What’s that sound? It’s the Conch shell blowing contest in Key West

Gwen Filosa
·2 min read

Key West is known for its live music offerings, from funky bars and boat jam sessions to high-profile rock shows.

But in this case, the instrument came out of the ocean.

The 58th annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest was held March 7 in Key West, in the garden of the Oldest House Museum, 322 Duval St., where competitors took turns trying to make those shells sing.

A Canadian French horn player in the Royal Canadian Navy won the women’s division while a Florida Keys man took the top prize in the men’s contest.

Alliszon Zaichkowski of Victoria, British Columbia, won after performing a slew of songs that included Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Zaichkowski, who has a conch shell tattoo on her arm, said she thinks of the conch shell as her travel horn.

“Because I can’t bring my French horn everywhere,” she said. “And you also don’t want to be playing a French horn at the beach. It’s my vacation instrument.”

Cecelia Sheffer toots her conch shell during the Conch Shell Blowing Contest Saturday, March 4, 2017, in Key West, Fla. Three-year-old Sheffer of Key West was the youngest of dozens of entrants who were evaluated for the quality, duration, loudness and novelty of the sounds they produced. The fluted, pink-lined conch shell, a symbol of the Florida Keys, has been used as a signaling device in the islands for centuries. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY (Rob O’Neal/Florida Keys News Bureau/HO)



The men’s division winner came from closer to Key West.

Vinnie Marturano, of Big Pine Key, claimed victory after giving the crowd a little of Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance.”

In 2019, David Masterson, of Key West, earned the men’s title by playing excerpts from a classical melody and also from the 1958 hit “Tequila.”

People in the Florida Keys have been sounding the conch shell for centuries. The “horns” were used as signaling devices by sailors and early Native Americans.

The conch shell is the chosen symbol of Key West. The local high school teams are the “Fighting Conchs,” and a giant sculpture of a shell stands outside the school on Flagler Avenue.

Native-born Key Westers call themselves “Conchs,” and the island is nicknamed the Conch Republic.

Judges in the contest choose winners based on the quality, duration, loudness and novelty of the performance.

The contest is held each spring by the Old Island Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to preserve the architectural and cultural heritage of Key West.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.