If one needed confirmation Fantasy Fest is the financial oasis at the end of a long dry summer check out the front of the bars on Lower Duval. Please come in and spend money is the message:
The theme for this week's celebrations is Villains Vixens and Vampires and there has been some discussion in the papers about what a vixen actually might be. I went downtown yesterday afternoon before work to get some practice photographing naked breasts but I had no luck on that front. I found some people enjoying the ambiance and whatever slop they serve at Sloppy Joes:
For some people a trip to Key West isn't complete without the famous backdrop in at least one picture:
Which when I turned around looked quite alluring, like this. This might have been a vixen I suppose staffing the trinket stall on the sidewalk:
This couple passed me by on the opposite sidewalk and I was forced to one of two conclusions: a large endowment in the bank or somewhere else or just a real nice personality. She looked like a real woman too from what little I could tell though her breasts were covered.
This next one at first glance looked like a fairy, but for all I know this could be the latest get up for vixens:
The week is taken up with parties and events in various locations but the big parade comes Saturday night and Duval Street will be closed to allow the parade to go through.
Fashion comes and fashion goes but you will see a little of everything on Duval Street in the last week of October:
I am not a great fan of Fantasy Fest, I have to work the night of the parade whether it's regular time or over time and that is the least of it. The parade of floats can be fun but lately they have added a ton of professional floats, mostly from the Tampa bay area that show all the imaginative creativity one would expect from Tampa and their floats add just a lot of hanging around time to the parade. Besides that, Fantasy fest is the first reminder that the quiet months of summer are over and a curmudgeon like me gets to feel a little grumpy at all the traffic and the cars stopped in intersections trying to figure which way to go. And all the happy scooterists:
I know they are spending much needed money so I am not grumbling expect on my own personal little corner of the web, just a little. But the deal is they don't just get to look, they have to spend money too:
And those that do spend some money get to walk around with their buttock cheeks hanging out:
Or wear some low slung tops if they prefer:
I'm not sure he was what I had in mind when I said that:
Body painting booths are open for business, this one was in a discreet little corner off the street. The photographs of past successes were appealing...
...not least because the billboard was attached, rather ironically I thought, to an old election advertising poster for Mayor Craig Cates:
What possessed this dude to venture out dressed like this we will never know, and probably just as well:
And though I am not a gambling man (do I have any vices at all?) I would bet good money she wasn't here to fantasize about Fantasy Fest. I think home was where her mind was after a long day's work:
Fantasy Fest may be starting up but for some people the important stuff is what it has always been: drinking. These people were being entertained in the world's smallest bar. If you haven't heard of it this is the extent of it. No really, four stools and a very small awning overhanging Duval Street and that's it:
Walking back to the Bonneville in front of Old City Hall I saw this couple enjoying the relative peace and quite of Greene Street. She was texting, he was staring off into space while people shuffled back and forth on Duval a block away.
I took a short stroll along the waterfront and was pleased to notice the influence of Fantasy Fest extended away from the main drag.
Colored hair and next to no clothes on. If nothing else a reminder that the end of October is not what you might call a cold month for the Southernmost City.
If one needed confirmation Fantasy Fest is the financial oasis at the end of a long dry summer check out the front of the bars on Lower Duval. Please come in and spend money is the message:
The theme for this week's celebrations is Villains Vixens and Vampires and there has been some discussion in the papers about what a vixen actually might be. I went downtown yesterday afternoon before work to get some practice photographing naked breasts but I had no luck on that front. I found some people enjoying the ambiance and whatever slop they serve at Sloppy Joes:
What possessed this dude to venture out dressed like this we will never know, and probably just as well:
Fantasy Fest may be starting up but for some people the important stuff is what it has always been: drinking. These people were being entertained in the world's smallest bar. If you haven't heard of it this is the extent of it. No really, four stools and a very small awning overhanging Duval Street and that's it:
11 comments:
Photographer Conch:
We have people dressed/undressed in similar attire during our Gay Pride week which is the 1st week of August. We also have fully nude male and female parade participants parading around, of which you managed to snap NO photos.
During our summer months we have a very popular clothing optional beach here in Vancouver where you could view these sights nearly daily, as long as it was rain free.
I think the attraction for the tourists is to visit a warm place during a time when it is cold up north and walk about uninhibited without fear that someone would recognize them
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
keep your shirt on, it's early in the week yet. One officer made an arrest already tonight upon finding a couple in a compromising position in the middle of a street. People are weird.
Dear Conch:
I sincerely hopw you will be able to entertain us with some eyer candy prowling the street this week -- but oddly enough -- I won't hold you to it.
In scanning a historical document of previous Fantasy Fests, I discovered that the age groups of the participants are climbing like a helium balloon. (The same is true for many women who participate in legendary Harley rallies.)
Quite frankly, many should realize that the days of running around topless are behind them, and were 20 years ago. (Just as my days of professional ple vaulting are behind me.)
So you just do what you had planned to do anyway -- take whatever pictures presented themselves. And if you want to avoid downtown for the next eight days, more power to you.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
When I was a school boy in England they called it "mutton dressed as lamb." Which is a tradition that inspires ironists.
Love the post and pictures!
The saying of "mutton dressed as lamb" is fantastic, and reminds me of another phrase (learned in Key West from some Brits), "the Collars don't match the cuffs" (akin to "the carpet doesn't match the drapes").
Hey, love the blog! I'm moving to KW in January and it can't come soon enough. Great pictures, and very good information about the neighborhoods and nearby islands. Keep up the good work!
Matt
mpfrankel@hotmail.com
If memory serves me right, doesn't the new mayor have a pretty hot looking wife? Will she be participating?
Just curious.
KW is always a place where you can see just about everything. The motorcycle parking spaces in front of old city hall is where Pearl suffered her most recent damage. I've parked there many times, guess my meter was up this time. It's truly amazing to me how some people present themselves in public :)
Mr Conch:
Not that I am complaining or anything, but just for your information none of your photos CLICK TO ENLARGE. There were a couple that I particularly wanted to view "close up".
Jack doesn't seem like his normal self. He doesn't usually give up so fast. It's like he has used up his supply of words.
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Some do, some don't which is which is a mystery to me.
I think capitalism is taking it's toll on riepe so I ignored him and found two young women that were painted and nude enough to revive him, I hope. Breastices for Saturday,in glorious technicolor. I am proud of myself because I would rather have my wisdom teeth extracted without anaesthetic than spend so much time among the crowds at Fantasy Fest.
Matt: Bring money and a job and remember that living in Key West is different to working here. Read my very first post for a story that tries to explian the impossible to explain. Good luck.
Kathy I only ever park at Old City Hall in desperation thanks to the giant gully running down the motorcycle lotand the numerous residentially challenged that sit on the steps in the process of losing their faculties. You suffered damage that happens frequently in a small town filled with drunks unfortunately.
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