Halloween at the Parrot

November 1, 2006



Esme

Bonerama



Halloween in Key West, can be something of a let-down after all the insanity that is Fantasy Fest, but for the past “30 something” years, the Green Parrot bar has hosted what was once the premier Halloween costume contest on the island. It has fallen off in recent years, but still brings out a cadre of devoted and fun loving costumed islanders. Time was that Waterfront Market owner Buco and his pals could be counted on to show up with a huge themed masterpiece to take the Grand Prize. Usually the cost and effort of their costumes far exceeded the somewhat meager prizes. Buco retired from competition some years back, which was sad on one hand, but it also opened the competition up and gave others a chance at glory. Kathy & her flamingo friends won 1st prize a few years back but she was still a little too worn out to participate this year.

Pat

Jim

I headed downtown after handing out candy to the neighborhood kids, we had a good number this year and all in costume which is nice. I stopped at the Tropic Cinema and went to see the controversial new film, “The Death of a President”. The mockumentary or fake documentary film depicts what might happen if someone killed the President. Once you get past the gimmickry of the premise, the film itself is a gripping story and fairly well made and believable. Check out the link below to watch the trailer.

Gil w/ Supergirl

After the film, I walked over to the Parrot to find a small gathering of Plutonians left over from the parade representing in the contest. They sure seemed like the best of the sparse number of contestants but ended up placing third, behind girls dressed as Steve Irwin & a stingray and a guy dressed as a melting polar ice cap. It was still a fun night, with the band New Orleans based brass band Bonerama all decked out in costumes of their own and playing their unique sound made up of horns only.

The Winner?

Now the focus shifts to the next big Key West event with the arrival of thousands of Jimmy Buffett fans for the 15th annual “Meeting of the Minds” parrot head convention. Kathy & I, while not true Parrotheads, attend each year for the great line-up of music the event brings to town. Jimmy himself plays every other year or so, the last time was on the beautiful beach stage at the Casa Marina two years ago. This year includes sets from Keith Sykes and Jerry Jeff Walker. I even volunteered to stuff “goodie bags” for attendees this morning.

Bag Stuffers


Parrot Head Schedule

Bonerama Web Site

Death of A President Site

Fantasy Fest Part I

October 30, 2006

Fantasy Fest Part I

And the Grand Prize goes to…..





“The Winners of the 2006 Fantasy Fest Captain Morgan Original Spice Rum Parade won the judges' hearts from the plethora of pirates and trains of wildly weird disorientations clogging Duval Street on Saturday night.

The Weird Isle Wacky Grand Prize was awarded to: "Plight of the Plutonians" by David Richard and the Lazy Dog Adventure Club and Mama Flowers

Some groups were so wildly appreciated by the judges; they received surplus points over the 10-point scale. Those groups were Southernmost entertainment, Lazy Dog Adventure Club and Mama Flowers, and Viva Los Muertos by Lucky Seven Arts and Cayman Smith-Martin.

The theme for Fantasy Fest 2007, Oct. 19-28, selected by the Key West Tourist Development Association, is Gnomes, Toads & White Rabbit Tea Parties.” – Quoted from The Key West Citizen, October 29, 2006.



The Grand Prize!!- and that’s two in a row for Dave & Lazy Dogs!! Fantasy Fest wrapped up Saturday night with the huge grand finale Parade featuring 63 floats and walking groups from all over and over 65,000 revelers lining Duval Street to watch, catch beads and take in the insanity that is Fantasy Fest. It was a scary afternoon as heavy rain poured down threatening to dampen the festivities and making final preparations a little tricky but the sky miraculously cleared into a beautiful, cool ( by Key West standards) evening – just in time for the marshalling of the floats at around 5 PM.

Celia & Kathy





It could not have been more perfect. The combination of two of the finest float building teams made for a huge crowd of Plutonians gathering prior to the parade. I’d estimate between 150-200 Plutonians participated. We were everywhere. It was an amazing and impressive site, even if there had been no saucers. The 4 saucers that made up the float were equally impressive. We had Zack Seemiller and his band playing wacky Plutonian live music, six kegs to keep all Plutonians well lubricated, a stealthily located port-a-potty, tons of beads to toss to the crowd and the nice added touch of glowing drinking cups.





Despite the common theme, there was incredible diversity among the Plutonian costumes, people really spent time and energy creating wonderful uniforms. In past years, we have known petty much everyone on the float, but this year massive numbers precluded that though I must say it was a great group of people.

Fantasy Fest Part II

October 30, 2006

Fantasy Fest Part II

The Plutonian Braintrust







The parade got underway right at 7 PM, but being 57th out of 63 entries, we had plenty of time to hang out before even getting underway. This allowed us to wonder around and see our friends on other floats. There seemed to be a huge amount of locals participating and the vibe was really great. I attribute a lot of the more festive feeling to the fact that unlike last year, when Fantasy Fest was postponed due to Hurricane Wilma, we have had no major storms this year and people were in a celebratory mood.

David & Martha

Soul Train

Interacting with Humans!

It certainly seemed like there was an extra excitement in the air. Once we got underway, it was evident that the crowds had returned. The parade route was packed and the mood in the crowd was wildly appreciative. People literally cheered maniacally at the approach of the Plutonians. More than once, a chant of “Pluto, Pluto, Pluto!” erupted from the crowd. It was pretty exciting.




Describing what it’s actually like to experience Fantasy Fest is difficult; it’s something that one really needs to experience for themselves. It’s as much fun as you can imagine, especially when experiencing it with such an awesome group of people. The parade itself lasts about 3 ½ hours and being near the end we did not finish till relatively late. The post parade is as much fun as the parade itself in my opinion. We always park the float just past the end of the route and finish off the beer in our own private celebratory party before we all separate and head our own Plutionian ways into the crowd and revelry.





We headed first to the Green Parrot, a post parade tradition, where we found many of our non-Plutonian friends and enjoyed a few beverages before heading over to the new club above Mango’s where we joined a large crowd of fellow Plutonians and Earthlings to dance the night away. There is something surreal about looking out over the crowded dance floor at a club and seeing the pointy heads of a number of dancing Plutonians bobbing above the crowd. It was a long and late night and we eventually and miraculously were actually were able to hail a taxi at the end of it.
The entire experience was capped off when we saw the front page of the paper proclaiming our victory. Not that it truly matters, because the experience is awesome whether you win or not, but it’s still fun to be recognized. Now we have to start planning for next year.