mallory Square is the most famous spot on Duval Street in Key West, Fl. and is the site of a nightly sunset celebration. The celebration has grown from a few locals gathering to watch the sunset to a world famous street performance festival that attracts thousands of visitors every night.

The origin of the Mallory Square celebration began in the late 1950’s when a group of artists gathered in Mallory Square to watch the sunset and share their talents with each other. As more people began to show up it became more like a party and less like an artistic gathering.

Today, Mallory Square is jam-packed with spectators, vendors, street performers and artists all hoping to get a piece of the action. In recent years local officials have tried to limit some of the shows performed by street performers but they still happen all over town even though they are technically illegal without permits.

Mallory Square is the most famous spot on Duval Street in Key West along with the Southernmost Point. The street performers at Mallory Square are world renowned. You can enjoy this famous spot for a few hours as you watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico.

The best time to come to mallory square is about one hour before sunset. Performers start showing up about 30 minutes before sunset, but you’ll want to get a good spot to view the show so you’ll need to plan on getting here early. If you have some flexibility on when you visit Key West, I’d recommend coming here during one of the off-peak tourist times (December – April) so that you don’t have to battle as many people for prime viewing spots.

If you come early enough and stay late enough you’ll see more than just street performers at mallory square. The place is crawling with interesting characters, so if people watching is your thing then this will be heaven for you. I’ve been known to spend an entire afternoon here just watching all of the different people that walk by.

Mallory Square Key West is the most famous spot in Key West along Duval street. Every day hundreds of people gather to watch the sunset and the street performers at Mallory Square. Here is a blog post written by a local about one of my performances;

“Mallory Square Street Performer…Meet Michael Kennedy! Michael is an amazing Mallory Square street performer. He was born in Nebraska, but now calls Key West home. He does an amazing show where he uses his voice to create sound effects for a story he tells about his life growing up on a farm.

Michael has been performing at Mallory Square for a number of years now, and has developed quite a fan base. His show is family friendly, and he always gets huge applause from his audience!

The Mallory Square dock is a great place to watch the sunset in Key West and on weekends it also has street performers. These photos were taken on December 1, 2007 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

Mallory Square is located at the west end of Duval Street along the waterfront in Key West. It is about 5 blocks from the cruise ship piers.

There are always many tourists here when a cruise ship is in port and for that reason you will see many street performers entertaining the crowds. After several visits to Mallory Square I am still amazed at their talent! Some of these people have worked this area for years and they have become quite famous! They all really put on a great show!

Below I will list some of the performers you might see at Mallory Square, along with descriptions. At the bottom of the page are links to my blogs which feature videos of these performers. (I am still working on adding more links.)

A place to share some of the interesting things I have seen out on Mallory Square in Key West, Florida. As well as some of the various performers and street artists that are always out entertaining crowds.

From magicians, musicians, clowns and fire eaters you will see something different every time you visit. The sunsets are always beautiful no matter what time of year you visit.

There is always something happening down on Mallory Square and it is never hard to find something or someone to entertain you for the evening. You can easily spend an hour or two just taking in the sights and sounds around the square.

Watching different performers or artists will give you a good idea of how diverse the people who live down in Key West really are. From all over the world they come to show their talents on the street for all to enjoy.

You will never know who is going to show up when you visit so grab a seat and relax while watching what Key West has to offer.

Mallory Square, Key West, Florida.

There is no more famous spot in all of Key West than Mallory Square. Every single day, hundreds of people gather on the sidewalk and seawall of the square to watch the sunset. (

I’ve become a bit of an expert at watching the sunset in Key West, and I’m always on the lookout for an interesting new angle. I think I’ve found it.

In this new video, produced with my good friend and occasional collaborator Brian Dillingham, we go to Mallory Square and shoot the street performers there. You can see why this is such a hot spot – it’s where the cruise ships dock when they’re in town, so everyone from them goes straight there to watch the sunset.

The street performers are amazing. Here’s just a partial list:

Fire eating

Cigar box juggling

Unicycling

Stilt walking

Comedy magic

Solo acrobatic acts

Stilt walking comedy acts.