Key West's Fantasy Fest Revelry
2/6/2005 6:02:45 PM by By CAROL SHAUGHNESSY
Beauties and beasts, divine divas, freak-show escapees and goddesses of excess are expected to strut their stuff in Key West, during the island citys annual Fantasy Fest celebration.
The festival will run Oct. 21-30.
The outrageous masking and costuming festival, themed "Freaks, Geeks and Goddesses" for 2005, is one of the most eagerly anticipated events on Key Wests annual calendar. Its 10-day schedule features a packed roster of masquerade balls, quirky costume contests and other revelry climaxing in a lavish grand parade.
Now in its 27th year, Fantasy Fest was the brainchild of enterprising local merchants hoping to liven up the autumn season. Beginning as a two-day gala, it subsequently grew into a 10-day celebration internationally recognized as the perfect place to "let it all hang out." Its uninhibited flair and lighthearted spirit attract ever-larger crowds of people eager to shed their real-world personalities and live out their fantasies on the quaint streets of Key West.
For 2005's "Freaks, Geeks and Goddesses," Fantasy Fest organizers encourage people to bring their wildest dreams to life in a celebration of the irregular, the bizarre and the bewitching. Costumes and parade floats might be delightful, decadent or devilish portraying everything from carnival characters to cybergeeks to heavenly harlots and bestial buffoons. Body painting has become a major art form at the festival, and many attendees will wear not much more than that.
Fantasy Fest's menu of mania is to begin with a Royal Coronation Ball to crown the king and queen of the masked madness. Scheduled for Friday, Oct. 21, the coronation is to cap a two-month fundraising effort by candidates to benefit the Key Westbased AIDS Help Inc. The 2004 campaign raised nearly $250,000.
Revelers intrigued by the "heady" aspects of the festival are invited to let their imaginations run wild at the Headdress Ball, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 25. Entrants in this extravagant event, presented by the Key West Business Guild, clothe their craniums in towering turbans, beauteous bonnets, flashy feathers or capricious cowls to compete for "top" prizes.
On Wednesday, Oct. 26, pets are expected to dress as people and people as pets during the wild and woolly WKEY Pet Masquerade and Parade. The wacky costume competition typically offers prizes in categories including the best pet/owner look-alikes and best adaptations of the festival theme. The fur flies as entrants ranging from dogs and cats to exotic birds and pot-bellied pigs prance across an oceanfront stage before an animal-loving audience of several thousand people.
Thursday, Oct. 27, brings Fantasy Fests most flamboyant costume competition, staged under the stars overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Pretenders in Paradise traditionally features huge and dazzling costumes, some taller than their wearers, incorporating everything from ostrich feathers to thousands of sequins. Amateur and professional costume designers come from all over the United States to compete for the contests $10,000 in cash prizes, and each entrant puts on a full-scale performance complete with lights and music.
"Freaks, Geeks and Goddesses" is to hit the streets Friday, Oct. 28, during an open-air extravaganza known as the Caribbean Street Fair. Key Wests Duval Street is to be transformed into a tropical marketplace where attendees can find feathered masks, exotic costumes, island edibles and frosty libations to tickle their fancies and tastebuds.
Just before sunset, the Fairvilla Megastore Masquerade March of costumed characters is to parade through the street fair. Marchers are encouraged to dress in fantasy finery and bring noisemakers to add to the jubilation as they wend their way through the streets of Key West's Old Town.
Other traditional Fantasy Fest highlights include a rowdy toga party, a homemade bikini contest, tea dances at popular island clubs and a roster of themed costume competitions for imaginative revelers.
The delicious decadence is scheduled to reach its climax Saturday, Oct. 29, as tens of thousands of spectators throng the islands historic downtown for the Captain Morgan Fantasy Fest Parade. Some of its brilliantly conceived floats breathe smoke and "flames" or rise to towering heights. Caribbean marching bands and dancing groups, often dressed in bright robes and feathers, join costumed walkers to round out the parade lineup all displaying the creativity and energy that has exemplified Fantasy Fest throughout its storied history.