Red Party

October 30, 2009





Red Party



Through the ages, the color red has come to symbolize many things; sin, guilt, passion, blood and anger, it also is the color associated with wrath- one of the seven deadly sins so it should come as no surprise that the Red Party, held Wednesday night of Fantasy Fest is where the seedy side of Fantasy Fest really begins to show itself.





Now in its seventh year, the Red Party was the first of the now common theme parties (Green, Plaid, White etc.) and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery than the Red Party should be fairly proud. It certainly has become one of the biggest parties and thousands of people pack Fogarty’s and Duval Street in front of the place as well.

Eliza



The good news is that the party is a benefit for the local high school, the bad news is it has become so popular that it is difficult to even move in the place. Wednesday night this year was as crowded as I can recall for that early in the week of Fantasy Fest. Duval Street was already blocked off and limited to pedestrian traffic only and it was jammed with red clad partiers.





I’m not a prude and I love Fantasy Fest, but for the past few years, it seems that much of the party scene has evolved away from the creativity of the festival’s roots and crossed over the fine line between sexy and raunchy. Certainly if the street in front of Sloppy Joe’s and Rick’s is any indication the raunch factor seems ratcheted up this year.





In addition to an ever increasing focus on sexuality and nudity, there seems to be less and less people in truly creative costumes. The past few years have seen an influx of more “adult” themed parties as well, hosted by Playboy playmates and Porn stars the focus seems to have strayed far from the original ideals of the Festival. That combined with the increasing corporate presence of sponsors every place you look has really altered what Fantasy Fest used to be. This is my 19th Festival (Out of 30 total) and it has changed a lot.







It still is pretty damn fun to see, you never known what you might see but it certainly is not for the faint of heart. After all these years, I still enjoy it overall and there are still bastions of the old Fantasy Fest feeling at certain events, mostly those populated by locals who are much more likely to honor the traditions than the sex crazed visitors who seem to be found in ever-increasing numbers.

Fiona & Jim

Graf & Dani

Pet Masquerade

October 29, 2009





Pet Masquerade



One of the few “family friendly” events of Fantasy Fest, The Pet Masquerade, is held on the beach at the beautiful Casa Marina resort on Wednesday evening. This popular event is a costume competition for pets and their owners who dress up and compete in a variety of categories such as pet/owner lookalike and others.







Last year, the event was interrupted by serious rain, this year a brief rain just prior to the start did not have much of an impact other than to create near 100% humidity which when added to temperatures in the upper 80s made for a steamy evening.



Greg



There was a great crowd regardless, many families take the opportunity to come out and watch the hilarity with their kids as the event is mostly G-rated. This year was another good crop of contestants vying for the top prize. The overall quality may have been down slightly; and there seemed to be fewer musical routines to accompany the pets, but it was still a good time.



As always, there were a number of locals in the crowd, generally as the week goes on it gets more and more difficult to find familiar faces in the ever increasing throngs, so it is nice to be at an event with friends about.



Jeremy



Of course we also have friends who enter their pets, this year my friend and fellow Purdue alumni Jim Brooks created another great costume, dressing his dog up as the “Balloon Boy” that was recently in the news. The costume cost less than $15 and was funny, timely and relevant. Our friend Wendy dressed her adorable dog up as a superhero and herself as Wonder Woman. They both looked fantastic.

Jim Brooks





I couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony, so I have no idea who actually won what. I had to prepare for the Red Party and the program seemed to run long. I did get to catch the beautiful sunset, which along with the incredible beachside location make this event even more special. There is nothing quite like watching a cat lounge about on the beach.

Green, Plaid Tu-tus

October 28, 2009

Kathy, Elliot, Najada & Howard



Hannah, Martha, Kathy, Tracy & Alicia

Green, Plaid Tu-tus

Howard, Michael & Elliot

We pretty much took it easy on Monday, taking a brief break from the Fantasy Fest madness that is building on the island and taking in the Haunted Fort at Ft. Zachary Taylor rather than any Fantasy Fest events. We had a hectic weekend and needed to save up some energy for the rest of the week. By Tuesday evening, we were ready to hit the town again and we had a plethora of options as the party calendar in Key West fills up quickly as the week progresses.

Howard & Najada







This year there were three Fantasy Fest events that we wanted to take in on Tuesday evening, The Green Party at Finnegan’s Wake, The Plaid Party at Captain Tony’s Saloon and a new event, TuTu Tuesday hosted by our friend Chris Shultz at Martin’s. Green, Plaid Tutus being in short supply, we sort of had to wing it as far as costumes went. You can judge from these photos how we did.

Rob & Kathy





We started the evening joining our newlywed friends Howard & Najada and the RPM chef from Malta Elliot, who has extended his US visit to include Fantasy Fest, at Finnegan’s Wake for the annual Green Party. As the name implies, Green is the order of the day and the crowd was full of green clad costumed revelers. The crowd seemed a little sparser than in past years, perhaps due to the ever-increasing lineup of events as more and more businesses try to get in on the action. Our friends Rob DiStaci & Suzanne Moore provided the musical entertainment and it seemed to be starting to pick up as we headed over to our next stop at Captain Tony’s.

Howard

Michael & Najada

Jean & Green Man

This was our first visit to the Plaid party; well technically we never actually made it inside as the huge throngs of people overflowed onto Greene Street which was closed for the party. It was a mad scene more typical of the Friday night of Fantasy Fest than of Tuesday. Plaid may have been the theme, but drunken nakedness was more the rule as all sorts of people were wearing not much. I heard later on the radio that a couple was arrested at the party for having sex in the street and it is not surprising given the nasty vibe that was happening.





Kathy, David & Michael

I’m no prude, but that really is not our scene, so we soon found ourselves headed down Duval for what turned out to be the highlight of the evening, the fabulous Tutu party ay Martin’s. Hosted by the incomparable Chris Schultz, the party asked all guests to show up wearing a Tutu and we complied.



Alicia, Michael & Hannah



Chris & Erin

This was the first year for this party and it was a great success. It was packed with many of the most interesting and creative people in Key West. It is a great new addition to the Fantasy Fest party scene and I’m sure lasted well into the wee hours. We did not however, opting to pace ourselves for the busy week ahead and head home at a relatively decent hour. It was a great night to get things kicked off.

Martha



Mike & Elizabeth