No Direction Home: Fantasy Insanity

October 28, 2010

Fantasy Insanity

The theme for this year’s Fantasy Fest is “Habitat for Insanity” which personally I am not a big fan of, but then I rarely like the theme and most themes hardly seem relevant to much of what goes on during the week anyway. Whatever the theme, the term insanity can be used to describe much of what you see here. Of course it is not all crazy, the event itself and many of the events that go along with it raise a ton of money for local charities. From the non-profit run beer booths to specific events for charity, there is a ton of money to be made and we attended a couple of fundraising parties this week.

Key West Mayor Craig Cates & wife Cheryl

The first was held Monday night at La Te Da and was a benefit for Womankind that was a huge success. The bra auction involved hand decorated bras being auctioned off to a sold out packed house with all the money going to Womankind.

All sorts of local artists created intricate and bedazzling bras including Kathy who decorated one that was included among the 75 or so entries in the auction. The event was really amazing as the bras were modeled by local models then auctioned off one at a time most of the sold in the $150-200 range but a few generated bidding wars including one that went for more than $1000.00. It was a very good night for Womankind and a lot of fun to see.

Michael

The other fundraiser was the 9th annual Red Party at Fogarty’s. The event charges an admission fee that goes for students at Key West schools and it is another hugely successful event. So much so that it has really become a victim of its own success. The event is so crowded that it is often difficult to even move and for me at least, it is almost too much. I tend to make a quick pass through to say hello to friends and then head out onto Duval Street which is also teeming with revelers.

Hickory Hoosiers

This year Fogarty’s took steps to alleviate the crowds by expanding the party across Caroline Street which was blocked off and added to the bar space. It really helped with the congestion issue inside the party, which even featured live music this year.

Of course the real action is out along Duval Street and it was in full swing and packed Wednesday night as much of the street was already blocked off and the throngs of costumed, body painted and nearly naked people mingled to see and be seen. It was not as raunchy as last year, at least not so far, but there were pretty of the “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” variety.