Coronation, Goombay, Suenalo, House Party

October 24, 2009





Coronation, Goombay, Suenalo, House Party

Vicki Gordon

The official kick-off of Key West’s busiest week featured the usual plethora of entertainment options and events that make up what is my one of my favorite weekends of the entire year. There is so much going on that we could not possibly do it all, though Kathy & I gave it our best shot on Friday as we got the week started with a long night of fun.





The evening started at La Te Da where the first official Fantasy Fest week event took over Duval Street in front of the bar for the King & Queen Coronation Ball during which the official King & Queen of Fantasy Fest are revealed. After months of events, parties and fundraising, the leading moneymakers for AIDS Help are crowned King & Queen. The event featured entertainment and skits by the candidates in front of the huge crowd that packed Duval Street. This year’s King is Ralph Garcia and Queen is Vicky Gordon.







After a short visit to the coronation, it was off to the main event, the annual Goombay Festival in Bahama Village. Goombay is my favorite local party of the year and features all sorts of food vendors and live music and brings out everyone in the community for one of the most enjoyable events of the year.



Johnny & Tara

As in past years, Blue Heaven restaurant served as our Goombay base camp. The central location, wonderful sandy courtyard and top notch entertainment make it the epicenter of all things Goombay. It is really hard to capture in words the wonderful feeling of community that is found at Goombay. It truly feels like a locals-only gathering and you often encounter people that you have not seen out in ages. It is also appropriate for all ages, unlike the majority of Fantasy Fest events.

Kathy & Eliza

Glen, Jackson, Jody, Todd, Kathy & Noa



The food is great as well, who knew there were so many varieties of meat on a stick? And Louie and the Folks at Southernmost Falafel always provide excellent Falafel and other assorted fare. Everything about Goombay was wonderful, the weather was great. The music was good as usual. We watched Caffeine Carl & Zach Seemiller play the Watertower stage at Blue Heaven and Robert Albury on the main stage as well.

Robert Albury

Carl & Zach

Post Goombay, it was over to the Green Parrot for the wildly popular and entertaining Miami based band Suenalo. Suenalo has quickly become one of the most popular bands to play regularly in Key West. The Miami fusion band packed the Parrot and the crowd spilled out into Whitehead Street dancing the night away and offering a perfect cap to the night, except that it wasn’t quite over for us.

Steve & Carolyn



Green Parrot

Biking our way home in the wee hours, we remembered that our friend David who recently returned to Key West after a couple of years in the real world was having a house warming party.

Suenalo



Erin & Ashley

Any worries about whether the party might still be happening at the late hour were put to rest the moment we approached the house, which was still rocking when we got there and when we left much later after a “brief” drop in to say hello.

David