THE BIG STORY
Fantasy Fest Will Stay
A great battle for the soul of Key West is underway, revolving around the future of Fantasy Fest. It’s the Righteous vs. the Sinners. Dueling meetings are being held by the two sides. For the Righteous, led by city fathers like Harry Bethel. For the Sinners, by Fest workers at, appropriately, the nearly-resurrected Viva Zapata!
The issues are nudity and sex. The Righteous say what started as a festival showcasing creative costumes and floats has degenerated into naked old fat people parading around Publix at noon, and public blow jobs on Duval at night. The Sinners say, yes, such extremes need to be controlled, but the sexiness has been a subtext since the beginning, and is a hot and necessary part of the event.
I call this one as going to the Sinners. They brought a new and relevant fact to light, that the sex was set up by pornographers for their profitable websites. That and being naked outside the zone are simply illegal, and the guy flashing genitalia at Publix and the public pornographers should simply be arrested under current laws.
But the body painting and overt sexual ribaldry are going to stay. For sure, they are good for business. And I say, not all that bad for the soul.
“One Human Family” is not just a warm fuzzy slogan. It means we really do embrace all manifestations of our human spirit. This includes religiously devout, gun lovers, nudists, tree huggers, developers, and people of the opposite political party, not just gay/homeless/female/minorities.
Cynthia and I don’t do Fantasy Fest. We are with good cause ashamed of our naked bodies, and deeply grateful that a single person in the world finds us attractive enough to sleep with. We do not put on any costumes anymore (since our nerd outfits the last time we tried elicited not a single compliment), much less risqué ones, or march in parades, or ride with zombies. We don’t even watch the big parade anymore.
But we are really happy that the sexy dress and activities bring so much joy to others. I like being around happy people, living in a festive community. The Northeastern Noblewoman across the street is amused by my singing Pink Floyd or Whitney Houston at the top of my lungs as I bike home. She moved down here expecting and appreciating everyday weirdness.
Sadly, part of what motivates anti-festive movements is related to our Puritan heritage. If people are having more fun than you, even though they harm no one, there is something wrong with them that must be stopped. I know plenty of people with extremely strict regimes of diet and stimulant avoidance who have no problem with others imbibing what they do not. But at least as many others have their own vices, say drinking, but who hate pot smokers.
I fear the anti-Festers are similarly motivated: They are not into nudity and sexiness, and simply resent all this fun being had of which they do not share. The repeated focus on the most explicitly objectionable and actually illegal activities reminds me of a similar attempt to close the cemetery to bicyclists.
Over and over the gate-lockers brought up a single incident of a rude biker interrupting a wedding, and a report of sex there at night. But the bikers were in fact protected by law, and careful monitoring of police reports since the gates were re-opened to through traffic show the shrill claims of chaos were simply unfounded.
The same with Fantasy Fest. Let tens of thousands of people have their fun, and fill the coffers of our local hotels, restaurants and merchants. Simply enforce existing laws against nudity outside the zone and public sex. We are not Disney World, nor Ocala. We are One Human Family, letting the good times roll for all.
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Agreed Rick, that the more objectionable aspects should just have existing laws enforced. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. I was in “the throng” a long time on Parade night and witnessed a handful of things I’d rather not see going on, including a sex”sandwich” (three people grinding). It would be impossible for authorities to catch all this action, or identify “perps” if someone reports the acts.
My problem with it perhaps marks me a “classist”. I feel that these acts and some of the portrayals/costumes/lack of costumes, along with Ducks on our streets, and Food Trucks in our Historic District, all cheapen the image I want projected for my beloved Key West. Cheap, cheap, cheap -carnival fare.
Maureen Bramlage