The main players behind Key West’s buzzy, colorful October festival, which sends thousands of revelers into the streets, have a fairly straightforward checklist for selecting a winning Fantasy Fest theme.
Avoid ideas that overlap too much with previous editions. So, don’t expect any imminent return to fairytales after last year’s “Bedtime Stories.” Choose something with enough room for creativity and interpretation, like 2017’s “Time Travel Unravels.” And, of course, land on a theme that resonates not only with the streams of visitors arriving for the week, but with the die-hard locals who make up the walking, bicycle and float entries snaking through Old Town before the whole festival crescendos with the Saturday night Deep Eddy Vodka Parade.
This year, partiers and costumers get to celebrate Billboard chart-toppers and Broadway bacchanalia with “Musical Icons and Iconic Musicals.”
In this southernmost music town with an enduring performing arts scene, a theme like this one has islanders locking in early on favorite celebrities, albums, actors and scripts. The recent deaths of icons Tim Curry and Dolly Parton have already prompted Rocky Horror and 9 to 5-inspired groups and events.
Key West’s constantly changing entertainment and nightlife scene also means a mix of newer players, bar juggernauts, and growing danceathons will pull attendees on and off Duval for free and ticketed adventures.
In a year celebrating music, Goombay Festival is not to be missed. The Bahamian-inspired affair kicks off Fantasy Fest’s opening weekend around Petronia Street and the historic Bahama Village. Street vendors and chefs line the sidewalks while a central stage welcomes local and Caribbean acts, all before Junkanoo performers roar through shoulder-to-shoulder onlookers. It remains one of the best ways to meet locals and catch snippets of the island’s history.
The Zombie Bike Ride is technically not part of the official festival lineup, though it remains one of the week’s most unmistakable spectacles. Thousands of the undead take to bikes, tricycles, wagons and some incredibly engineered, human-powered moving sculptures for a rolling takeover of the island.
Love to glow? Midweek brings the fluorescent LUV2GLOW at Rick’s on Duval, now expanded through more of the complex. The party is pure dance: house and electronica, blacklight, and a somewhat more comfortable take on a tropical rave.
Across the ten-day run, the calendar shifts from neighborhood traditions to increasingly elaborate costume parties, contests and late-night spectacles.
Fixtures including Tutu Tuesday, Sloppy Joe’s Toga Party, the Locals’ Parade, Pet Masquerade, and Headdress Ball invite the public to put their full pageantry on display, sometimes while competing for titles and cash prizes.
But it is the final Saturday parade that summons the tallest hair and platform shoes, disco divas, heavy metal, phantoms of things that are not necessarily opera, and an island giving its loudest welcome to a new season.
FantasyFest.com
October 16-25
