Imagine walking down Duval Street in quaint Key West at midnight on Halloween weekend with droves of costumed, inebriated people and strings of sparkling metallic beads flashing in front of your face.
Unlike any other festival, Fantasy Fest is a two-week celebration of merrymakers, wild costumes, and mayhem. In it’s 26th year of celebration and sponsored chiefly by Captain Morgan and his Morganettes, Fantasy Fest is one of the ultimate Halloween celebrations.
Eye It
Famous for airbrushed women Fantasy Fest boils with fantastical costumes of devilish vixens, morbid creatures, angelic winged creatures, and of course, nudity.
Body painting, the “art” of painting the body with air brushed paint is on of Fantasy Fest’s biggest attractors. Women and men of all sizes and shapes line up and pay massive amounts of money to be spray-painted into marvelous creations. Popular airbrushed costumes are butterflies or bumblebees, but there are the ones who get locks painted over strategic places or have leaves painted over nether regions to emulate biblical characters such as Adam and Eve.
While the costumes are wilder and wilder every year, the mode of dress isn’t the only way people are getting their messages across. Each year missionaries or fanatics line the streets proclaiming the Word of God or state their political preferences. This year’s political preference was the Republican Party, as supporters trudged down the street with crosses and robes clearly stating “Democrats are Evil.” Then of course there was the tacky foreigner who turned the popular “Viva Bush” sign into “Show Me your Bush.”
Schedule
Although Fantasy Fest is pure chaos there is actually a schedule of events, including the Airbrush Expo, the Pimp ‘n’ Ho Ball, the Masquerade Parade, the Tea Party, and of course the Captain Morgan Parade which concludes every Fantasy Fest celebration.
>> For more information, dates, and a live webcast from Duval Street go to www.fantasyfest.org.
Joanna Davila can be contacted at j.davila1@umiami.edu.