When to Arrive for a Key West Sunset at Mallory Square

For a Key West sunset at Mallory Square, check the sunset time for your exact visit date and plan to arrive roughly one hour beforehand. Sunset changes throughout September, so the arrival target must change with it.

Key West sunset time: the quick answer

An exact date is necessary because sunset time in Key West changes from day to day. On September 9, 2026, sunset was at 7:37 pm local time, according to Timeanddate.com’s Key West solar calendar. The listed astronomical times are local to Key West and account for daylight saving time when applicable.

That 7:37 pm sunset applies specifically to September 9, 2026. It is not the sunset time for every day in September, nor should it be treated as the answer for an unspecified “today.” Visitors planning for another date should look up that day’s time rather than reuse the September 9 figure.

How sunset changes during September 2026

These three supported dates show how much the sunset time can change over a single month:

Date	Key West sunset
September 1, 2026	7:45 pm
September 9, 2026	7:37 pm
September 30, 2026	7:14 pm

From September 1 to September 30, sunset shifted 31 minutes earlier, as shown in the September 2026 Key West sunrise and sunset calendar.

The table provides three reference points, not a complete daily schedule. It should not be used to estimate an unlisted date because the exact daily change is not necessarily captured by comparing only those entries. Check the calendar for your specific visit date, then work backward by about an hour when setting your Mallory Square arrival target.

A worked Mallory Square plan for September 9

Mallory Square is the venue for Key West’s Sunset Celebration. The official Sunset Celebration website describes it as a nightly arts event and says people generally begin gathering around one hour before sunset.

For September 9, the calculation was:

• Sunset: 7:37 pm
• One hour earlier: 6:37 pm
• Suggested arrival target: around 6:37 pm

This is a date-specific planning example, not a fixed opening time. The celebration’s timing is described relative to sunset, so an earlier sunset calls for an earlier arrival.

The available event information does not establish how severe weather, holidays or special schedules may affect a particular night. If conditions or scheduling could be a concern, verify the event’s status for the evening you intend to visit.

What to expect at the Sunset Celebration

The Sunset Celebration is organized around the evening sunset at Mallory Square. According to the event’s official description, participants can include:

• Street performers
• Arts-and-crafts exhibitors
• Psychics
• Food carts

These details come from the event’s own promotional website rather than an independent review. They describe the general format but do not guarantee that every category—or any particular performer, exhibitor, psychic or food cart—will be present on a given night.

Because people generally gather before sunset, the celebration is better understood as a developing pre-sunset arts event than as a show with one fixed daily start time. The one-hour guideline gives visitors a practical target for experiencing some of that activity before the sun reaches the horizon.

Sunset versus the last evening light

Sunset and the end of evening light are not the same moment.

For September 9, 2026, the date-specific astronomical record gives:

Solar detail	September 9 value
Sunset	7:37 pm
End of evening civil twilight	8:00 pm
Daylight duration	12 hours, 25 minutes, 53 seconds
Solar noon	1:24 pm

Civil twilight therefore continued for approximately 23 minutes after sunset that evening. The sunset azimuth was approximately 276°, about 6° north of due west.

All of these values are specific to September 9, 2026, rather than permanent conditions for Key West. For another evening, use the same two-step method: confirm that date’s sunset time and plan to reach Mallory Square roughly one hour before it.