Tradesman Day
Now an annual celebration of ours in September, Tradesman Appreciation Day was conceived as a one-off in 1994, when great American sculptor John Martini, whose studio was then located in a foundry on the old Navy base just down the street from The Parrot, would frequent our saloon for a drink after long, late-night sessions creating his unique metal sculptures.
The medium Martini chose to work with, steel-plate and cast-iron, was a physically-challenging one, so he came to The Green Parrot often, to recruit the help of the able-bodied, but often elusive tradesmen known to frequent our corner.
An offshoot of his search was his creation of an 8-foot iron sculpture, inspired by the tradesman he found here, a piece entitled, "Where's Jimbo and the Other Giants of the Building Trade?" acquired, quite fittingly, and hangs in The Bar today.
Unveiled with great ceremony, the sculpture featured abstract figures, one wielding a plumber's wrench, plus as carpenter, an electrician, a female painter, as well as sheet-rocker, balanced on his drywall stilts, a facsimile of what the Parrot oft represented -- a bar that has been "Keeping the Working Men and Women of Key West Lubricated Since 1890".
On that day, what seemed to begin as just another Parrot party became the first Tradesman's Appreciation Day. To mark the occasion, we annually issue laminated Tradesman and Tradeswoman Passes, complete with name, Polaroid photo, occupation and authorization. Even visiting President Jimmy Carter got one. And rambling Key West tradesmen and tradeswomen began using the card as their photo ID!