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Key
NorthWest ParrotHead Club
Chris Sloan
, Phearless Leader
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The Key
NorthWest Parrot Head club was founded on September 22, 1995. We
are a fun loving crew hailing from Oregon, southern Washington and
various other places. We share an appreciation of the ideas,
places and lifestyle described in the music of Jimmy Buffett as well as
the tropics. We also really enjoy giving back to our communities
and sharing our enjoyment of Jimmy's music and the tropics with those
that we meet. Our members have many different backgrounds, including:
legal, medical, travel, real estate and transportation professionals;
farmers; government officials; teachers; systems analysts; designers;
entrepreneurs; engineers; managers; sales executives and
students. We also have some enthusiastic parakeets to round out
the group.
We get together monthly at a wide variety of locations both near and
far. We like to try out
different venues so we go wherever our member's interests take us, from
tropically oriented
places, restaurants and watering holes to other locations and events
throughout the area and
elsewhere. The club has traveled to many locations inspired by Jimmy's
songs, including:
Key West; New Orleans; the Gulf Coast; Florida; Caribbean islands like
St. Barts, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands; Las Vegas; California;
Mexico and elsewhere. We also have celebrations and special events in
our area to enjoy the music, food and lifestyle of the tropics.
Some of the highlights of our club's history include: having our club
members win first and
second place in the "Lost Shaker of Salt" contest at the 1998 Meeting
of the Minds; traveling the
Pascagoula Run and writing about the experience for the Coconut
Telegraph; our many trips
exploring the world described in Jimmy's songs; meeting Jimmy and the
Coral Reefers in Portland,
St. Barts and elsewhere; having Mel Fisher appoint one of our Phearless
Leaders a Duchess of
the Conch Republic; putting on the first Unplugged Jam at the Meeting
of the Minds;
competing in the Jimmy look-alike contest at MOTM; and being part of
parades and celebrations
in Key West, New Orleans and other places.
The concerts Jimmy and the Reefers have in Key NorthWest are always fun
and we are very
enthusiastic fans. But since Jimmy doesn't always get to our particular
harbor often enough we also travel to see him play. Our concert
trips have taken us all over, to Las Vegas, various
locations in California, up to the Gorge Amphitheater in George,
Washington and elsewhere.
Besides enjoying music and exploring the world we like to give back to
our community whenever we
can. Our members have helped many organizations including: the
Alzheimer's Association and their
annual Memory Walk; Habitat for Humanity; the Oregon Brewers Festival;
the Hillsboro Wine and Art Fair; Save the Manatees; local youth
athletes; Beach Cleanups each year; the Nature
Conservancy, Save the Manatees, Portland Rescue Mission, Oregon Food
Bank; Oregon Public
Broadcasting; and other groups. We also dedicate many hundreds of
hours each year to community
organizations including: an AIDS Hospice; pet shelter; breast cancer
research; Red Cross; Girl
and Boy Scouts and other children's groups; Boys and Girls Club; and a
schools foundation. One of
our members has donated over seven (7) gallons of blood to the Red
Cross, including four (4) pints
this last year. Our club members enjoy "walking the walk" when it comes
to community service.
We are sometimes asked about the connection between our area and
Jimmy's music and lifestyle.
A few of these links include: Jimmy naming two of his boats after
a bar in Portland, Oregon (the
Euphoria tavern); the fact that wild parrots and one of Jimmy's
fly-fishing buddies live here; and
that we have the only volcano inside a U.S. city (Mt. Tabor) and the
most recent volcanic eruption
in the U.S. (Mt. St. Helens).
Portland, Oregon is located where the Columbia and Willamette rivers
meet. It is a famous
seaport with a colorful past that was once known for being the
"Shanghaiing Capital" and the most
dangerous port in the world. This was due in part to the
"Shanghaiing Trade" that existed at
that time. If you stopped in for a beer at a local bar (where the
waterfront people dwell) you
could end up as an unsuspecting victim dragged through tunnels beneath
the streets to a boat
headed for China. Don't you hate when that happens! But times
have changed for sailors
these days and when we're in port we get what we need. The natives here
are much friendlier now
and Oregon is world famous for beer, wine and outdoor scenery, among
other things. The governor
even played "Margaritaville" at his last inaugural bash. Portland has
the most microbreweries, library cards, and ice cream consumption per
capita in the country as well as the largest urban forest (and the
smallest city park!). The beaches (and mountains and rivers) are less
than an hour away and whenever the mood strikes we can always catch a
plane from here to Hawaii, Mexico and many other exotic ports of call.
In short, it's a great place to be a Parrot Head!
So come visit us in Key NorthWest! The surroundings are beautiful and
the Parrot Heads
are friendly (or is it the other way around?). Of course, the weather
is also here (most of the
time!). You can check out our club calendar and get more information at
our club web page at:
http://www.keynorthwest.org.
You can also email us at: mailboat@keynorthwest.org.
We really appreciate being named Parrot Head Club of the Month and look
forward to meeting you at Meeting of the Minds or wherever our travels
may take us!
Fins Way Up From Key NorthWest! 
Chris Sloan
Phearless Leader
Club Web Page:
http://www.keynorthwest.org
Club Email: mailboat@keynorthwest.org
Club Newsletter: The "Tropical Times"
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