Thank you, Cedar Key. Tona and I came to spend several days celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary. I took pictures and notes for next time because we can’t wait to come back.

Note 1. Cedar Key is original. The small town beauty is more about the personality of the community than the scenery and restaurants - even though those are great. 

Note 2. Cedar Key is more about relationship than you have a chance to enjoy in larger places who have sadly learned to be more isolated and anonymous in their connections.

Note 3. There is a sense of rest and quiet in and among all the things you might choose to do.

Note 4. The feeling is that the quality of life is more important than the quantity or competitive pressures found anywhere else.

I imagine that Cedar Key has the same pressure and temptation to be made over by the life images of the visitors to their town who actually came to visit for the expressed purpose of getting out of the stress of their life at home. I found that, instead of making Cedar Key more like me, I wanted to bond and fit into Cedar Key life, more deeply experience the life and culture and beauty here instead of doing a makeover and ruining what is here.

The Cedar Key people know each other and are a part of each other’s lives. While visiting, I witnessed the celebration of Wayne, a UPS delivery man. The community is a community, celebrating the individual uniqueness of its human parts instead of trying to create standardized versions. Normal, extra normal, quirky, and all the rest fit here in a warm personable interaction that is enjoyable to watch and join.

A local told me that time stops here. After several days, I began to understand. I felt like I could stop anywhere, for any length of time and just sit or read or watch. At home it is a constant run from one thing to the next without any chance or ability to stop in-between for non essential business like quiet or rest (which I think is more essential now than I ever did before).

I might describe my experience here as personal professionalism instead of standardized professionalism. Andy, at the Island Hotel, made me feel welcome before I even arrived. I went to their restaurant where I met some representatives of the Cedar Key News. The atmosphere was home, humor, engaging interactions between patrons and employees like they had all known each other for years, even though some, like my wife and I, were first time visitors. This is unfair to single them out except that they seemed to be expressing the gold standard of Cedar Key, which we experienced all over town, in businesses and on the street. 

Tona and I offer our deep and sincere gratitude to this beautiful place and its wonderful people.

Harry Joiner, Lake City, Florida