The Coconut Grove Arts Festival may carry a national reputation as one of the country’s most prestigious outdoor fine arts festivals — but it has never lost sight of where it comes from. Community is not just the Festival’s backdrop; it is its foundation. (View images on Instagram.)

That spirit was on full display on April 23, when CGAF Board Member Emeritus Monty Trainer was awarded the Key to the City of Miami — an honor that, for those who know him, felt long overdue.

Known affectionately as “the Grove Father,” Trainer arrived in Coconut Grove fresh out of the University of Florida in the early 1960s and never left. What followed was more than half a century of impact — beginning with the opening of Monty’s Raw Bar in 1969, which grew into a beloved waterfront institution.

For nearly 20 years he led the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, serving now as President Emeritus, and remains a founding member of the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District. He has chaired the Greater Miami Host Committee, bringing two Miss Universe pageants and a Miss USA pageant to Miami, and served as a past chair of the New World School of the Arts.

His decades of service reflect the very values at the heart of this Festival — community, culture, and an unwavering commitment to the place he has always called home.