Growing up in Indiana, Mary Felger wanted to follow in the footsteps of famed animal behavior expert and conservationist Jane Goodall. To that end, she worked at a zoo while getting her college degree in biology, and then spent two years in Kenya with the Peace Corps.
In the late 1990s Felger returned from Kenya and paid a visit to her sister Kathy, who was stationed with the Coast Guard in Key West, where the imprecise fluidity of “island time” reminded Felger of Africans’ view of time. She quickly realized she could be comfortable in Key West for a while.
“I literally went home and drove back with my coffee maker and my mom’s car that I bought for a dollar,” Felger said.
But Africa was still on her mind. She waitressed at Louie’s Backyard and Blue Heaven, saved money and returned to Kenya for a year — but in 2000, after encountering many challenges in working overseas, she came back to Key West and never left.
On the island, her jobs ranged from managing a guest house to managing the sales staff for Fury Water Adventures and running an island information center.
“All my jobs were in the service of people, helping them have a good time,” Felger explained.
Today she’s a partner in the event support and consulting/planning company Mako Moco with Kyle Carter, Alyssa Averette Berger and Megan Feeney. The company is a crucial service provider for events that include Carter’s Mile 0 Fest, a popular annual celebration of “red dirt” and Americana music coming up Jan. 27-31 in Key West.
“The genre called ‘red dirt’ originated in Oklahoma and has a really loyal fan base,” said Felger. “One of the things guests love about Mile 0 is that we’re a small festival, like 2,500 to 3,500 people, and it’s personal — it feels like family to them.”
The celebration’s evening concerts take place primarily at Key West’s Coffee Butler Amphitheater, but other shows are held at island hotels, bars and beaches.
Mako Moco handles the administrative side of Mile 0 Fest and other events, from booking accommodations packages and making VIP arrangements to overseeing the box office. Though complex and often intense, the work suits Felger’s energy level and temperament.
“I like the ‘people’ part of it, but I also love the organization of the box office and the hotel packages together,” she said. “I’m pretty good at relaxing when I get downtime, but I also function way better in chaos — the more moving parts, the better.”
While Felger has traveled extensively in Africa as well as to Bali and Thailand, her life in Key West is rich and satisfying. She owns an Old Town compound with her sister Kathy. Her other sisters visit frequently, and their mother recently moved to the island.
“Kathy and I always talked about having a Key West compound,” Felger said. “We would sit in her backyard and talk about which property we were going to buy for it.”
Since the compound became a reality, much of Felger’s free time has been spent on improvement projects — including leveling her house from underneath.
“It’s not constant, but there’s been a pretty steady stream of sawdust and paint around here,” she said. “Now we have a beautiful pool and a deck, so our dreams came true.”
Though she didn’t follow Jane Goodall’s path, Felger channels her long-term passion for animals into fostering dogs in need. In 2009 she adopted a Key West dog, Prairie, who became her constant companion. With inspiration from former employer and friend Georgia Favelli, and enthusiastic assistance from Prairie, she began fostering.
“We had puppies born in the house, we had bottle babies — I did single dogs too, but mostly I loved litters of puppies,” she said. “We used to say Prairie fostered the dogs; I didn’t.”
Three of the fosters were eventually adopted by Felger’s sisters, so they stayed in the family.
Shortly after Prairie died at age 14, Felger got a call about fostering a litter of days-old pups whose mother was too sick to nurse them. She formed an immediate bond with one, a feisty Chihuahua mix who she ultimately named Rocco Diamond.
“I’ve had him since he was five days old, and the second I held him, I knew Prairie sent him right to me,” said Felger.
Today Rocco works alongside her as Mako Moco’s diligent director of security. Generally wearing a harness or t-shirt and a serious expression, he announces visitors to the company’s Truman Avenue office and screens them thoroughly before allowing them inside. His full name, photo and biography appear — along with Felger’s — on the “team” page of the Mako Moco website, makomoco.com.
