Beaches & Adventure Insider

Come blow your horn, beach bunnies! Credit: Friend of Lauren

Are you a beach bunny looking for a shell opportunity to toot your own horn? If so, I’ve got a contest with your lips written all over it!

The 50th Annual Conch Honk blasts into Key West's Oldest House (322 Duval St., Key West) March 3, 2012. In this shell-blowing contest, you try to belt out a tune using a fluted, pink-lined conch shell. Judges will evaluate you on the quality, duration, loudness and novelty of your, umm... music, and award prizes to the most perfect puckerers in several categories.

And yes, some folks can actually toot out a real tune. Though you’ll hear an abundance of squawking, honking, bleating and other noises not normally associated with music, prior contestants have produced melodies as sophisticated as the "Flight of the Bumblebee."

More news to make you fling your flip-flops in joy? The conch honk costs zilch to enter and watch.

Contestants can register at the Oldest House from 10:30 a.m. to noon March 3, or at the event itself if space is still available.

You say you don’t own an "instrument?"

Don’t get your beach towel in a twist! You can purchase conch shells at the event.

Insider’s tip: Pronounce "conch" so it rhymes with "honk."

Interesting fact: The tradition of blowing a conch shell in the Florida Keys began centuries ago. In the 1800s, when the local economy was largely based on salvaging cargoes from ships wrecked on the nearby reef, sailors attracted attention by blowing piercing blasts on the shell.

Surprise visit: A mermaid whispered in my ear and told me that some characters from Key West’s seafaring history may make an appearance during the conch blowing contest.