Fantasy Fest Local's Parade

On the left Bobby, my massage therapist, on his left his partner Michael. They are locals. Their extravagant costumes epitomise the fun some people in Key West have with the whole Fantasy Fest thing. I am not one of them, I'm much more like this trim neat elegant observer of the local's parade Friday afternoon, though I am not nearly as trim, neat nor elegant. I'm pretty sure he isn't a local.
"I have no idea what's coming behind me," this apparition said as he floated off down Fleming Street. Neither did we though I had a pretty good idea...There was music at the beginning though mercifully the overmodulated strains of the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction faded long before the parade was over.The parade Saturday night down Duval Street (while I was working) is a carefully orchestrated affair and very fine it is too. I took some pictures when I was there last year. This year I couldn't be present at the parade so I dragged my wife to the informal local's parade from the cemetery to Duval Street. Informal is the theme:

Les was out, rolling down Fleming Street. He got married recently, but had to to go out of State to Vermont, I think, because he couldn't marry his partner in Florida. God forbid. Les you see, would ruin marriage for heterosexuals like me if he was allowed to get hitched in the Sunshine State. Surprising but true apparently. Congratulations Les.It's the gay lifestyle they tell us. All that nasty exposure oif flesh and general misbehaving in the streets would just go rampant if we let them get married. Not like us normal people.

Rich was out and about being rampantly heterosexual. You last saw him in this blog singing his heart out in a scene invovling Officer Krupke during the Keys Chorale out door concert at the college. He stopped by and mentioned there won't be an outdoor concert this year which is a bummer. I liked his costume though. Enjoy the holidays in New Jersey, Rich, and remember to put something on before you go.

Check out those pink crocs! I should have been in costume after all...but not like this:

And here's full length shot of Bobby and Michael. The sun was at an awkward angle, but the poor exposure does not I hope, obscure their superb outfits:

Bobby hamming it up for the appreciative crowds:

I am reliably informed that is a man in there. Disappointing really.

These looked like real women though I had long since lost my ability to figure it out:

Blood sucking bankers indeed. Glad they weren't left out of the parade. Bernie Madoff was in the crowd as well. I did not get the impression these guys were real poofs. They were wearing plastic buttocks in the rear.Captain Jack took some pains to get dressed for the occasion:
Andy Griffiths, the chair of the School Board, well supplied for the trek down Fleming Street:

Oh.My.God.

.

Enough of that. We joined the parade when we had had enough and pushed the wife's Vespa to the nearest intersection to make our escape. Along the way my wife spotted Andy and Christina strolling along, she dressed as a fairy (I think) and he was pretty much naked I think, except that because I know him I felt awkward about taking a quick peek and asking if it was real so I kept eye contact, as one does with naked aquaintances, and chatted about boats, as one does and wished him a pleasant evening as we boarded the Vespa and buzzed back to the land of the fully clothed.

Fantasy Fest Street Fair

Whereas Goombay offered food and dust catchers for sale on Petronia Street a week ago, the Fantasy Fest Street Fair which took place yesterday was on Duval. That's the main difference. The other is that many of the vendors are in an advanced state of undress:That picture cost me a dollar but I got some nice smiles. I rather liked this well dressed dude on the balcony at La Concha, even after I realized he was an electrically motivated mannequin:

These trick or treaters collected a following wherever they sashayed and when they ended up posing again the windows of a clothing store....who could resist?Muscles in action. The Greeks would have made a statute of her no doubt, so nowadays we make digital images instead. I was at the doctor's office Thursday evening and the receptionist was huddled in a long wool coat against the air conditioning. I asked her if it was her Fantasy fest costume, she responded with a sickly smile. So, I pressed on, what ghastly outfit are you going to wear to freak out the good burghers from Ohio and Iowa? I asked. Huh she sniffed, they are the ones that freak me out. I understood instantly what she meant. Take this lot parading around on Duval dressed as...I have no idea what.

For my sworn colleagues Fantasy Fest is an opportunity to make much needed extra money, but the work does get tedious. Luckily our officers have a sense of humor:

Which one needs when dealing with people trying out all those fantasies they can't express at home.I find it odd that these people who come to Key West to hang their body parts out for all to see can go home and solemnly vote, for instance, to forbid gays from getting married. Tolerance in Key West is celebrated for a week by all these people who then fly home and climb back in their closets for another twelvemonth. On the subject of travel, Michael the palm weaver noted for his creations on the sidewalk in front of La Concha has his own home made outfit. He spent the summer in Hawaii and has come back to Key West, bought another boat after his last one sank while he was out sailing, and is back at his antics:I liked this picture of a Save some Dolphin volunteer resting between bouts of forced cheerfulness.

It only cost me a dollar to get a winning smile. It was for a good cause.

I look at this plate and I see some of my favorite food, papas rellenas (stuffed potatoes) are Cuba's answer to Scotch eggs. They have a center of ground beef wrapped in mashed potato, dipped in breadcrumbs and fried. Or you can consider them to be testicles adorning a fun Fantasy Fest plate. We had some rather expensive fried shrimp and crab cakes.That's the way it goes, the ordinary rendered extraordinary for a few short days. Traffic is horrendous on Highway One which leads to more accidents than usual, a few people have been arrested who wake up appalled in jail, but most people get to let off steam safely:

And as odd as it may seem there were a couple of dudes hauling crosses around in their own take on Sodom and Gomorrah. I can't help but feel that this is not the fertile ground the Good Book mentioned when discussing casting one's seed for converts. They need to try it back Up North where all these wild people go after they have sown their wild oats on Duval.