Shooting the Fantasy Fest throngs and thongs, a Halloween tradition.
Spent Halloween in Key West filming for a “reality” show pilot on wild vacation spots. True to its 30 year tradition of celebrating the one day a year when it is legal to cross-dress (does anybody enforce those laws, now?), Key West pulled out all the stops, and with a lot of body paint, covered up to a PG-13 rating. A cruise ship with 2,800 nudists disembarqued in the morning and in the buff, but quickly moved to waiting body painters and donned knitted socks and pasties to avoid shocking the locals (impossible to do). I’m sure the hot weather moved many to wish they could remove what little they had on, but Key West has ruled that body paint no longer is sufficient to satisfy the “clothing” requirement of local ordinances.
Male dancers tossed beads to the crowd on Duval Street.
The day started with male dancers at the Bourbon Street Pub shaking their “booty,” followed by female canvases in the body painting contest at the Green Parrot. Regrettably, we do not have a photo of the winner, “Pussy Galore,” whose leopard spots were strategically placed and who, viewed from the back as she bent over, displayed a distinctly feline form.
In general, the drinking was profuse and the body covering minimal. The crowd was loud, well behaved and fun-loving. We suspect the “reality” show producers wanted more angry drunks, but this was family-oriented, if titillating, fare. The parade was the highlight. We trekked for miles, down Whitehead and up Duval past enthusiastic crowds several deep, and the balconies overflowing with people and drink.
The crowd reaches out for beads thrown from passing floats.
We were invited by the parade sponsor, Captain Morgan rum, to join their float giving us access to the entire parade route. There was one highly lit block, klieg lights glaring from the balconies, that was for the “media.” Every float was guided to their review spot and canned enthusiasm bubbled up from the special balcony sections and the organizers . We quickly moved off down the street, preferring the rabble to the glitterati.
Captain Morgan urges “responsible” alcoholic beverage consumption while Carl does breathalyzer tests (Lower Right).
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