Pheathered philanthropists
It’s ‘Phins Up’ for Space Coast Parrot Head Club officers Curtis Meador, member-at-large; Holly Hughes, community service director; Theresa Boyers, social director; Michael Ernst, vice president; secretaries, Tracy Heins and Cindy Pennington; Kathy Furtado, treasurer; Ron Mead, president; and Ray Kellner, past president. TOM WILBY PHOTOS
Parrot Heads are about doing good — not just a good time
Jimmy Parrish channels Jimmy Buffet for Parrot Heads at a recent club gathering.
From some heavenly stage above, Jimmy Buffett must be beaming. His beloved Parrot Heads are doing so much good while at the same time they are tackling their lives with gusto. Parrot Heads in Paradise, the official club for Buffett fans, counts more than 15,000 members, 250 of whom are in Brevard, home to the Space Coast Parrot Head Club.
“Jimmy Buffett had a heart as big as all outdoors,” said Laura Ennis, local membership chair.
Long before Buffett traded earthly Margaritavilles for the ethereal version when he passed away in 2023, he urged his followers to “have fun, make money and leave the world a better place.” His formula was to support activities that enhance the welfare of their communities — and to have a good time doing so. They listened to their minstrel and have since donated more than $61 million and 5 million volunteer hours to a plethora of worthy causes.
The Space Coast Parrot Head Club has embraced Buffett’s charitable philosophy since its launch in 2005. With a motto of “leaving Brevard a little better than we phound it through community service and phun,” club members freely give of their time, talent and treasure to a good chunk of Brevard nonprofits. However, before proceeding any further, it’s time to discuss the penchant for Parrot Heads to use “ph” as much as possible. For example, group meetings are “phlockings,” which provide time to “phrolic.” You get the idea.
If you’re headed to a Parrot Head gathering, you go “phins up,” the fan community’s signature version of “aloha” or “cheers,” a term of camaraderie and positivity. When “Phins up!” is called at club meetings and events, fans delight in holding one hand above their head with the palm flat and fingers together to resemble a shark fin. The name refers to Buffett’s song, Fins, but in good Parrot Head form — or phorm — the letter “f” has been swapped for the trademark “ph.”
A recent photo showed the SCPH group at Second Harvest food bank packing potatoes and sorting food. They had spontaneously taken time out for a phins-up group photo.
Hughes and Mead sport ‘hangy thingies,’ as club badges are known. TOM WILBY PHOTOS
Speaking of good works, there are very few Brevard nonprofits that have not benefitted from the club’s largesse. Each monthly phlocking features a designated charity, called a Lucky Star, another term from a Buffett song title. Just six months into 2025, the club has already helped Second Harvest, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Nana’s House, Neighbor Up Brevard and the National Kidney Foundation. Club pholks donate items requested by the nonprofits or deposit cash into the club’s Lucky Stars donation box.
Ennis and her husband, Chuck, joined the club in 2013 for the camaraderie and the opportunity to help. “Our big focus is community service, not drinking at bars — and we’re very serious about it,” she said. “We also go above and beyond to volunteer in the community. We have Charity Champions, who suggest a charity and then coordinate the effort.”
In April, the Space Coast Parrot Heads helped establish buffer zones that will catch and assimilate fertilizer and debris before it hits the Indian River Lagoon. In May, club members volunteered with Brevard Zoo’s Restore our Shores project to encourage the repopulation of oysters along the lagoon. That same month, they were at the zoo to participate in the Great Strides Walk, which helps fund research to cure cystic fibrosis. Once a quarter, the group packs lunches for The Children’s Hunger Project to feed elementary school children at risk of hunger during weekends. Road and beach cleanups are also held once a quarter. Appropriately enough, the stretch of road they’ve adopted for cleanups is along the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.
In August, Parrot Heads joined with the Moose — as in the Moose Club — in Merritt Island during a fundraiser for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, a charity Buffett strongly believed in, since his father had suffered from Alzheimer’s. Parent organization Parrot Heads in Paradise donated more than $250,000 to the cause. The local chapter is no slouch either: It’s ranked fourth in the country for raising money. The club will add further support by participating in a walk orchestrated by the Alzheimer’s Association on Sept. 27 at Riverfront Park in Cocoa.
“Last year, we donated over $16,000 to this charity, and we want to beat that this year,” Ennis said.
The local Parrot Heads also support Save the Manatee, a nonprofit Buffet started; Singing for Change, a nonprofit that funds organizations that inspire personal growth and community integration; and the group mentioned in Buffett’s obituary, The Lone Palm Foundation, the charitable arm of Parrot Heads in Paradise.
In characteristic Parrot Head style, new members Debbie Dayton, Kim Kubisiak and Kelly Kubisiak are sworn in, refreshments in hand.
A LIFESTYLE
Space Coast Parrot Heads pack lunches for The Children’s Hunger Project. SPACE COAST PARROT HEAD CLUB PHOTOS
Parrot Heads are focused on service, but that does not mean they are always no nonsense. Far from it. Phlockings are held the third Thursday of the month at Pineda Inn, where the music centers around Buffet-style trop rock music. Conga lines always welcome new members — or anyone, really. There are picnics, concerts and other special events; concerts by top rock artists such as John McDonald, founder of Pittsburgh’s Steel City Fins Parrot Head club, are always a highlight.
“I typically perform for the Space Coast Parrot Heads a couple of times each year, along with my group the Mango Men,” said McDonald, who will be playing at the Second Jimmy Buffett Commemoration on Saturday, Aug. 30, at Squid Lips in Cocoa Beach. The club-sponsored event should attract more than a fair amount of Parrot Heads, particularly since Squid Lips happens to be located along the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway, as the old A1A is now known. Yes, Brevard is an ideal location for a Parrot Head.
Being a Parrot Head entails more of a lifestyle than just joining a fan club. “I’ve been listening to Jimmy Buffett since I graduated from college,” Chuck Ennis said.
A mutual appreciation of Buffett undoubtedly helped Chuck and Laura click, when they met back in the 1970s. Their kids have grown up listening to Buffett. Chuck and his daughter danced to Buffett’s Little Miss Magic at her wedding. A 2008 diagnosis of multiple sclerosis has not stopped him from attending phlockings and participating in service events. He’s gone from cane to walker to mobility chair but still shows up faithfully.
When Roy and Jackie Kellner moved from Maryland to Melbourne in 2005, one of the first things they did was contact the then new Parrot Head club. “We moved and joined the club almost immediately,” Roy said. The Kellners followed Buffett to as many concerts as they could afford, including one in Paris. “That was the main reason we went to Paris,” Jackie said.
Jackie, who participated in the Boston marathon in 2018, helps with the Jimmy Buffett table at the Space Coast Marathon. Their booth is at the southernmost point of the race, where “we place a replica of the southernmost buoy in Key West,” she said. “We wear tropical shirts and play Buffett music. The runners tell us we’re their favorite table.”
In a world often brimming with negativity, Parrot Heads provide fun and goodness wherever they happen to land. For them, “the joy is always enough,” as Buffett noted in the lyrics to Bubbles Up.
Phantastic philosophy.
There’s always time for a ‘Phins Up,’ the official Parrot Head rallying cry inspired by Jimmy Buffett’s song, Fins.
WANT TO JOIN THE PHLOCK?
Check out spacecoastparrotheads.com.
Guests are always welcome at monthly meetings, held from 5 to 8 p.m. the third Thursday of the month
at Pineda Inn Bar & Grill, 6533 U.S. 1, Rockledge
Maria Sonnenberg
Maria is a prolific writer and proofer for Space Coast Living and an adjunct professor at Florida Institute of Technology’s Nathan M. Bisk College of Business. When not writing, teaching or traveling, she can be found waging a one-woman war against her lawn and futilely attempting to maintain order among the chaos of a pack of extremely clueless wirehair dachshunds and an angst-driven basset hound.
