Photograph by user Greyloch, Wikipedia Commons
Filling a stagnant seasonal void of local tourism in Key West, Florida, Fantasy Fest was born in 1987 on a beautiful day of Floridian paradise. Traditionally, October was a slow time for the Keys, but now Fantasy Fest has filled hotels, inundated businesses, restaurants, and bars, and brought good-hearted revelry all around the chilly fall season.
- October 18-27, 2013
- 10 a.m. to 4 a.m.
- 1111 Twelfth Streeth, Suite 211, Key West, FL 33040
This fall fun is all thanks to the creative genius of Joe Liszka that the local economy is boosted as high as your spirits will be when you attend the Key West’s annual bacchanal. The guests are encouraged to splurge in their most decadent fantasies, arriving in costumed attire, whether it be imaginative, ridiculous, or sultry. This is one ten-day festival of moonlit shenanigans you’d better not bring the kids to.
Every year comes with a new theme, submitted and voted on by guests. Past themes have included Villains, Vixens and Vampires, Va Va Voom, and Halloween in the Devil’s Triangle. This year, expect distressed damsels, heroically emblazoned chests, and cackling laughter coming from the shadows. The 2013 theme is Super Heroes, Villains… & Beyond. Duval Street will be covered in a mile of arts and crafts, food vendors, and frivolous characters. Keep October 26 free of engagements; you don’t want to be busy saving people (or kidnapping them) during the Captain Morgan Parade.
Contestants enter colorful themed floats that stretch beyond the limits of the imagination. Hop from fantasy to fantasy that you can’t have in real life in the adult-catered ‘fantasy zone,’ and vote on your favorite decorated small business in the Reddy Ice Façade. Leave the real world behind and succumb to pure, unadulterated fantasy.
For more information, click here.