Filling Beds

Well, here we are are, the start of Fantasy Fest week the big kahuna in tourist events celebrating the quiet season of fall with a raucous week designed to keep people employed and paying the rent...and the big question is will they or won't they? Show up that is. Judging by some of the lines of traffic on the Overseas Highway and in the city (Garrison Bight Bridge pictured) there are tons of people in Key West:

The people in charge want to hold a Fantasy fest concert at the new amphitheater on the Truman Waterfront next week. The concert will be a test of noise levels, parking and traffic circulation which will either throw fuel on the criticism or tamp it down. A lot of people have been complaining loudly about those issues ever since the performance space was announced. Here it comes:

Tourists that have showed up need a measure of tolerance for some shortcomings in a  city that survived remarkably well where the rest of the Keys suffered some severe damage. Complaints are not what anyone needs to hear at this stage.

The garden club was closed when I took the picture but I met the President of the club and she said it would be open as you read this and thanks to the structure suffering no damage the club will bounce back with more plants even though their famous strangler fig bought the farm in the storm.

In truth I doubt many of these visitors are feeling deprived, they are getting around as usual:

Arriving in droves...  

and enjoying most, dare I say all? the usual activities...

This is not a good time to add to traffic difficulties by getting your yacht stuck on a major street, but it happens:

Or you could take to your bicycle.

The Hemingway House will no doubt be popular as ever though there were no great crowds lining up to see it last week. Perhaps Fantasy and writing don't mix this week, when much fantasy is alcohol fueled?

I saw this graffiti marked pipe in the wilderness and it displayed this rather silly suggestion. I know other cities have made bumper stickers alerting the citizenry to keep their towns weird. I think if weirdness is a self conscious trademark it has by definition become trite.

We have weirdness to spare these days with mountains of garbage springing up everywhere as the tourists play and we struggle to disappear the signs of our total loss of societal control. As seen on Ramrod Key where the highway is a staging post to remove huge mounds of detritus:

Two million cubic yards was the figure published apparently. A hundred miles of garbage. Five times more than that produced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Ponder that as you play in Key West, cleaned for your entertainment.

Zombie Bike Ride

It started on a whim and has grown to become one of the most enjoyed aspects of Fantasy Fest week, surpassing I dare say the Locals Parade which has been taken over by non-locals.

The bike ride attracts thousands, so many its original start point on Stock Island at Recycle Bicycles got too messy with traffic. Nowadays it starts around 2 pm at the East Martello Tower and sets off down South Roosevelt at six pm (when I am safely at work).

 The Zombie Bike Ride is about bicycles and costumes and fun and noy nudity and not even much drunkenness anymore.

 Joking aside, for lots of people this is a family affair:

And you can dress up as much or as little as you want.

 Everyone is out to be seen:

 And not necessarily as a zombie...

And modern zombies that do show up are equipped with all mod cons, modern conveniences like cell phones:

Gather with friends...

 ...strut your stuff...

 ....however you feel the need...

 And if being a zombie brings on hunger pangs Amigo's had a tent serving Mexican food:

 There are subtle reminders of Irma everywhere, churned up ground, producing mud ina  town that by and large is all cleaned up:

 Quite by chance I caught a flying windsurfer rising up behind the crowd:

And then on to the bicycles as I rode my Vespa to work:

 Law enforcement on hand to lead the parade:

Goombay 2017

The street party on Petronia Street off Duval lasts a couple of days and I enjoy going down for a visit.

This year Fantasy Fest is under new management after the last management team retired so before the Catastrophe there had been quite a bit of speculation as to how the new fantasy fest might play out. Some residents hoped for a little less nudity and a little more fantasy...me among them, but now with the effects of Hurricane Irma Fantasy Fest becomes a bit less urgent. Making floats when you have to rebuild your home...its no contest really. Then there's Goombay.

This year Goombay has been officially aligned with Fantasy Fest as the opening event of the week long party:

I like Goombay as it is the first street fair of the winter season and I get my fill of the street food that reappears as the winter season winds along. Technically its supposed to celebrate the common heritage of Bahama Village, the African American community in Key West and their roots in the Bahamas and the Caribbean. I have had goat curry at Goombay offered by Blue heaven restaurant but mostly the food looks Colombian to me with the abundance of sweet cheese filled corn cakes called arepas:

My attendance this year got completely gummed up as my plans for a visit on Friday, my night off were killed by a major wreck on Highway One which closed the road for hours. I had come in to Key West for my exercise class and riding home I got snarled in traffic. So I got off the Vespa and pushed the 240 pound wheelbarrow on the bike path for more than a mile to get around the overturned tanker. That little walk after an hour of hard gym exercise got me all sweaty all over again:

Then my wife, coming home from Marathon, a 45 minute commute, ended up spending five and a half hours getting home...Not only was Goombay out but we didn't even have dinner together. Boo hiss. So I swung by Goombay before work last night, before the rain too:

It didn't seem terribly crowded to me but no doubt more people will come as they discover the trash in Key West has been cleared and the city mostly looks pretty normal. 

And here endeth the family friendly portion of Fantasy Fest, music food and good cheer. Now we move on to the odd parties and people wandering around Duval Street in various stages of undress. Sigh.