Zombie Bike Ride 10

October 21, 2019

 

Brandon 

Zombie Bike Ride 10

The actual Zombie Ride departed from the East Martello Fort and Gardens as little after six and made its way along the Ocean with over 10,000 riders and a phalanx of police officers providing security and blocking the path of the parade, which takes about 90 minutes to pass by completely, making it among the longest parades of Fantasy Fest week, along with the Masquerade March and main Parade on Saturday. 

Scott and Wendy

Glen and Julie

The first year there was no official police escort, though with only a few hundred riders it was not the logistical nightmare that it has become. The Key West Police and Monroe County Sherriff Department did an excellent job again this year, as they do at this and all of the crazy Fantasy Fest events. The ride was smooth and easy, bottlenecking at the same pinch points, but overall just a fun and fantastic night.

Kelly Jane 

Jeremy

I stayed and watched and photographed as the entire parade got started then hopped on my bike and made my way to Salute where Kathy and some friends had set up to watch the fun. Kathy has had an injured shoulder this week and her Fantasy Fest participation had been a little limited, but she really wanted to watch the Zombie Parade and once again she was not disappointed. 

 

Every year there are a number of my creative friends who go all out in creating Zombie masterpieces and I always look forward with anticipation every year to see what they come up with and as always they were on point again this year with some truly masterful costumes. I know I will miss some people but my friends Liz, Jeremy, Morgan and Marky, Virginia, Kristyn, Brandon, Ryan and Cody, the crew at WeBeFit, Layla, Kelly Jane and the Ford family are among the many, many amazingly creative people I have the good fortune to call friends and who each year create incredible Zombie costumes.

Kristyn

Brandon 

Layla

Garth

The ride begins just before sunset and follows along the beach just as sun is setting making for a beautiful, mostly comfortable ride, though it was a little toasty this year, by the time it hits Salute and heads downtown, darkness has fallen. I think many families and people with children use Salute as a jumping off point before even heading downtown via Duval Street where the madness of Fantasy Fest really kicks into high gear.

 

Ryan

This year, a huge number of bars hosted after-Zombie ride parties as the thousands of costumed revelers distribute about downtown to their favorite after-party or watering hole. The economic impact of a Sunday evening influx of some 10,000 people hitting downtown cannot be underestimated as the event has far reaching effects well beyond just the fun and creativity.

Virginia 

Greta and Tom

This year, my post parade event was at the Green Parrot bar, which is always a popular stop during any Fantasy Fest event, but was especially fun this year as they were hosting a Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” Flash Mob that performed the iconic thriller dance on the street in front of the bar for the huge mass of people gathered to watch. 

 

With a cast of about 75 dancers, mostly children and young adults, it was a really cool thing to see. Unfortunately the crush of people trying to see the dancers did not give them adequate space to really cut loose, but you could get the idea and the talented dancers did their best to perform in spite of the crush of humanity. I hope that they will try this again where the dancers can really be seen and it had me wishing that I had attended the rehearsal to really appreciate their efforts.