10th Annual Crooks Second Line Parade Brings Music, Crowds to Duval Street

The 10th annual Crooks Second Line Parade, named for local drummer Richard Crooks, marched down Duval Street in Key West on Feb. 15, drawing music, bands and packed sidewalks through the heart of the island. Organizers marked a decade of the event with a celebration that moved through Duval Street’s commercial corridor and put the parade squarely into Key West’s mid-February calendar.

Keys Weekly ran a feature on the event during the week of Feb. 20–26, documenting the celebration and the parade’s ripple effects across downtown Key West. That coverage detailed how the Feb. 15 procession reverberated beyond the route itself, prompting follow-up reporting on local impacts and community response during the publication week.

The parade’s 10th iteration reaffirmed a locally rooted tradition tied to Richard Crooks, a drummer whose name the event carries. Local musicians and marching groups provided the soundtrack on Duval Street, and the event’s anniversary highlighted the parade’s role as a recurring cultural fixture for Key West businesses and visitors in mid-February.

Because Keys Weekly’s story ran the week after the parade, municipal and commercial stakeholders had new reporting to reference when assessing event outcomes for downtown planning and operations. The timing of the coverage - the week of Feb. 20–26 - put the parade back on the agenda for neighborhood groups and business owners concluding their post-Valentine’s planning for the season.

As Key West moves past this 10th annual Crooks Second Line, the parade’s placement on Duval Street and the follow-up coverage by Keys Weekly underscore its established presence in the island’s event lineup. Future iterations will be watched by residents and local institutions weighing cultural benefits alongside operational impacts documented in this week’s reporting.